'69 Steering Wheel

[Dennis W.]

The steering wheel on my '69 was dyed red at some point to match the interior. In addition, it has started to become sticky/tacky. I have read about and heard from others about the sticky/tack problem. In fact, my friend below.

I have a friend at Corvettes of Carlisle this week and asked him to look for a used or NOS wheel. In thinking that through, I question spending the money on a used steering wheel that will develop the same problem in the future.

I've read that new repro wheels are flawed in some way and wouldn't pass judging. Keeping the car as original as is smart is important to me and while my car is numbers matching, good condition, etc., I'm not sure I will have it judged soon.

Looking for advice and, as always, thank you for sharing your knowledge. DRW

[Patrick H.]

Re: '69 Steering Wheel

There are still nice used originals available that would work just fine. It's always a bit of a crap shoot as to when one will start to get tacky and gummy, but I don't know that it can be avoided. Keeping it from the sun "seems" to have helped mine, but that could change soon enough.

The repros are tolerable for driving, but that's about it.

[Joe L.]

Re: '69 Steering Wheel

The steering wheel on my '69 was dyed red at some point to match the interior. In addition, it has started to become sticky/tacky. I have read about and heard from others about the sticky/tack problem. In fact, my friend below.

I have a friend at Corvettes of Carlisle this week and asked him to look for a used or NOS wheel. In thinking that through, I question spending the money on a used steering wheel that will develop the same problem in the future.

I've read that new repro wheels are flawed in some way and wouldn't pass judging. Keeping the car as original as is smart is important to me and while my car is numbers matching, good condition, etc., I'm not sure I will have it judged soon.

Looking for advice and, as always, thank you for sharing your knowledge. DRW

Dennis------

I have not noted any "sticky/tacky" problem on the steering wheel of my original owner 1969 and it's 48 years old now. However, what I have noted is a wearing down of the texture/grain of the hard rubber. Any used wheel you find will likely show this same condition. I recognized this many years ago and set off on a quest to acquire NOS steering wheels of which, over the years, I found and purchased 3 [none for sale]. However, I never replaced my original steering wheel because "it just doesn't seem right" to replace the original even if it's worn. Replacing it would kind of take away some of the "character" of the car. So, why keep the NOS steering wheels? That's so I'll always have spares if I really need them even if I live to be 500 years old.

By the way, the reproductions I have seen have a texture/grain pattern which is not like the originals. Of course, someone may have corrected that by now. The NOS wheels I have were very hard to find even though I looked for them intensively for years. The last one I bought was probably more than 20 years ago and I paid handsomely. By now, I expect that an NOS steering wheel would be even harder to find and probably command a king's ransom.