'67 steering wheel question

well, "expert" is questionable .... but here's what I know or at least have evidence for .... the '67 steering wheel dish has three spokes and a padded center hub (to make a larger hole in your chest in case of frontal impact!) .... I'm looking at a showroom brochure and all pics of the steering wheel have a three spoke wheel with NO interconnecting "metal bar along the bottom" .... I have a '67 with standard interior and the spokes are adorned with four "black dots" (painted) and the spokes are chromed .... in the brochure, several artist renditions of deluxe interiors are shown and from these one would surmize that the spokes have real holes and the spokes extend out to the wheel rim (horn buttons at the end of each spoke) -- all metal .... the standard wheel has plastic (over steel??) spokes underneath the horn spokes .... but the details on all of that are sketchy .... I do know that the standard interior wheel has three spokes as an intergral assembly to the rim with a three spoke (metal) insert for the horn .... So, this gave me yet another opportunity to view the Bullitt car chase sequence and in there are several chances to catch a glimpse of a '68 wheel -- unfortunately I could only see spokes that looked similar to the 67's .... so not much to comment on from that .... hope this helps ....

67GTFB

It sounds like you have a '68 wheel. This raises the question as to what steering column you have since a 68 should not fit quite right with the bell on a 67 column.

Out of curiosity I looked at the Bullitt scene, and, yeah, it is certainly not a stock '68 wheel.

Steve McQueen had Nardi steering wheels installed in the cars.

2+2GT said:

Steve McQueen had Nardi steering wheels installed in the cars.

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The Bullitt cars did not have Nardi wheels. The wheel as featured in the film and selected by McQueen was the EFFPI wood wheel manufactured by F.I.V. in Milano, Italy identical to those on the 1967 Shelbys. McQueen had it covered in black leather.

FWIW the period Nardi wheels are (IMO) of superior quality to the EFFPI wheel from F.I.V. notwithstanding the latter now selling for upwards of $2K (not that period Nardis are so much cheaper). You can determine a period Nardi as opposed to the modern era ones (in general) by its thinner rim and actually being manufactured in Italy as opposed to Spain. Most though not all Italy manufactured Nardi wheels are embossed with "Nardi Italy"

For reference here is an example of the 1967 Shelby EFFPI wheel by F.I.V.:

http://wood-steering-wheels.com/shelby-27-67-EFFPI-6-8-11.html

This is the exact model steering wheel McQueen had covered in black leather and installed on the Bullitt film 1968 fastbacks.

Interesting. Up 'till now, every description I've seen of the Bullitt prep was Nardi. Perhaps the remaining car will surface from hiding some day.

2+2GT said:

Interesting. Up 'till now, every description I've seen of the Bullitt prep was Nardi. Perhaps the remaining car will surface from hiding some day.

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Yes it is a common well-repeated bit of misinformation (that the wheel is a Nardi). If you look at stills from the film (even the image you posted) you can discern details that match the F.I.V. steering wheel.

Here is an article by noted Bullitt mustang expert Dave Kunz on how to build a replica that includes a description of the original steering wheel:

http://www.ponysite.de/bullitthowto.htm