Team,
I am on the verge of buying a steering wheel for my 68 XR7 but am stuck on either a repro or a restored. Any guidance to help is appreciated. My current is pretty much done.
That’s a good question. There’s about a $100 price difference between restored and repro (restored being pricier). I recently took the pictures for that repro listing and held it in my hands and it looks very nice. It’s actually done by the same guy who restores original wheels. He takes a standard black repro wheel and adds the simulated wood grain and shiny trim strips, and clears over it. I’m not sure what he uses for that trim strips but it looks good.
The main difference is that trim stip was in a slightly recessed channel on the originals, and the simulated woodgrain appeared to be a separate piece. The new one is all one piece, with the trim strips sitting on top of the surface. But that trim is very thin and cleared over so it still feels & looks smooth.
I think I’d go for the new one, partly to save myself $100, and partly because new plastic is probably going to hold up better than 50 year old plastic.
If originality is important to you, go for the restored. They both look great.
Blitz,
Is the woodgrain a good match on the repro? Originality is important to me, but not at the cost of quality reproduction parts that are not discernible to the naked eye.
Thanks for the feedback.
Brian,
I need a rim-blow 3 spoke for my 70. Exactly which company are you referring to?
West Coast Classic Cougars
The wood-graining looks good but not correct. The original had texture embedded in the mould, both the restored and repro are just painted on. I believe there is someone New Zealand that does a good job of recreating texture. The 69 repro does in fact attempt to recreate said texture.