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My 69 442 came with an aftermarket steering wheel. Its ugly and small. I was wondering if you folks could help me get an idea for options. I want something that looks period, but still cool. I know that is relative, but I think my tastes line up with many of yours.
Just would like to see/hear what you went with and maybe why.
To me a original 69 looks the best. Even if you have to pay more than a aftermarket, loos better, than the one you have.
Unfortunately, a correct N34 wheel, especially gold or saddle to match the interior, will be extremely difficult to find and you won't get much change back from a $1000 bill once you do find one. The four spoke sport wheel is always a good choice. Any 1969-up GM wheel will bolt onto your column.
In 1968 I believe there was a 3 spoke wheel in faux wood that was available , was on a lot of Chevrolet products too, grant makes a reproduction as do others, I would get a genuine oldsmobile sport wheel horn button instead of the cheezy generic ones , summit has trhe wheel for under 200, you will need a new adapter, and maybe the horn kit. https://goo.gl/images/7TchPP
I use the factory Olds 4 spoke sport wheel in my 71.
If I had a 69 I would be using this style 3 spoke.
This one is advertised as being a walnut finish. Not sure what the 69 wood finish is on the dashboards.
Last edited by w-30dreamin; Dec 28, 2018 at 01:04 PM.
Keep in mind that you cannot use the 1968 hub for the three spoke wheel on the larger diameter 1969-up steering column. You also cannot use the hub from the four spoke wheel, since while it uses the same six bolt pattern to hold the wheel to the hub, the three spoke wheel requires a notch where the vertical spoke overlaps the horizontal ones on the backside. Ironically, the aftermarket wheel shown by W-30dreamin above is not exactly the same as factory and does not have this overlap, so it WILL fit on the four spoke hub (note in the photo that it comes with a shim if you are using it on one of the notched hubs). If you have an original three spoke wheel, you can also get a 1969-up hub from a Chevy or Buick that does have the notch.
You can still get really nice 50s-90s wheels from Moto Lita. https://www.moto-lita.co.uk/.There are also nice Nardi wheels on ebay. You will probably have to make a stack of adapters for it to fit properly. I have an old refurbished Moto Lita Mark 10 on my 92 OCC, and an interesting MOMO on my 91 OCC. For the price of a new Moto Lita, it is not worth the effort to refurbish an old one. The crucial distance is between the wheel and turn signal stalk. A Grant adapter with a 1 inch spacer/adapter works with MOMO and Nardi. I had to find the right stack for a 9 hole Moto Lita. I used a short NRG, and a short Nardi adapter, then a short Nardi to Moto Lita adapter. I had to shorten some screws, and make it fit, but it turned out good. The pic for the Moto Lita is forthcoming. The horn button in the Nardi is a Grant with a ring to fill the gap made from a piece of black plastic. Nardi and MOMO have different bolt patterns, and some adapters have both patterns.
Nardi
MOMO
Last edited by Fred Kiehl; Dec 29, 2018 at 09:47 AM.
Here is a pic of the Moto Lita wheel in my 92 OCC. The sun is shining on part of it, so it looks discolored. This wheel, new in polished aluminum is $216 plus shipping from England. Shipping is about $83.
I bought this one on ebay for about $150, but I had to refinish the wood. It took me about 6 hours over 3 days, a bottle of superglue, 2-4 sheets of 180 grit carbide sandpaper, and two spray cans of urethane spar varnish. The cracks are filled with sanding dust and superglue, and there are about 10+ coats of spar varnish on it. I taped off the spokes to keep the anodizing from getting varnish on them, and to give me a place to hold it while varnishing.
Last edited by Fred Kiehl; Dec 29, 2018 at 07:03 PM.
My '68 came with the "walnut wheel" & I couldn't stand it! It was too big,too thin, & the dish was too deep. It felt like I was driving a bus. I was going to buy a repop '70 up 4 spoke wheel(probably the coolest factory wheel ever put in an A-body!!) since it'll bolt right on but it seems everybody has one on their '68. I found a nice real wood one from Tracy Corvettes Ebay store, It was $229. It uses all the GM hardware & is 15" in diameter & has a much flatter profile,I really like it. He also had a spacer to fill in the notch for my '68 hub, which you won't need. Those $$$$$$ N34 '69 wheels do show up once in a while, it is a great looking wheel! You might try Ron Memmer(Ron's classic cutlass) he usually has one in stock but it won't be cheap
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have that exact same Grant steering-wheel on last picture, on my car.
Take a note; wooden halves around metal-frame werent centered to other side, therefore needing sanding to get it "good" ( would pass QC at 70's maybe), and the gluing of wooden parts to each other to form a circle, was badly done, pieces slightly separated here and there.
Classic example about you get what you pay. Invest to Nardi if you want wooden. Just my opinion.
The horn buttons are not bolt in, they are spring loaded, and push in. Sometimes the wheel has a bolt on trim ring around the horn button. The black spoke Moto Lita, above) uses the ring to bolt the wheel to the adapter, and the horn button slips in the opening. It can be removed by prying it out. The Nardis have a trim ring that slips over a couple of extended bolts as an enhancement, but is not supplied with all wheels. The fancy screws are often allowed to remain exposed. The MOMO above is secured by 6 screws, and the trim ring is held in place by the two screws at 3 and 9 o'clock.
I looked into replacing the wood, and it is a major undertaking. You need a large diameter lathe to shape and finish the wood. The time required to complete the task far outweighs the cost of a new wheel.
