C1 Steering Wheel

[Dennis C.]

Does anyone have a good close up photo that they would be willing to share of an original or properly restored steering wheel for a C1. I am working on a wheel from my '61 and I am interested in seeing the texture of the finish.

Thanks in advance.

Dennis

[Terry D.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Dennis
I really don't think a picture will help, you need to see this up close and personal
Terry

[Bruce B.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Dennis,
Attached are 4 pictures of an original Corvette steering wheel which was manufactured on 12-22 1955.
I got the wheel from a GM engineer who had it in his basement since 1956.
It is basically untouched, so the grain or texture is as designed by General Motors.
I can also provide you with pictures of the reproduction wheel if you are interested.
Bruce B.

[Gary B.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Sure is a LOT of pebble!!!!

[Mark P.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

I bought a NOS wheel for my 1960 and it has a lot less pebble than that. Did they tone down the pebble bewteen 55 and 60 ?

[Stewart A.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Here is a couple of snaps of my wheel. These wheels are so nice to look at but wow are they big. Stewy
BILD0746.jpg

BILD0748.jpg

BILD0747.jpg

[Mark P.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Stewy - is yours an unrestored original, restored original or a repro ?

Mark

[Stewart A.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Mark I have been asking the question on this site for 2 years. I still can't get a confident answer. I am pretty sure this wheel is an excellent original wheel. It hasn't been restored and I doubt if the service replacement version would be as good as mine. The colour is not painted on the wheel it's like red candy. The colour is all the way through it. If it's a copy I will eat my hat ! I'm going to Carlisle this year and there is a 1960 display for the 50 years of that model and I will be taking 3 1GB memory cards to take of every nook and cranny. I just don't see these cars here in Top flight condition to compare parts with !! Stewy

[Bruce B.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Attached are a few pictures of an original black wheel which has some wear but not much on the back of where the spokes meet the wheel. The texture is pretty good.
The pictures of the red wheel are of a new good quality reproduction.
The problems with steering wheels is that as the tooling wore the texture changed. The last GM "NOS" wheels were significantly different from the early wheels as far as the texture goes.

[Stewart A.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

That second photo looks exactly like my wheel but in black. The red wheel is different to mine, The red one does look like a service replacement wheel. Stewy

[Dennis C.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

All,

Thanks for all the photos. Every time I look at a car and check out the wheel, I am never sure what the history is. At least when I ask here, I know I am going to get straight information.

The original black wheel photos indicate a lot more texture then I anticipated - I am really glad to see the photos. Big difference from the reproduction photos.

What about the feel of an original wheel? Is it hard (solid) feeling?

Are there any symbols or manufacturing marks on the underside of the wheel? I am talking about on the wheel itself not the stainless spokes.

Thanks for all the help.

Dennis

[Stewart A.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

It's as hard as a rock. No softness about it. I can't find any markings on the plaky bit. Stewy

[Dennis C.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Stewy,

Thanks, I wanted to make sure it was hard.

I recall seeing some markings on the back of mine, but not sure if it is just something that was collected in it's life, or something that should be there. My wheel is badly cracked and I am working on repairing it now. It may not be as good as your wheel, but I prefer to keep the original if I can.

Dennis

[Stewart A.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

There is nothing wrong with a service replacement. But try to keep original where your able to do so. Stewy

[Richard T.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Bruce,
What does the outer edge of the original black wheel look like? Is the seam visable? Rich