Technical Half of my 1959 Steering Wheel Plastic is Missing

After reading this thread where the guy finds a good round wheel as a donor then welds the hub and spokes from his original wheel to it makes the most sense to me.

My square wheel

 

There was a tech thread here a few years back where the guy took a modern wheel and cut the center out, then cut back a bit of material to expose the metal ring inside. Then cut the center out of his original wheel and welded them to the new wheel ring. Then fill the voids with epoxy then paint. If that explanation makes sense... Maybe someone more "tech" than I can find and link that old post.

 

97, Pearlcraft looks like the deal!!!!! Lippy

 

They’re an Australian company so I’m wondering if they also do left hand drive steering wheels? LOL

 

I think you could find a bunch of replacement wheels out of similar Chrysler products. There have been some great suggestions, such as the partial wrap. I like the square wheel.

 

Look at this:

Nick

 

Don't judge an automotive recycling yard by its website.

Call them.

French Lake Auto Parts has supplied numerous parts for my projects. They are excellent people to deal with, and have a TON of good parts.

 

I have an old Packard wheel I mean to do, one of these days. Nice banjo spokes. Plastic coated ring all destroyed by age. I’m going to do it with wood. Similar to the corian idea earlier, just make two halves, glue, and router. Some stain to make it pretty. Probably get a painter friend to shoot some clear to protect the stain.

 

If you were a crafty kind of guy, you could do like the Hirohata merc knobs. Cut the first half circle pieces out of a certain color of 1/8th flat colored plexi, grooved to cover the rim piece, then layer pieces on top to get the thickness you wanted then sand and polish it. Could look any way you wanted. Capish? Lippy

 

Tell people that's the way it came.

 

Where are you from? There is a guy named Steeringwheelkris on Instagram that does incredible work in Southern California.

 

Frenchlake did not have anything. Only 65k Chryslers were even built in 59. About the same as 58. Finding a similar wheel would still need extensive repair.

I believe the plastic that has disintegrated is cellulose acetate or similar. Keeping the doors shut for a while has a smell akin to my old Craftsman screwdrivers that my favorite description from garagejournal was that their toolbox smelled of "vomit infused ******". The closest thing to this plastic I have seen is an old proto nut driver where the yellow handle self destructed into sharp shards (likely what happened to this wheel). I finished the destruction and am going to make a new handle for it

The steering wheel used to be black and red so it has definitely degraded a lot. Unfortunately, the plastic extends down the steering bracket and that too is degraded and may be too brittle to fill.

What I will likely do is use tubing along the bottom to build it up to a decent diameter and then fill in any cracks or gaps to create a silicone mold as a permanent solution. I might be able to get by with the vinyl tubing, glitter glue, fill, and paint, but I am unsure how much strength the plastic has left to be able to fill and paint.

 

Check out the "general mischief" build thread. He has a handmade banjo wheel there.