[DeTomaso] steering wheel wanted

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/12/13 11 35 18, skinnerdskinner at yahoo.com writes:


> Ok, one more question.  One more for today that is.  Does anyone know 
> where I can get that super hard to find steering wheel that only seems to show 
> up in dealer photos of the early pushbutton 71's?  Its got one band of 
> brushed steel across the middle and the Ghia emblem in the center.  I'm 
> guessing they're rare so I'm starting my search here.  I'm fairly certain 
> everyone knows which one I mean but I've got a small picture attached just in 
> case. 
> 

>>>The forum software strips away all attachments, so nobody can get 
infected with a virus.   But I know exactly the wheel you're talking about.

They are very, VERY rare.   In fact the early cars all came into the USA 
wearing that wheel, and they were summarily removed and replaced with a cheap 
Capri wheel by Ford, apparently due to crash standards or some other such 
nonsense?   Bev Hall told me a year ago or so, that Bill Stroppe had a pile of 
hundreds (HUNDREDS) of those wheels in his facility for years, and nobody 
wanted them.   The Halls took a handful for themselves, and all the rest 
eventually went to the dump!

Now they are worth a ton of money.   Getting the wheel is only the 
start--you also need to get an appropriate hub, and a wheel center.   Larry Finch 
pieced together just such a setup recently, and offered it for sale.   I don't 
know if he sold it or not?

I know many years ago, Hall had just a wheel for sale for $1500, but today, 
they won't sell one to you--the one they have they are keeping.

The wheel was used on some other period Italian cars--the one that I know 
of is the very rare Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF "Fanalone", but good luck finding 
one of THOSE to part out!

Here's a photo:

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/Lancia_Fulvia_16HF_interio
r_EX.jpg

Mike