Projects How to date a Superior steering wheel

I have a wood wheel that's 15.5" dia with a 4" drop, has a thumb groove and doesn't look to be chrome (like a satin?).

Is there a way to get a date or at least an era.......Also post up what you have with pics.

 

I see different thicknesses in the grip area (on wood and non wood wheels), 3 holes vs 4 holes, almost all the wood wheels I've seen have rivets. A technical breakdown of eras would be great.

This thread is for ALL superior wheels.

 

Watching! I love superior wheels!

 

Superior was bought out by Grant in the 80's and Grant continued to produce there wheels including the "500" with minor differences the number of holes in the spokes of the SPP(Superior) wheels had 4 holes and Grant makes them with 3 holes and when Grant took over ,the SPP logo and the flying man stamp was replaced with the Grants logo...that's what I found when I did a search.......

Sent from my QTASUN1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Have two of these, both mine are riveted. I don't know how old they are except that I've had them forever. I remember a write-up of how to remove and refinish the wood (that was a long time ago). Sorry, that's all I got, good luck.

 

i have never tried to date a steering wheel but i would assume that buying it some flowers or a flashy horn button would be good way to pique the interest and let it know you are a serious suitor...…..
Chappy

 

The 3 hole wheel was a Cal Custom trademark ( not registered). I have never seen an early Superior wheel (pre Grant) with 3 holes. The only superior wheels I have seen that I remember with the thumb groove were early wheels. That is probably little help and it is just my experience as memory serves but there you have it.

 

a little from the internet....apparently they were making wood wheels before ZIP codes came along.

 

1) Dress nicely
2) Open the car door for them
3) Nice dinner at a fancy restuarant
4) A kiss goodnight
5) Never call them again

 

I was waiting for that......hmm, I thought it would be sooner .

 

I don't know about dates but I had one of the walnut wheels on an old 61 chevy pickup once. No matter how I cleaned it,[I even used lacquer thinner!] it was sticky in damp weather and always left some kinda black goo on my hands.

 

I did a post early on in the thread, then deleted it because it was just too easy

Ray

 

Paaa rump rump Any good comedian will take it anyway they can get it.

 

Just ask it out for drinks

 

I bought that exact wheel new in 1966 for my 57 Chevy.. In 1969, I had to glue the halves back together to sell the 57....

 

Was it supposed to be satin or was it chrome?, there's no shiny spot on mine at all which leads me to think it came with a satin finish.

 

Mine was shiny chrome.. I don't remember any satin finish wheels at that time...

 

In the Internet age you would both agree to meet at a coffee shop were no one knew you in case it doesn't turn out.

 

So I found this wheel in 2016 in a landfill.
I know absolutely nothing about it, but everything I search leads me here, can anyone help me with ANY information on this wheel?

 

I have a collection of Superior 500 steering wheels, and I have one identical to yours hanging on my wall. Same wood grip, same depth and hole spacing. Since these wheels didn't have any kind of date code on it, this one (along with mine) could have been made anywhere from the early 60's up until the early 80's before Grant bought them out. These were very popular in custom vans and in muscle car era vehicles as a "day 2" type upgrade, I would guess yours and mine both were likely made in the 1970's.

 

So would it have any sort of value attached to it? I've got nothing to put it in that would mean anything worth while. I've tried locally but I might as well just put it on eBay

 

It's in decent enough condition, the wood isn't cracked or anything crazy like that. Has a little bit of glue on the wood, and some rust pitting in the center, I tried cleaning up the loose top coat with a soft cloth and most came off without much effort. It's definitely not perfect but would be a great wheel for something of the era

 

That one's pretty clean, I think you could get $75 for it, either here or on eBay or wherever you decide to list it. There's a flat version of this same wheel that brings a lot more, this type with the dish is more common (and less popular in sports car applications) so they don't bring as much. Still, a good save from the landfill, it'll net you a few bucks and help out someone else's project, which is good for the hobby.

 

Zip codes came a long in 63 I believe

 

I will keep this in mind, thank you. I saw the last date on the forum and wasn't sure if I'd be waiting very long, glad to see it is still active!

 

For the record I had the good fortune of parlaying a '58 Nomad ( 225hp, turbo trans ) into a tour of Europe in the Summer of '71. ( May-Sept )
The few addresses That I took with me never received my cards using Postal Zoned addresses.
To my disappointment, I learned of the new system of ZIP codes

 

I'm not sure that this is correct--I have had a couple of these--not the wooden ones, but the foam grip ones--one 14" and one 12", both had only 3 holes and both had the old SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS/The "500"/flying race car driver logo. One of them I took out of a early '60's Falcon wagon that was in a junkyard in TN in the mid '90's (and looked like it had been there for a long time), the other I just recently got off of eBay. Both of them looked older than dirt when I got them. The one I just got looks identical to the one I pulled out of that junkyard 30 years ago except for the diameter.

 

I have a wheel but it says the “500” superior industries instead of superior performance products. When did they switch the naming?