C1 / C2 steering wheels

[John H.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

Someone posted these two photos a couple of years ago as an example of the graining on an original C1 steering wheel; I don't recall who it was.


StrgWhlGraining2.jpgStrgWhlGraining.jpg

[William F.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

Judging manual says "leather like grain". Think this is correct?

[Richard M.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

Someone posted these two photos a couple of years ago as an example of the graining on an original C1 steering wheel; I don't recall who it was.

John, Thanks for posting that pic, but I have to say that grain looks strange to me. Almost looks like a restored used wheel. The spokes are old and scratched up, but the plastic is fresh. I dunno.

Here are pics of my '59 red wheel and the '56 beige wheel here. Both the front and the back of each spoke area is the same. I can't see anything resembling a texture anywhere. What you see in the photos are cracks, not grain. It's a bit of a optical illusion.

P6270029.jpg P6270025.jpg

[Bill M.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

John, Thanks for posting that pic, but I have to say that grain looks strange to me. Almost looks like a restored used wheel. The spokes are old and scratched up, but the plastic is fresh. I dunno.

Here are pics of my '59 red wheel and the '56 beige wheel here. Both the front and the back of each spoke area is the same. I can't see anything resembling a texture anywhere. What you see in the photos are cracks, not grain. It's a bit of a optical illusion.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]53491[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]53492[/ATTACH]

Rich:

My '59 wheel looks like yours, but some wheels from GM definitely had grain. A friend bought a black wheel for his '61 from service back in the 70s and it had grain.

Bill

[Richard M.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

Hmmm, So maybe only the Service wheels had grain? So many times I've heard that what was built at St Louis was sometimes very different from what was sold over-the-counter.

This will be a mystery to me forever I think. I'm convinced SOME had grain, but I'm not convinced they ALL had grain. For now, that's my stand, and I'm sticking to it.

Rich

[John F.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

No grain on either one of mine #00029 & #10975.

[Bruce B.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

Rich,
I believe it was a early prototype made in the production tooling.
Bruce B

[Bruce B.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

John,
I believe those are my pictures since my carpet is in the background.
If I can fiind them I will post more.
Bruce B

[Jim L.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

No one could convince me that the wheel on my '60 ever had any grain:





Jim

[John H.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

I would think that another useful answer might come from Richard Dunham - he has restored literally hundreds of C1 steering wheels over the last 20+ years, and if anyone has seen more of them than Richard has, I don't know who that would be.

[Richard M.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

I would think that another useful answer might come from Richard Dunham - he has restored literally hundreds of C1 steering wheels over the last 20+ years, and if anyone has seen more of them than Richard has, I don't know who that would be.

Thanks John. I just sent him a email. I see he does not post here, but hopefully checks in once in a while on his computer.

Rich

[Richard S.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

I had a black C1 wheel that came out of a GM engineers basement that was dated (engraved) on the front 11-22-56 on 1 spoke.
It was virtually untouched and definitely was covered with a grain or texture.
The steering wheels using that my wheel for a pattern are sold by VetteMasters in Virginia Beach, VA.
They also make (or made) Roman Red, Venetian Red and Signet Red wheels along with all the other C1 colors.
The wheels are extremely close to the original GM wheels.

Bruce,

Here is the problem, VetteMasters no longer makes their own C1 steering wheels. When I called them I was told that the wheels they sell are made from the mold of an original C1 wheel by another company however, ALL wheels sold by Corvette Central, VetteMasters and others are 58' Signet Red regardless of the year or color of red you request. Not withstanding the grain issue, no one that I have found sells a 59-62 Roman Red reproduction wheel even though they are advertised as such.

[Jerry W.]

Re: C1 / C2 steering wheels

I took delivery on a new 62 in June of 62...Black Wheel had a pebble like grain...Hell, i even wore black leather groves cause it looked cool :-)