Wooden Steering Wheel

[jaudette3]

A few weeks ago I found an original wooden 911 steering wheel in my garage that I forgotten I had. It was in pretty nice shape, but I went ahead and sent it to Jack Arct in Portland for refinishing. Jack is The Man for wooden wheels in the 356 world and does jewelery quality work early Nardi wheels, 356 Carrera wheels. I just received the 911 wooden wheel back from Jack and wow! It's a beautiful wheel.

The only problem is that I don't have a car that it is appropriate for. I have a '72 S Targa and a '73 S Coupe, both of which equipped with RS wheels. The wooden wheels are more appropriate for the SWB cars as far as I know. By way of description, the one I have has "11" and "67" stamped on the inside hub, which I assume stands for 911 and 1967??

I'd like help identifying the wheel, and if it's appropriate only for a SWB car then I may go ahead and sell it, so I would like input on what it's worth.

Thanks,
John Audette

[hoffman912]

probably stands for nov of 67.

my oil cooler has 2 68 stamped on it, and so does some other areas of my car (including the original steel wheels). my car is an early 68, so february of 68 is when it must have been built. (i know for a fact the 2/68 on the wheels is a date stamp, since the other parts have the same i will assume that its the date on the other parts).

i have not removed my wood wheel to see what is stamped on it.

my wood wheel needs restored.. how are Jacks prices? do you have a link with some info? can you post a pic to show what the finish looks like?

ive seen so many oem porsche wood wheels with different finishes after being restored and im always interested to see how different guys do it.

if you do consider selling it, try the 912 registry as well as here. there are alot of swb guys on there who are interested in good wooden wheels and other well restored pieces. www.912bbs.org

[tom dance]

That is a 67 wheel which as you say is appropriate for an swb. However you can put in on the 73. I've got one on my 70S and really like the way it looks. I like these and have restored a few of them, lots of work but they do look great on an early 911.
Tom

[gruen911]

Guys,
I restored this one myself after being quoted a ridiculous amount to have it "professionally" redone in Switzerland last Summer ($750 - *&%$ that!). I was also scared I would end up being "Alan Gunn'd" like JCF was last year with his wood wheel.
Here was my recipe: First, I hand sanded the wheel down to virgin wood using 600 grit paper (no chemical peels used - just the hands!). Afterwards, I used a dremel at low speed to get the old lacquer off the finger grooves on the backside without wearing them down. Total time sanding which I did over a few weeks was about 6 hours.
Fast forward 6 months - I finally went to a large hardware store last weekend in Munich called Obi, they are like the German equivalent of Home Depot in the USA, and spoke with the specialist there. He suggested going with a satin finsh (so did GeorgeK by the way). So I bought some 800 grit paper, a good horsehair brush, and a small can of clear lacquer. Spent most of last Saturday and Sunday painting and sanding. I ended up laying 6 coats of lacquer and plenty of wet sanding in between coats. I thought about laying down more coast, but I thought if I did much more I would lose the look and feel of the wood grain in the finish.
I even surprised myself how nice it came out.

[John Fusco]

Great job Garth. Maybe you and George should put up a shingle " Steering wheel and gaul bladder surgery at a reasonable rate ".
Did you restore the metal part as well ?
Why satin finish ? Wasn't the orig finish gloss ?

Do you or anyone know if the chrome ring (around the horn button) can be restored/rechromed ?

John

[tom dance]

Hey Greun, very nice job. I prefer the satin myself. I'll have to post a few pics of mine. Ended up with 4 of them but need only one for my 65. The 65 is irish green so I'm thinking maybe the gloss would be better as it would match the refinished dash. Have to think on this one.
Tom

[gruen911]

[QUOTE
Did you restore the metal part as well ?
Why satin finish ? Wasn't the orig finish gloss ?

Do you or anyone know if the chrome ring (around the horn button) can be restored/rechromed ?

John[/QUOTE]

JF,
Yes, the chrome ring can be re-chromed and is cheap to do since it is so small. I had mine rechgromed 2 years ago.The PITA is getting it off the horn button without doing any damage. It is attached on the underside with 6 metal tabs which need to be bent straight - and then the ring pops right off. Use needle nose pliers and take your time. I believe that the chrome ring is actually made of copper underneath, because I originally tried to clean mine with a polishing compound, and it ended up looking gold colored?! To find out what was correct, I looked pictures of some original wheels and I realized that the chrome ring should definitely be silver looking (not gold). I sent it to the chromers along with my 2 hole horngrilles, and they did the ring for free since it was so small and light.
As for the metal spokes, I lightly sanded and scuffed with some of the leftover 800 grit paper from the wheel, and lightly sprayed them with a can of black Rustoleum satin spray paint. I first thought about sending it to a painter and having it gun sprayed, but because the surface area is so small, I figured that if I shook the can well, and laid down a few very light coats from a 12-18 inch distance that the paint would look even. And it turned surprisingly good.
As for choosing to go with the satin instead of gloss wood finish, GeorgeK and I talked about this last Summer, and we agreed that alot of the refinished wheels seem to have too much gloss to them and look "too restored". The stain finish gives a very nice gloss (especially with 6 coats!!!!!!) but without looking too glossy. It makes the deep rich color of the mahogany wood look real instead of "plastic-y". It also feels good in the hands...

[70SATMan]

Fantastic job Gruen! Now aint that more satisfying than writing a $750 check?

The copper you were seeing is actually copper plate over the brass ring. The copper provides a better "stick" for the chrome.

I really like the finish of the wood. I've never been a big fan of the Glossy wood wheels.

[matt13421342]

Gorgeous.
I got one of these for NOTHING a few months before I got my '72T and let it go for pretty cheap. It was in excellent survivor condition.

[Soterik]

Thought I would update this thread in timing with Tom's wood wheel sale post over in classifieds.

I've got quite a number of factory wood wheels, both aluminum base and steel base.

Based on my wheels, I don't think the stampings are indicative of a date.

Here's the stampings on them:
#1976, aluminum
#2078, steel
#75, steel
#2274, aluminum
#1037, steel
#2082, steel
#1020, steel

regards,
Eric