Series 2 steering wheel

[Ruaraidh]

Hello everyone!

I’m wondering if someone can tell me what colour and finish my steering wheel should have had from the factory? My Morris is a 1952 Series 2 in empire green. The wheel was finished this way before my ownership, but I’ve had a few comments at shows about it now, so thought I better try and get it sorted! Also, could anyone please tell me what the best type of paint & clear coat to finish this with would be?

Hopefully the attached picture works.

Kind regards,

Ruaraidh

[geoberni]

There was only one part number for each of the 3 different steering wheels used on the Minor, the MM/SII one being AAA 1499.
I've seen them in basically 2 colours, a Grey and a Brown.

Ray Newell's book, Original Morris Minor, mentions that it '....was available in a number of attractive colours which complimented the rest of the interior - mottled brown and grey were the most common'.
Clearly with only one part number in the parts book, there's no way to know what the process was for fitting a particular colour to any individual vehicle.
If you want to find out what the colour of yours is, you're going to have to carefully remove some paint from the underside.

There's a good chance the paint is covering some repairs to the bakelite, if you search these pages you'll find examples of people repairs in recent years.

I'm building up the courage to remove the careful lacing which a past owner has fitted to mine, I've only had him almost 9 years...
As you can make out, Basil's is Grey under the lacing.

The potential depth of repairs you're has had are unknown. I've seen them, on ebay and at autojumbles, with a range of deterioration from lumps fallen off to just surface crazing. Hence why I'm reluctant to remove the lacing on Basil's.....
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20170906_111530.jpg (457.38 KiB) Viewed 2833 times

[myoldjalopy]

Entirely possible that the lacing was put on to hide a cracked/split steering wheel. People have repaired such cracks and splits with an epoxy resin, with varying degrees of success.

[geoberni]

Entirely possible that the lacing was put on to hide a cracked/split steering wheel. People have repaired such cracks and splits with an epoxy resin, with varying degrees of success.

That's what I'm thinking. This Sunday I'm going to the Eastern Rally at Sandringham, and if I remember, I'll ask someone with the appropriate original wheel if I can try it for 'feel', as I've got quite used to the grip of the lacing.
Then make a decision whether or not to go for the reveal over this next winter.

[Ruaraidh]

Thanks very much for all the info there. Definitely something to have a think on. I’ll maybe take it off over winter and see what I find under the finish! I guess worst case I could just flat it and paint it black to make it stand out slightly less!

Many thanks!