Just curious, what are the differences in the steering wheels in the pinto's? I was under the impression the early ones had the fatter mid section piece, but today I saw a 78 that had that same wheel on it. Was that maybe replaced?
I think there where two types, the plastic 3 spoke and the metal 3 spoke . I do not think they made any changes to the plastic 3 spoke...The metal ones I think were on the Cruising Wagons and or the ESS
Actually, I don't think there was ever a plastic three-spoke. The standard steering wheel was a plastic two-spoke with a center hub horn button. The deluxe interior upgraded that to a padded two spoke, of which there were two designs. One went straight across, and was a bit concave, used from 1971-74. In 1975 the outer ends of the padded spokes turned downwards a bit rather than going straight across, and it was less concave than the earlier version. It's hard to describe without a picture. Anyway, that remained essentially the same from 1975-80. The three-spoke metal sport steering wheels came on certain models and were available as an option on other models some years (not sure which). Sorry I can't be more specific, but this is more or less correct.
Dwayne :)
not sure what you mean by fatter mid section .. i have the metal steering wheel on my 73 that came from a granada of the mid 80`s i think .. and now have a grant on my 80 that was listed as fitting every ford made tween 70 and 90 or so ....
I know on my 77 I have a steering wheel from a mid 80s Ford F150 & it works fine. The only major difference is the center logo
Your question has been well covered. So I'll just add that going by the Ford parts book,there were 3 basic wheels. 2 spoke w/ 'button', 2 spoke with 'horn bar' & the 3 spoke (metal) 'sport wheel. From there is gets a little crazy. They list an optional 2 spoke leather wrapped wheel for a couple of years and a leather wrapped 3 spoke in addition to the 'soft foam' type. Etc.
Cool, no that helps, the one I was thinking of was the 2 spoke horn bar one with the deluxe interior. Mine has the 2 spoke with "button", so thank you!