1953 Steering wheel colour?

[C6Dave]

I'm trying to determine what colour the steering wheel colour would be on a 1953 Minor Convertible April 1953

Would it have been black or grey marbled?

I have looked at various cars from around the same time, but the wheels seem to vary?

[stevey]

well if its a series 2 it should have the marbled effect 3 spoke steering wheel, with the brown bakelite horn push. As for the colour of the rim, theres no real consistancy some appeared in grey and a pinky colour as well as a light greeny colour - all marbled effect.

Hope that helps.

[frame][/frame]
heres an MM wheel, it should look like this but the bit where the horn push sits on should be gold

[C6Dave]

OK thanks. The car is a 59 but rebuilt to look like a 53 series II with split screen and front end.

Looks like I need to spend some serious money to get a wheel re done in marbled grey or brown then

[charlie_morris_minor]

the mg td steering wheel is the same as the MO so might be the same as the MM and they are readily available from the likes of Moss.. might be cheaper than getting your old one repaired.

[C6Dave]

Thanks for the info.

[DaisyMayFozz]

often you see that green cars have a green marble effect steering wheel, maybe the green marble is for your car?

[C6Dave]

often you see that green cars have a green marble effect steering wheel, maybe the green marble is for your car?

That's interesting, as I have never seen that colour and interestingly during the restoration the wheel was re finished in 'Green' (not marbled though) so maybe isn't so bad after all.

Does anyone have a picture of an original 'Green Marbled' steering wheel?

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

As Stevey says they were just produced at random and the next one fitted to the car, no colour matching.

If you want to fit one of these older wheels you will have to source an older column as well as the 59 has a splined fitting and the older wheel has a woodruff key to hold it in place, were it fits on the steering rack is the same though. They are pretty hard to find in good condition these days as the bakelite cracks and splits and then falls off. When I bought my lowlight it had a leather cover fitted over the wheel and as it was driving home I wondered were all this powdery stuff was coming from, by the time I was home the bakelite had almost completely broken up Thank goodnes for the leather or my hands would have cut to bits......

[C6Dave]

Fortunately the car has a newer column with a steering lock for a minor bit of added security being a convertible, so whilst not accurate for the car, it's a small concession to make, which makes wheels easier to find

[Neil MG]

Does anyone have a picture of an original 'Green Marbled' steering wheel?

Here you go:[frame][/frame]

[C6Dave]

I know cameras can distort colours and that one looks 'grey' to me so the green must be pretty subtle compared to what is on the car now

[frame][/frame]

[Neil MG]

Yes I will try and get a better picture today. It is more subtle than the green in your picture, but still quite distinctive. It is usually the first item to attract comment on the interior.

[ASL642]

As has been said before you won't be able to fit the earlier marbled steering wheel to the later steering column with the column lock that you have fitted. The fitting it totally different.

[C6Dave]

But I have been told that I can get one that does fit re rimmed in marble effect

[Neil MG]

Not saying that it's not possible, but I didn't know anyone was redoing these rims. That said I have seen repro rims with the same effect for MGs...

The question is whether anyone is doing this effect on newer style wheels?

[Declan_Burns]

Here's a photo of my MG TD wheel just for reference. It's more brown[frame][/frame]

[C6Dave]

I have been told at the NEC Auto Jumble that 'Wheelrights,L.V.&C. Spares' can re rim a wheel in 'Marble Effect' as can 'steeringwheelrestoration.co.uk' however.....

They charge £300 + carriage, so it looks like I'l be sticking with what I have unless something turns up on eBay