Well in the thread about early 70's car accessories, I remembered Dwayne mentioning he had a lace on steering wheel cover in one of his Pintos. That gave me a great idea! Brownie's steering wheel is cracked in four or five places and I keep snagging my wedding band on one when I make turns, which tends to get annoying after the second or third time when just going a few miles.
I had been looking for a decent steering wheel cover for Brownie since I got her, but everything I found at O'Reilly's, Autozone or Walmart made the steering wheel to "fat" to be comfortable and easy to turn with. I had only ever seen a lace on steering wheel cover (that I can remember) on my Grandpa's old 70's chevy suburban, and some how the feel of it just made me feel at home and comfortable.
I went searching eBay and found an auction for several vintage vinyl lace-on steering wheel covers at only $3.95 a piece! I purchased two, both in brown. They were manufactured by a company called "Interior Magic". Some of you probably remember them, I personally am to young to.
Here are some pictures:
1 - The cover still in the box
2 - Brownie's steering wheel before
3 - One of the cracks that bother me
4 - Another crack that bothers me
5 - Yet another crack that bothers me
6 - Last of the cracks that bother me
7 - Brownie's steering wheel with the cover on!
I quite enjoy the feel of it and the lightness of the cover against the darkness of the steering wheel isn't as drastic as shown in the pictures. I used my phone to take pictures and tried to color correct with photoshop but wasn't very successful.
The only downside to putting this cover on is that I don't get to enjoy driving the car with it for awhile. At least not until I can replace the lower alternator bracket and not have to worry about the alternator falling off and ending up in the fan, then the radiator!
Dwayne, thanks for the idea! :D
Dave,
You're quite welcome for the idea. Coincidently, I had a tan/chamois colored one on the black steering wheel of my original '74 Runabout. They were quite the item back then!
Dwayne :smile:
Strange coincidence there Dwayne! And to add to that, I was wondering what it may look like on my original black steering wheel for my 78 Sedan! lol
It may not be as "classy" as having a leather wrapped stitch on cover, or tracking down a crack free Pinto steering wheel, but it's era correct and I think it looks great!
Thanks Dave! been looking for a "red" one to replace the one on my 1977 and have had no luck locally... had looked on Ebay before but never saw any, must have been wrong search words or something?
No problem Brian! I kept searching for stitch on covers instead of lace on covers and was getting the wrong results.
Quote from: dga57 on July 08, 2011, 12:49:24 AM
Dave,
You're quite welcome for the idea. Coincidently, I had a tan/chamois colored one on the black steering wheel of my original '74 Runabout. They were quite the item back then!
Dwayne :smile:
By the way, I failed to mention that my current '72 sedan came with a black one already installed. It looks great with the rest of the black interior!
Dwayne :smile:
I may end up swapping out the "brown" one for a black one, since I have a two tone black and brown interior going on with Brownie. Black door panels and head liner, black dash cap and of coarse the black e-brake cable and black/chrome metal shifter bezel.
Quote from: dave1987 on July 09, 2011, 11:25:37 PM
I may end up swapping out the "brown" one for a black one, since I have a two tone black and brown interior going on with Brownie. Black door panels and head liner, black dash cap and of coarse the black e-brake cable and black/chrome metal shifter bezel.
Seems to me you could go either way with it. By the way, I really like that two-tone brown/black theme... I think it has a nice clean look to it.
Dwayne :smile: