Original steering wheel

[morgy]

Hi

Is there any tell tail signs/marking on a late Correct/Original AC steering wheel.


Mark

[amulheirn]

The wiki is a bit short on this sort of info - it's got good info on the Ace, but the 289 ones are not well covered. If you find anything, would you mind contributing?

Have a look at what there is here:
http://wiki.the289register.com/doku.php ... s:steering

Cheers,
Andy

[morgy]

Thanks.. I checked out the wiki first before trawling through endless web pages...

Not really coming up with much...

[amulheirn]

Thanks!

I just had a look in Rinsey Mill's 'Original AC Ace and Cobra' book - it says on page 80:
"The dished aluminium, wood-rim wheel was identical to that on the later edition of the leaf-sprung Cobra"

So I guess whatever Roger has fitted would be right for yours too!


Edit: on page 63 of the same book it says"

"Rack and pinion cars had a new steering wheel, in aluminium with a laminated and riveted wood rim. It was quite deeply disked and had an AC motif in the centre where the horn push had previously been. Due to the depth of the dish it was not possible to pressthe frame in one operation during manufacture; instead the three spokes were sawn through in the middle and bent by hand to the correct angle. An aluminium ring was fitted over the centre of the spokes to hold the AC badge and hide the gaps between the sawn ends.

[clive]

This is the steering wheel on Barrie's 260, which is pre rack and pinion.

[Roger King]

The Motolita 16" split spoke wheel is as close as you will get. I've heard comments that it isn't quite exactly right, but I've yet to find anyone who can successfully show me the difference. Motolita were the original manufacturers, as I'm sure you know. The Motolita boss is correct also and matches the VW switch. The tricky bit is the correct centre trim, which is hard to find - plastic, and retained by three sneaky little clips which get lost very easily. There are a lot around that look almost right, but aren't quite...

That 260 column is the adjustable type, as fitted to Austin Healeys. Similar adjustable wheels and column and indicator parts are available for Healeys, meaning replica Ace builders can get the parts - but you'd struggle to fit them to a rack-and-pinion setup.

[Samthomasracing]

Sometimes on the mated face to the hub or under the badge you can see signs where there has been previous holes filled in and new ones drilled out, this could show it was on a previous AC (Aceca / Ace) We had this on our Aceca.

We have a process which can tell you how old materials are so we could gauge the age for you.

I've asked my friend to check his in the states and he can't see any markings as of yet.

My steering wheel is off an original cobra but i can't see any markings either.

[morgy]

Thanks for the replies, I have sent some photos off and it seems mine is a correct wheel..

Apparently there were no markings or numbers on the Original wheels Sam..



Mark

[Samthomasracing]

Thanks Mark, atleast we know for sure now !

[Dale Bowman]

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C773843