Steering Wheel Mockup

It’s been an interesting wait for parts and materials to arrive. Since I couldn’t do much with the wiring until I got parts, I took off in a completely different direction.

For literally years I’ve been trying to decide what style steering wheel I wanted. I didn’t really like any of the aftermarket designs, as they don’t look right on a ’56 Plymouth, but after I changed the original plan to use an aftermarket Ididit steering column in favor of a 70s Dodge truck part, there were suddenly many different stock wheels to choose from, but despite a wider selection, none of the stock wheel looked like it might have been a factory product in fifties.

A couple of the smaller diameter OEM wheels might have looked good enough, but with manual steering, I decided that one  a 17” rim was almost a necessity. While waiting and procrastinating, I suddenly visualized what I wanted, and I’m glad to say that it’s based on the stock ’73 part from my own truck when I replaced it with one from a ’76 Cordoba!

So, for much of the last three days, I’ve been designing parts to make modifications using the OEM center cap with the Plymouth ship logo that came from the Fury parts car and a horn switch from a Volare wheel.

To make the horn bar design appear more period-correct, it had to be bright to match the dash and interior trim, so I started with a stainless-steel center cap from a big truck road wheel and cut it to fit.   Horn bars are made from 18ga sheet metal that will be chrome plated to match the center cap. Not sure if I will need to add anything to make it look more stock. I'll decide that after the rim is leather wrapped to match the upholstery.

I know the description is confusing, but here’s one photo that shows some of the basic parts loosely assembled. 

Meanwhile, I received the new fuel pump for my truck from Rockauto, and got it installed. Like everything else, it took three times as long as it would have when I was younger and more agile, but at least it’s in, and the engine fired immediately. One other good thing that was discovered was that when I removed the filter, the short rubber hose that attached it to the tank line was badly deteriorated and would have soon sprung a leak. It’s funny that the piece between the filter and the carburetor line was like new, yet they both came with the filter and were installed at the same time.

Last, but definitely not least! Geir, the knob you sent arrived on Saturday and it’s mounted, so here’s a poor photo of the completed tach panel.

Thank you so much for your generous help, and if I have any parts you might need for your project, just let me know and it’s yours!