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Wood Rimmed Steering Wheel

JSBulmer

By JSBulmer
in Running Gear

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JSBulmer Enthusiast

JSBulmer

Posted
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Greetings

Am looking to get an "original" wood rimmed steering wheel for my 1968 GT6 MK I.  Have seen various replicas, but have not seen any with the '5 hole' spokes.  Checked with the Graveyard and they didn't have onel

Any recommended sources for a wood steering wheel?  Or does anyone have one that is merely collecting dust and they wish to part with?

I missed out on the one that recently showed up on eBay.

Also, any idea which other British cars would have wheels that would fit the GT6. Understand that the Vitesse, Herald and Spitfire will. Also some of the Jag E-types, but requires some modification to the mounting.

Would prefer to source an original Formula wheel, but understand that they could be pricey. The repro ones, however, just don't look that great to me.

One technical item - where are the dimensions taken on the wheel?  I check the various websites and they quote 13, 14 and 15 inch wheels, yet when I measure mine I am usually off by 1/2 to 3/4 inch.


Thanks

jb

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Bainzy Proficient

Bainzy

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I love my Moto-lita MK3, its wonderful. It was advertised as 14", and measures about that.

In my experience, add 1/2" to whatever they say it is if you have a leather/vinyl one, because they are always thicker and slightly wider than the wood equivalent. Perhaps they just round them up or down...?

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dimtavies Contributor

dimtavies

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An immaculate one just finished on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190435121123&ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT

I have seen reported on the net in the States these have sold for far more, they do crop up, I picked up an immaculate leather one and a wooden one needing work recently for very good prices

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Deleted User Proficient

Deleted User

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willcolumbine wrote:
You'd be suprised how much seatbelts stretch in an accident.


Yep, in a crash, seatbelts are designed to stretch. even at 30MPH, the belt will permanently stretch by 13% and at higher speeds, the webbing will stretch more and even start to melt as it absorbs the impact. This is why you should never buy used seat belts unless you can verify 100% they've never been in an impact.

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JSBulmer Enthusiast

JSBulmer

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Hi and thanks for the replies

In regard to the eBay one I was watching it and didn't make up my mind to buy it until after the auction closed.

I don't really care for the Moto-Lita repros as for some reason they only have 3 holes in the metal spokes as opposed to the 5 holes on the original rims - silly reason to not want one, but I have never been known for clear logic at times.

Yes, the Stanpart optional is more in line.

Will keep the search going.  It is not a major panic in my life at the moment as I only have 3 more weeks of driving until holidays and winter cause the car to be parked for a few months.

jb

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drofgum Proficient

drofgum

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JSBulmer,
You might also expand your search to cover wheels fitted to Lotus Elans in the sixties and perhaps the Europa as well. Both of these Lotus models used the Triumph steering column and rack, so I would think they would use wheels that will fit.
                                                                                    Cheers,
                                                                                    Paul

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Bainzy Proficient

Bainzy

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RumPith wrote:
I've heard horror stories about the injuries suffered when a wooden steering wheel breaks and splinters as your chest slams into it in an accident, which is why I opted for the leather option!


I take it this would be for the ones that only have wood in the rim? The other type are a wood/alloy/wood sandwich, I can't see that splintering in an impact. Broken ribs perhaps though.  :)

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Craig Gingell Collaborator

Craig Gingell

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1317 wrote:
You might also expand your search to cover wheels fitted to Lotus Elans in the sixties and perhaps the Europa as well. Both of these Lotus models used the Triumph steering column and rack, so I would think they would use wheels that will fit.


Although the Lotus wheels initially look the same having 5 holes per spoke, I believe some are subtly different around the centre of the wheel to take a much larger boss.

To my knowledge, on the Triumph wheel, the boss is made in three pieces. The front and back are bakerlite, and the middle is aluminium and interchangeable with a spline to suit the application's steering column spline.

I was going to fit one of these wheels to my Coupe, but they are just too damn big for me to get in and out of the car. (being 6' 5" does have its disadvantages)

I've seen several examples for sale with either cracked, damaged or missing bakerlite boss components - I'm sure there must be a market to have the boss remanufactured - I wonder if the whole thing can be made from just two pieces of aluminium, with the spline directly incoporated into the rear half.

Food for thought...

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firebobby Collaborator

firebobby

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willcolumbine wrote:
You'd be suprised how much seatbelts stretch in an accident.


You'd be suprised how much all parts of a vehicle move in a crash, things like dashboards, pedals and the like can move back into the cabin area.

If you had your non inertia belts pulled so tight that you could not move, the momentum in a crash can  rip the seats forward on there rails.

The worse impact you can have, especially in one of our cars, would be a side impact.
Have seen some quite devastating crashes where this has happened.

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heraldcoupe Veteran

heraldcoupe

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There are at least two patterns of woodrim wheel used on Triumphs. One is as described by Craig, ie palstic front and rear exteranl shaped parts, with a large aluminium component inside the rear portion, to form the mounting for the wheel onto the column. I don't think it's Bakelite though, it seems far closer to a stryrene in the way it behavesm particularly it's susceptibility to solvents.

The other type has an aluminum hub with no plastic outer dressing. This again has a plastic front piece, however the detail design of the moulding is quite different to the other type. Both of these designs are the long spoke type, not to be confused with aftermarket designs by Moto-lita and the like.

I've had both types down the years, but never the two types alongside to compare whether or not the wheels themselves are iinterchangeable, ie could one design of replacement mountings replace both of the original designs?

Incidentally, the above information is equally applicable to the leather rimmed wheels.

Cheers,
Bill.

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thescrapman Grand Master

thescrapman

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firebobby wrote:

If you had your non inertia belts pulled so tight that you could not move, the momentum in a crash can  rip the seats forward on there rails.


Why would the seat be moved forwards if you are wearing static seatbelts but not inertia ones?

It is the driver that has the inertia in the accident, and with static belts you are relying on just the stretch in the belt to slow you down, rather than allowing a bit of slack to allow you to accelerate then slow you back down using the stretch in the belt.

Inertia belts are more gentle on your body in an accident I guess, but you get closer to things that will hurt you, which is why you have airbags to catch you.

Cheers

Colin

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