Hot Rods Little Pages circa '57-'62; popular rod steering wheels were?

I think this about right for the first appearance cl***ic '60s era aftermarket steering wheel. The Cragar slot spoke wheels are in my '61 Cragar catalog, and Moon lists similar wheels branded as Carrol Shelby in'63.

 

Trying to explain: When you put a 40 dash in a 32 closed car, you either narrow it in the center and end up with a narrow speaker grille that looks awful to me, or slice/dice to eliminate the twin ashtrays, or reshape both outer ends and do narrowing alongside the ashtrays, which is what I did. That moves the column closer to the driver side by I guess an inch or two.

I have a 46-48 Ford column and it's "longer than a 40 column drop" w/key/lock. The 40 drop is too short for a good angle. Yes I shortened it when I switched the inner shaft to Chevy spline. I don't mind recutting/changing splines, but the issue is that the 17" 41-48 Chevy wheel is maybe 1.5" away from the door panel /garnish.

Found another issue today when my son got involved; He pointed out that by using a newer V wheel and going shorter on the column that would be needed for the V, then the drivers knee will hit the backside of the V'd spokes when clutching/braking. We have the seat as far back as possible, which is further that a stock 5w coupe body (which it started as), so other than moving the wheel more in your face, there is no knee room. He said run the Chev wheel for now, as he wants the cars done before I "retire"
.

 

Should add the Cragar wheels in the '61 catalog are also black and white only. The Shelby wheels in the '63 Moon catalog are available in black, white, yellow and red, or metallic red green, gold or blue. I'll post the pages from both catalogs.

 

Frank, the steering wheel on my car is 16".............but......i think it is '33 chevy mercury only.

 

I see, so the wheel is sitting lower in the car due to late forties column drop. Now it makes sense. How about the Buick wheel that was in that one I sent you? HELL of a good looking wheel, and its flat. If they are 17", that could work good, and REALLY look sharp. Half a chance it may fit the chevy splines as well. If you are looking for a wheel smaller than 17" that is period correct (keep your shirts on, I didn't say "traditional") a bell is probably your only option. I REALLY like chevy ****erfly wheels too, but those are big $$$.

 

This wheel. Google search confirms, it is '57 buick special. DAMN good looking wheel, and I have
seen them in other hot rods from the period.


The spokes are tapered, but its not as deep as the '57 Ford wheel. What do you think? The only thing is, I am not certain its 17".

 

I knew those were small because that's why I bought a mint one at the Brooklyn carshow about 5-6 years ago for $10. , I spotted those oddball 4.25" bolt circle wheels first...because I was looking for wheels for my 32 Nash, saw they were not Nash, so I asked what else he had for the baby Chevy. That wheel went on a chop channel rod I sold.

 

Found it, '57 Buick special wheel is 17.5" in diameter. Could you manage with 1/4" less clearance? maybe you could find someone you could borrow one from and try it out?

 

It sure looks REAL big, but it could be the small ****pit that makes it look big? EDIT< I see you found the diameter...17 is tight right now, but what's a 1/4"

I was just thinking; we have one small oldie junkyard just over the M***achusetts line where I found the 32 Ford parts I needed...they have some 40s 50s Buicks left, and a few other brands

 

head over there with a tape measure! The source I found that said the Buick special wheel is 17.5" was a road test in a 1957 Pop mechanics, so you can probably take that to the bank.
Heres something else. Photo I found online of a aftermarket 15" C1 corvette wheel next to an original. The original is pretty big, I would say at least 17", probably bigger.

 

439914.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:23 PM

George , just to clarify ; those"Shelby" wheels shown in the Moon catalog are Covico manufactured . I have been a freak for them,for quite a few decades. Notice the even spacing between the 3 spokes. My pet peeve is a whole lot of guys,p***ing off the typical Grant, Ansen, Pip, Superior later style as early 60's "period correct". I won't even go into my rant about the Grant in Milner's '32 that is ALWAYS referred to as a real Covico. (Oops guess I just did).

 

I used this Bell 201 in 1960.

 

Yup, I mentioned in my pm to frank, lots of Bells, especially in the more race oriented cars. I'd love to have one of those Cragars with a red rim for my '65 falcon...
Bowie, is the yellow Covico in your '32?

 

**** picture but this is the '59 wheel with '57 horn ring in my '52 Ford. Had to shuffle the mount plate around for the horn ring but otherwise it fit right on and the '59 wheel has a really convenient place to break off two-tone paint so I like it better than the early wheel. I only used the '57 horn ring because it had better chrome than my '59 one did.

 

George: That yellow 14and a1/2" is in my 3w. I gave 35 bucks for it NOS at Hershey in 1978. My 1st Covico a black 12" came to me ,on my 91a Mac gocart ;when I was 11.

 

Man that car is early sixties pitch perfect!

 

George, the Special wheel was the smallest, the Roadmaster and Limited wheel was bigger yet. just got information and no other reason. I know that it is probably not what anyone wants to hear but Jeep wheels were popular in the '50s in hot rods at least more race themed hot rods that were budget built. I know at least in the part of Oregon I went to high school in there were a few old '50/'60s build rods still around and a lot of them had Jeep wheels. They were probably a 16-18" wheel though.

I used to see a kiaser wheel in some of the older showier rods from time to time too.

 

Thank you George! I have never changed her much...just some futzing and refining. My biggest offense are the '68 vett seats,got tired of sliding my *** off the early 50's Healy buckets! F&J : did not mean to highjack your thread,sorry.Please post some pics of your '32; to jar up some more wheel ideas.

 

Frank, I don't have pics of you in the car, so this is just a suggestion, but have you actually tried the ford wheel out in the car? The Ford wheel is only 1/4" bigger than the wheel you have in there, and unless its gonna really be up in your chest, the dish might actually give you MORE room. My thinking is this, the deuce body curves in a bit as you move forward and down. I just measured the "dish" in my ford wheel, I figure if you don't shorten the column, the rim will move up and back about 3" relative to the wheel you have, and it will have more knee room. This should actually give you MORE clearance between the steering wheel rim and the body that the wheel you have.
Whether or not it really puts it too close to your body to be comfortable, I cant really say, but I would at least suggest pulling the chevy wheel, and sitting in the car with ford wheel in your hands and checking it out. Don't forget to make engine noises...

 

That special wheel in the channeled full-fendered roadster is just plain ***y, looks DAMN good in there.

 

I did not measure the Ford wheel, but I will. It seemed way bigger than the 41-48 chevy wheel.

I'm starting to see that a lot of old builds had the wheel way up high? ..

I'll try some of those ideas today, now that the car is off the stands, and we took the roof off yesterday. I'd like to come up with more knee room so my son can drive it. He is 6-2 or so, and didn't like driving it before.

 

They were way up high because a lot of columns didn't get modified back then. A lot of the tools that we consider to be normal shop tools were elite tools back in the '50s and '60s. Hell even in '68 when I chopped my first A it was done with a torch and a skill saw with the blade turned around backward.

 

very true. you also gotta remember, a lot of these cars were channeled, they needed the wheel up high and back to clear their knees.

 

Today I bolted the (31 Cad V12) seat back in, and it has an adjuster to move it back till it nearly hits the back of the ****pit. I don't have a rear parcel shelf, so it's back 100%

Sat in it and now I recall why the column is at a certain angle and why I could not bring that wheel further up; The car is chopped, and the seat bottom springs are modded to keep you low, for headroom on bumps. By doing that, if the top of the steering wheel is up too high, it blocks vision in the short windshield. Right now the rim is 2" into the vision view. So a smaller diameter would be better. The arm reach is dead nuts perfect.

I did just mess with pedal stops to gain some knee room, bringing the pedals a bit lower.

I measured that 56? Ford wheel at 18" exactly, and the Chev is exactly 17.25"

I'm looking at the 15" repro flat vette wheel in the pic from George, but the rim is real fat like modern stuff. If you could see the rim from an old vette, it is thin like a late 50s to late 60s GM, not really a round cross-section, and has finger bumps underside.

maybe I'm too fussy. I'm just finding the last few things that I'd like to fix, and this is the last one I think

 

If you could go into the '60s for a wheel then a MOPAR/Chrysler wheel may do the trick for you they came in square and or flat bottomed. I am sure the reasoning was for leg room as much as style.

 

That's interesting, my '57 Ford wheel measures 17.25", and my T-bird wheel measures 18". I had always ***umed the '56/'57 wheels were the same except for the horn ring, looks like that's not the case, and the '57 wheel is smaller. Another possibility, I wonder if it may be that the '57 fairlane 500 wheels are smaller because of the lower roofline?

 

You know Frank, maybe you should just put a re-pop Bell in it. I know its not ideal, but...

 

At the risk of being flogged...... Disclaimer: I know this is NOT traditional nor period

American Retro has "reproductions" of a few wheels that are 15" diameter, including 56-7 Thunderbird. Just offering up a possible solution.
http://www.american-retro.com/shop/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=13

 

Take a trip to that wrecker and see if you can find a '57 Buick special. Maybe you will get lucky.

 

FLOG HIM!! Scourge him! DRAW AND QUARTER HIM!!
Actually, that does look better then the small diameter Corvette wheel.