Steering wheel for 66 Wildcat

Might as well look for the Holy Grail while your at it Frank.Ebay might be your best bet.This wheel was also used on 1950 somethings Mercury Turnpike Cruisers

Some black foamy thing. I'll see if I can get a picture up here in a bit.

GaryS, just saw your post up there. Thanks for the information about the Mercury. I figured that it was off of a passenger vehicle but looked at lots of 66 wheel pics and couldn't find one. Ironically, most of the older Wildcats shown in the diaries still seem to have the correct wheel. I figured someone here has pulled one in the past for something more comfortable.

Anybody know how deep the stock wheels are? Also curious about the diameter of the center "horn" section.

I agree it is not attractive. What I meant was that I thought there would be more stock wheels on shelves. On a separate note, I found a stock, restored wheel that I think I am going to have to buy. 300 bucks. The guy has two. Was hoping to spend a little less but...

I agree. I had been looking for one for a while and $300 is a better price than most I saw for either a restored wheel or one in good condition.

66Wildcat wrote: I suppose you guys are right. He has two, they are both black and white. I was hoping for red/white but I suppose I could paint it later.

I think the only way I have ever seen the wheel, in cars or boats, is black and white.

66Wildcat wrote: Well, just paypal'd the gent the money. .... Was more than I wanted to spend but it is a big part of the boat's personality.

Welcome to the "joys" of owning an old boat! I just spent 0ver 200 bucks getting a single valve cover chromed and a repro "INTERCEPTOR" decal for my 64...(not sure what we're going to do about groceries this week)

You are "spot-on" with it being a big part of the personality... Let us know how it looks when you get it!   

   

The wheel is from a 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser

Automotive "Turnpike" wheels came in a few colors and they had different types of center caps, the Comet (model specific changes) in particular. They also have a tapered/splined hub where it mounts to the steering column which is different form the tapered/smooth hub and keyway which is the marine setup. I initially purchased an automotive wheel and was trying to figure out how to reverse engineer the OEM turnpike wheel for my boat. Never found any hardware to convert it, people thought i was crazy for asking. Turns out it can be done but it was going to cost $$$$ to recast in the right color, chrome, then getting the automotive hub machined to work with a stock CC steering box. There are a lot of steering wheel restorers online, I spoke to 3 or 4 people back when I entertained the idea. I ended up finding a new old stock wheel in California (on ebay in the automotive section)and paid a lot for it. They are around but be prepared to spend. I'm on my third boat resto and parts like this are hard to come by so you've got to grin and bear it when you find the part you need... I'll shoot some pics of mine and send them to you. I may even have some detailed photos of the old comet wheel as well, for comparison purposes.

Good luck!

Sorry for the poor grammar in my post, typed that out on my phone. The turnpike wheels have a removable insert inside the hub that can be switched out.

Here is what the mercury comet wheel looks like. Color coordinated to the paint scheme of the car. It also has a different center cap, car model specific it reads S22 on the cap.



Here is the Turnpike Wheel that CC used (Mine). The center cap reads "power steering". There were three different center cap configurations for this wheel in the automotive world.



Hub and center cap




The "Turnpike Cruiser" steering wheel. Notice the wheel is not round. Very similar to the wheel used by CC.



The insert I was talking about is smooth/tapered with a keyway for marine fitment instead of splined and tapered for automotive.

This is what is on mine.

If anyone is still looking at this old thread I need the center insert for the steering wheel like the one shown in Cuda Chris's photo above. The piece I am referring to goes into the hub of the wheel from the back and has a keyway slot. Like the one in Chris' picture where you can see lots of toes in the background. It is for a Vista Cruiser steering wheel if that matters. Frank