TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:20 pm

Hi, what early steering wheels will fit a 1961 ragtop. I was wondering if a batwing steering wheel would fit it. I think the steering shaft is to short. Thats why they came out with a dish style steering wheel :roll: . I dont know :?:

Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:39 pm

The stock steering wheel for that year was the dish style with chrome horn ring

Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:48 pm

yea I know, I was just wondering what other older steering wheels would fit.

Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:00 pm

No, the splines are completely different for the earlier styles, pre-60.
You could replace the whole steering column with an earlier one with the larger splines, then you could fit an early wheel.

Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:20 pm

You'll need the following:
Pre '59 steering column shaft
Pre '59 steering coumn tube
Pre '59 horn contact brush
steering wheel bushing
and obviously the wheel (1950-55/$350)(1956-59/$200)

the horn button can cost you an additional $200+/early & $75+/late

Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:17 pm

So will the old batwing steering wheels fit on a pre 1959 steering colume?

Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:22 pm

tylergeddis wrote: So will the old batwing steering wheels fit on a pre 1959 steering colume?

Yep.

Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:43 pm

Why fit an early wheel to a late car anyway? Why not just buy an oval or split or fit the correct parts to your car? It's currently vogue to run all the oem parts again

Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:14 am

Maybe because they want to?

I missed the '53 Standard 3-spoke wheel that was in the classifieds a few days ago, complete with horn button, for €100 :shock: ; it was about an hour's drive from me in Austria. I would rock that bitch on my '58 HAPPILY, far from caring about what's in "vogue" or what car you think I should buy for it. :roll:

Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:17 am

tylergeddis wrote: So will the old batwing steering wheels fit on a pre 1959 steering colume?
And '59 too.