'40 Ford Deluxe Wood Banjo Wheel ???

A friend of mine had a '40 Ford convertible a while back and kept this steering wheel and column from it. Someone had mentioned that the wheel was very rare, etc. It measures about 14 1/2" in diameter. Does anyone know this to be a factory wheel? I was thinking about using it in my 26 T sedan.

Tom

 

That is a very rare optional wheel from a 1992 Streetrod. Loosely based on '39 Deluxe wheel...
You do have a very nice column and drop there.

 

notsure what you mean Bruce............ Ford had the banjo in 39 to the best of my knowledge in 1940 the design was a simple 2 bar arrangement.......Thoughts?

 

The wheel is a streetrod part based loosely on the '38-9 Ford deluxe.

 

Bruce means it's aftermarket. Looks like a copy of a 38/39 Ford with a 39 Deluxe horn button. Plus, being 14.5"...orriginal wheels are roughly 16-17"

 

Thanks for all the input, I sort of thought it might have been aftermarket...

I just took a closer look at it and inside the wheel are the numbers 4842 and Patent Number 2,073,822. I tried a google search on the 4842 number with no luck.

Tom

 

Hmmm...1935 patent...Could that be an actual '39 type hub and spokes, welded to an aftermarket 1970's type rim?? Look inside...does it have a taper and keyway, or splines like a modern wheel?? It may be an alterd wheel with aftermarket rim predating the current streetrod repos. Or...could it be that Sheller is still out there and manufacturing the common streetrod kind?? There wouldn't be any reason for using an expired patent number on a pure repro.
Anyway, the whole thing didn't leave Detroit that way. The wood riveted over stainless rim is a design I associate with late '60's---1970's aftermarket stuff.


http://www.google.com/patents?id=1x...gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Bruce...

I can seen the keyway from the back side of the wheel.

Tom

 

It looks like a cut down original to me...

Nice column drop...too bad about the wheel.

Neal

 

Here's a few more pics of the wheel...

 

It looks exactly like the one I made in 78. The spokes and hub are 39 Ford but the wood rim and the steel sandwiched between is an after market 3 hole Grant style. The holes are the giveaway. It's a home made wood wheel.



The wood was riveted to the steel center. Drill out the rivets and cut the spider out of a 10 dollar flea market wheel and weld the shortened stainless spokes to the rim. I used brass machine screws to reattach the wood. It looks like this one has the holes plugged after the wood was reattached. I notched the rim so that the weld was hidden up under the wood. Then the wood was hollowed out enough to clear the weld. The last time I saw my old truck, a year or so ago, it still had the wheel.

Believe it or not I saw the 39 donor wheel at Carlisle. The rim was sooo bad that the vendor said if you can use it you can have it. So the whole wheel cost me less than 20 bucks including the varnish

 

Yes, definitely original center! Patent is very interesting, and presumably identifies the supplier of the wheel!

 

I would definitely run that in a hot rod! I had an original 40 deluxe wheel for my T, but it was just too big at 17". Space is tight in the T, so I had to use a 15" repro of the 40 wheel.

 

I cut one down like that years ago

 

'39 Ford banjo cut down with a Superior Wheel wood rim grafted to it.
I have one for sale, Check my posts.
TOMMY explained it best. Good way to save a banjo wheel that the outside is to far gone to restore.

 

I guess you could run the numbers by someone like Bob drake or Dick Spadiro they might give you a few more clues......

 

The wheel is an original 39 DeLuxe banjo with the spokes cut down to the smaller diameter and welded to the wood-trimmed rim plate.
The horn button is an original 39 DeLuxe horn button/light switch rod which has had the rod modified. Does it have wiring to honk the horn?

 

Most Ford steering wheels were made by The Sheller-Globe Company which still makes steering wheels. The 30-31 Model A wheel was never out of production by them until the late 80s or so. They may be making somebody's aftermarket wheels right now but I think most are made in Taiwan or China.
When I was working at Specialized in Houston, we had all 4 Model A wheels,
the 35-36 Passenger and Pickup regular wheels (the Duck made the 36 Banjo),
37-38 Passenger & Pickup, 39 Std. Passenger and Pickup regular wheels,
39 DeLuxe Passenger banjo wheels, and 42-48 Passenger wheels made in Taiwan by an OEM maker for their military.
Sold many thousands of Model A wheels, and several thousands of the V8 wheels.

 

I had a cut down banjo with a Grant wood rim on my '32 Woody roadster pickup. Not quite as rare piece as folks might think.

 

We probably all read the same tech article in the magazine (I don't remember which one) back when magazines were written for home builders and not home parts buyers.

 

I think it was Rod and Custom or Rod Action had an article on doing it years ago.

 

Thanks for everyone's input... So now on to everyone's favorite question...

Is $400 a fair number for both the column and the steering wheel?
I feel it is, but would like some backup. Everything is in excellent condition, with keys that work, etc.

Tom

 

I would say so, the column drop alone with a working key in that shape is probably worth 150.00-200.00 or so.