Steering wheel selection / 71' Trans Am

[Bottom Feeder]

Hey guys.  I have an opportunity to pick out a trans am steering wheel.  My car is a 70, but I'm sure a 70 wheel is big money.  My car will be a 71 T/A clone.  I know I like the "fat" wheel better.  I was just wondering if there was a "pecking order or wish list" of the various steering wheels.  I think I read the 70-72 wheel is the same?  What about the different  colors, gold silver etc, wasn't gold on the later model ta's? Thanks.  BTW, what is the most sought after wheel, he might have one at a great price!

I think the steering wheel will be $100 - $200, unless it's some rare animal.

[roadking77]

Gold was on the s.e.'s. I think the 80-81 had black spokes. Earlier cars had silver spokes. At some point the thickness of the grip changed. I know the 77 has a thin grip.  I knew a guy that had a dozens upon dozens of wheels of which I bought a few. He was selling them to me for around $100 for very good. I would think $100-$200 would be a fair price for a nice wheel. If youre not too concerned about originality Sue Sarafinski does a pretty decent job wrapping them in leather. It will end up being a bit thicker than stock after she is done. I spoke with her husband Joe and they will not redo the spokes but I have done a couple in silver and theyre pretty easy.

[Bottom Feeder]

Thanks Road King

[firebirdparts]

The early cars really had black spokes when they were new, but they were black anodized aluminum, and over the years they turned silver.  You can look at brochure art and see that plainly.


The first "special" wheel made was the gold anodized/black rim T/A limited edition wheel, and then in 1977 the blue skybird wheel came out.  That was the first one that was color coordinated.  1978 gold editions had a color coordinated tan wheel with gold spokes, and 1978 redbirds have a carmine red wheel with gold spokes. They decided after that they wanted to color coordinate all the formula wheels in 1979.

In December of 1979 they switched to a steel frame steering wheel with black paint and those babies ain't ever turning silver.

I hadn't thought too much about a pecking order, but I do think the "fat" early wheels are at the top of it.

[Bottom Feeder]

Thanks man!!

[roadking77]

When did the they change from black spokes to anodized silver? 

And were there other leather wrapped wheels besides the Tenth? Were the  pace cars leather wrapped? The leather wrapped one is completely different altogether.

[firebirdparts]

When did the they change from black spokes to anodized silver? 

And were there other leather wrapped wheels besides the Tenth? Were the  pace cars leather wrapped? The leather wrapped one is completely different altogether.

Never.  They were all black (78 brochure is below), but the black faded and then you're looking at aluminum underneath.

The indy cars also had a leather steering wheel.  I kinda think the NASCAR did not, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.

[roadking77]

Hm, thats interesting. I could have swore they were bare aluminum anodized at some point.

[Wallington]

They wore off, but also seemed popular to polish off, or similar.

If you liked the fatter grip and planned/needed to recover in leather, they can beef it up with extra padding. Save some money using a more common core also. Or add padding to an early wheel for super size grip!

[Bottom Feeder]

Thanks guys!!!

[roadking77]

I mistakenly sent a regular wheel to be recovered for my Tenth. It was wrapped on the stock wheel with no extra padding. It is considerably thicker than the stock wheel on my 77. I can pull it out and measure if you would like. I would be careful adding any additional padding unless you want a really thick wheel.

[firebirdparts]

that is an issue, the leather wheels had a smaller foam core originally.

I sent a bunch of them over the years to somebody who was covering them with leather.  That would be the very best way to go, I think.  There are repops, but I think the leather is better if you just want a nice wheel.

LeCarra makes a nice range of colors (new, leather) at a good price, but they are showing out of stock until 5/18 on Summit.  Well, some are 3/4 and the basic black/silver is 1/26.

[Wallington]

Is the grip on the TATA actually smaller pre-leather, or just has the cutout slot for the stitching material at the base?

[firebirdparts]

It's smaller all around.

[Wallington]

The 78 booklet is only a general appearance of products anyway, may features didn't exist for production models. But good for steering wheel example.

[djustice]

I had a repop one in aluminium, looked great, but bendt very quickly with sligth force.
I then got a tip of an ebayseller that did quality work in any color and thickness i wanted, these where based on a stock core and repainetd and wrapped in leather. it was a solid piece! i am very happy with the way it turned out.


And a link to the sellers shop: https://www.ebay.com/sch/1joe208/m.html?_trkparms=folent%3A1joe208%7Cfolenttp%3A1&_trksid=p3542580.m47492.l71970

[TATurbo]

That is really interesting about the spoke finish.  Thanks for the sharing.
I've been around these cars since the early 80's'.  I thought the 'Formula' wheels came in silver, Gold for the SE's then black spokes in '80-81'.  Learn something new every day.

Mostly I wanted to warn that I've been waiting for my wheel from Lecarra since July...6+ months now.  In October Summit said they'd be shipping in November...When I called Lecarra in December they said they had an equipment problem and it'd be  'a couple of weeks' before it's fixed.  That was about 8 weeks ago. That reminds me...I need to call them again.

[Wallington]

For 1980-81 they swapped from the brushed blackened alloy spokes to steel spokes which then had the same black pebbled paint finish as the steering column collar. Here's a nice shot of an original unrestored '81 Turbo TA showing the finish of the steel spokes.

https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/WR8K6/s1/survivor-grade-1981-pontiac-firebird-trans-am-turbo-for-sale.jpg

SE models also had black spokes, not gold like '76-79 alloy wheels. 1981 SE.

https://barrettjacksoncdn.azureedge.net/staging/carlist/items/Fullsize/Cars/196472/196472_Misc_ddb6de19-722f-48ea-97c2-04954a2b736d_Web.jpg

[roadking77]

Great pics.

Tom, That stinks about the wheel, but I suppose its the way things are now. We should all just realize how spoiled we were that we could order something on monday and have it by thursday. Diff times now. Hopefully it will be in before youre ready to start cruising again.