VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Steering Wheel-color

On my '30 Coupe should the steering wheel(wood section)be black in color? If so,is it done with paint or stain? Thanks,Stan

All 1929 and 1930 wood steering wheels were painted black.

:) :grin:

......I guess I will add to the confusion but....
I have a restored 30 2Dr Coach and the wooden steering wheel is natural wood in color. (Actually it appears to be mahogany in grain and color). Also in comparing the interior to my restored car to what I saw as a "unrestored survivor" at the IOLA car show in 2005 "that" unrestored 1930 Chev steering wheel was also natural wood. Now let me explain further: The wooden wheel is in eight curved wooden sections that each have finger joints cut so they each "dovetail" into each other (and form a complete circle). On the bottom side there are little humps cut in which I would call finger grips and the top side has three grooves that follow the complete circumference of the wheel. "Inside" those topside grooves it is painted black...but the whole steering wheel is not black.

No confusion. They were ALL painted black when they left the factory. You are seeing the results of someone sanding it down, and they couldn't get in the grooves, so the balck paint is still there.

It was a very, very common thing to do, to sand them down to "natural" and varnish them.

The factory painted them black to make them look "fancy" in a time when wooden products were very common, and considered maybe kind of cheap. It also hid the dovetail seams you refer to. Later, when the paint began to wear through, people just sanded them down.

ChevyGuru is totally correct....there is no confusion because ALL of the 1929 and 1930 wooden steering wheels were painted black when they left the factory.

:) :grin:

Just don't try to retrofit this solution to the 1928 wheel which was Brown with rubber grips.

Do you know who makes the wood for a new steering wheel, and about what it cost.

The 1929-30 wood rim is not being reproduced that I am aware of. I know that some dudes have made their own in their home workshop.

:)

To All, Thanks for the information !! I did paint mine black and it looks very good. Thanks again and I couldn't do it without everyones help !! Stan

Thanks Dog. Guess it won't hurt to try and make one. Don't have much to loose. Thanks again

Contact me and I will get you in contact with a fellow that makes them.

I would also like to know who might make replacement wheels please.

Could you email me that info.

Sorry, but here in Scandinavia, all wooden steering wheels I have seen in 1929 - 30 passenger cars/trucks and 31 trucks have not been painted, only varnished (clear). On my 31 pick up the wheel was not painted black before I varnished it again. I think this must be different from US factories. May be some similar in Oceania and rest of Europe?

Let's hear about it!

Here in the USA wood steering wheels were not used on the 1931 Chevrolet vehicles. 1931 was the first year for the hard rubber 3-spoke steering wheel, and it was used as a replacement for the 1929 and 1930 wood steering wheels.

:) :/ :whistle:

It's dangerous to speak about black colored steering wheels when you have not been more than 20 years a Chevrolet owner. I apologize for my lack of knowledge. :( I asked Arvid about the color in Scandinavia after my post here. Guess what? He told me the wheels were black here too, but lots of people removed that for varnishing instead. What a blunder! So, that's why I have not seen the original painted steering wheels. Sorry, folks, for not knowing, but I still will keep mine varnished.

The 31-models of passenger cars were also using the threespoked steering wheel in Scandinavia. But the stock of wooden ones were cleared by using them on the commercials. Same with the headlight bars, and other bits and pieces, to keep the prices low. Strangely enough they often used good cow leather for the seats to get a long lasting interior, even if that would cost some more than the original cover.