3 ways to look into. #1 grab a copy of hemmings and contact the people who
advertise to do steering wheel restorations and have them give you an
estimate on reparing the wheel. #2 check present day available nardi
wheels and see if that exact wheel is still being produced? might be
cheaper to buy a whole new wheel if available and hang that old original on
the den wall like a trophy(i understand there is a rather large and growing
vintage steering wheel collecting hobby out there somewhere)(old wheels seem
to have a collectable value to some people) . #3 check in your local aerea
for someone who does custom cabnet manufacturing or vintage furniture
restoration. physically visit them and show them the piece you are
discussing. a good wood guy can tell what type of wood it is and level of
dificulty in matching grain or color to do an almost invisible repair.
although nardi wheels are quite stunning i would hope you were going to use
the wheel for static display and have a modern material wheel for racing if
the car was racing. i have a rather long (will not bore anyone) story
about my mother having a very serious puncture wound on her leg from having
an accident in the family's lotus cortina(mom got to drive it to work week
days and dad raced it on weekends) back in the 60's. the wound was from the
wood rim breaking off the steering wheel during the accident. i am positive
there are more storys about why wood wheels are not a very good choice for a
race car steering wheels out there. being familiar with my mother's injury
is enough grounds for me to not question their possibilities in complicating
an already bad situation. (sorry to ramble on here).
chuck.
just some choices to explore?
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard E. Buckingham, Jr. <rebjrmd@ix.netcom.com>
To: <vintage-race@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2000 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: Nardi wood rimmed steering wheels
> Listers, I am restoring a 1960 Taraschi Formula Jr. The steering wheel
> (original) was made by Nardi. The wood (as near as I can tell) was made
of
> one or more thin pieces of wood which were wrapped around the rim. What
> has happened is part of this wood has chipped out leaving 1/8 in. slit
like
> voids which have been filled with filler, which has also chipped out. I
> think that the wood would either need to be replace entirely or perhaps
> small piece could be spliced in. If anyone has any thoughts on this
> subject or better yet, any experience with some talented wood worker who
> has done this sort of thing in the past, I would be very appreciative for
> the referral.
> Dick Buckingham, Jr.
>
> >
>
>
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