Topic: 69 Mach 1 428 CJ steering wheel

[69cobrajetrugae2]

I am having my steering wheel restored.  What shade should be wood be?  I believe I have dark teak, it could be light teak because color on the computer is not accurate.

I thought about matching the wood color on the pods and door panels but it might look like a solid color. I am paying a ton to have this done, it's my Christmas present, a little early.

What was original to the car?  She was born 6-1-69 at San Jose.

Please advise.

Thank you

Ken

[7Lscjracer]

The wheel should match the rest of the interior woodgrain color.

 

[69cobrajetrugae2]

Thanks SCJ.

Here are some snaps of my car.  Do I have the dark or light teak?

[7Lscjracer]

You have the dark.
The flash tends to lighten some of your pics, but it's clearly dark compared to my early car.
BTW, what's the date code on your wheel?
More than likely it's original, but it's worth checking out.
It would be a shame to invest in restoring one that's dated early and meant to be lighter in color.

[69cobrajetrugae2]

Hi SCJ.

The back of the wheel has the numbers "G-3 1968.  It has a stamped circle with "125" as well.

Thanks

Ken

[sah62]

Would the interior trim code on your door warranty plate happen to be 3AA?

[69cobrajetrugae2]

Hi Scott.

Yes it does. "trim 3AA".

[7Lscjracer]

Hi Ken, you have an early wheel which was born the lighter color.
My original is G 3 1968 too, but with a 122 in the circle, and my car is a Nov. 19 1968 build.
If you decide to get a date code correct later wheel please keep me in mind to buy your early wheel since mine is damaged.
I haven't seen another one with my date code for sale.
I have a spare wheel that's even earlier, but it has the glue in rim blow switch which is a nightmare to remove.
I don't know when Ford stopped doing that, but my G 3 1968 wheel was not that way.
I changed it's rim blow over 30 years ago with no problems pulling it out.

[69cobrajetrugae2]

Hi SCJ.

Why would an early wheel be on my 6-2-69 car? What does the 125 mean? 

A Ford rimblow restorer told me that initially Ford had different wood grain colors and patterns for the various Ford and Mercury models. At some point they made them all the same to save money.

[Brian Conway]

     My Sept. 19, 1968 built car has a Steering wheel stamped; G3 1968 and a circled 113.  The door data interior code is 3A and the wood grain color is Teak.  I was thinking the G3 was a date code but it now seems it may be the circled number ?  Brian

[specialed]

If the backside is nice don't have it restored as most steering wheel restorers paint it gloss black & shiny clear.  The backside of wheel should be charcoal to match the column color.

[69cobrajetrugae2]

That is the reason I am going to do it myself.  I don't want the wheel to look out of place, they go overboard on the "shiny".

Good point on the color, I thought my column was flat black, I'll look more closely .  Thanks.

[7Lscjracer]

I looked at my spare early wheel and it's G2 1968 with 131 in the circle.
I know it's early because the rim blow switch is glued in and they were only done that way initially, so no two ways about that.
I'm confused about my original wheel though because I thought the G3 was a date code of July week 3, but now I'm doubting that with everyone chiming in with G3 wheels.
BTW, "I" is not used for dates.
Don't know what the circled number denotes, date? quality control inspector stamp? batch number?

[J_Speegle]

..............BTW, "I" is not used for dates.
Don't know what the circled number denotes, date? quality control inspector stamp? batch number?

True for Ford (non use of the "I") but not sure if all the providers and subcontractors followed  the same practice. Possible IMHO that the steering wheels may have been made by a provider other than Ford like so many other pieces (wire looms, shocks, tires, upholstery..)

[69cobrajetrugae2]

Here are the pics of my wheel. The other pic is of the back of the wheel insert.  What are these numbers?

I found out today that the correct color for the column is a charcoal black in a satin, semi gloss finish.  The paint guy I  located is old school.  He retrieved a yellow worn book which showed proof that Ford used that color on the steering console.  I am assuming it is applied on the back of the wheel and grips as well. Is this information correct?

It was used from 1963 to 1982, he labeled mine as:

DBU 32586
79-82 Ford A
Black Poly

He labeled it 79-82 for technical reasons relating to the mixing code, but he said it was the same color and finish going back to 1963.

On to the date codes. The body of the wheel might be universal to other Ford products of the era.  A Mustang shop in Florida said that the faux wood grain on the rim blow wheel was a pressed on affair. After close examination of my wheel, it seems likely that different wheel faces can be pressed on.  This would make sense as a mass production methodology. That is what I would do if I was charged with steering wheel engineering.

If my theory is correct, that would explain the different numbers and dates.  They produced hundreds of thousands of these wheels and pressed on different faces depending on the application.

The paint guy brought up a good point with regards to restored steering wheels.  If your car has manual steering the wheel will likely crack again due to the to stress. I remember driving  cars with manual steering back in the day  That wheel would flex quite a bit as I remember.