A Wheel Big Heist Leaves Shop Owners Feeling Flat

What goes around, comes around. At least that’s what the employees of Ronal Alloy Wheels in Huntington Beach are hoping.

Their prized mascot “Big Wheel”--a $5,000 400-pound aluminum alloy wheel--was stolen Thursday night from the Computer Lane manufacturer, which provides wheels to car companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce and BMW.

“There’s no replacing it. It’s like one of the family is gone,” Ronal employee Fe Joco said of the well-known showpiece that was proudly displayed near the company’s front door.

Added company spokeswoman Loretta Powers, “You couldn’t use it for anything. Maybe, a coffee table. You’d have to be a nut for wheels to want it in the first place. Who would do such a thing?”

The crime recalls several similar thefts of other odd promotional items in Orange County. Last year, a 6-foot teddy bear nicknamed Truffles was pilfered from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Huntington Beach. In 1992, in probably the most famous example, a one-ton teak elephant was stolen from a Thai restaurant in Newport Beach.

Most of the head-turning pieces were eventually recovered. But some, such as Truffles, were never found.

Police have no suspects or clues in the abduction of Big Wheel, a gift from the Ronal main office in Germany that was regularly shown off at auto shows in Southern California and Las Vegas.

The large wheel, which is normally rolled out each morning for show and stored in the warehouse for safekeeping after hours, disappeared from the front of the building between 7 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday even as employees worked indoors. At first, employees thought Big Wheel’s absence was a prank, but a flashlight search of the grounds and the surrounding industrial park failed to turn up the wheel.

“I began to realize this wasn’t a joke at all,” said Ronal spokesman Jim Cobett, who noted it takes two people to move the heavy object.

Ronal is offering a reward of $200 or a new set of tires for “Big Wheel.”

Said Cobett: “This town may be safe for people. But obviously not for Big Wheels.”