They are not the same, and in my opinion, not as nice. Suggestion: The center cap is molded in a yellow-ish plastic (some are molded in black) and painted silver-gray. It looks much better if you paint it a semi-flat black. The spokes can be cleaned-up with steel wool or bead-blast. They also look good semi-flat black, or natural brushed stainless...
Somebody may be able to sell you one off a trashed door panel. I have found that if you put the entire door panel emblem in boiling water it will soften the adhesive and allow you to remove the center medallion with the end of a safety pin ... You just need the medallion for the steering wheel ... not the entire emblem .... This is what you need ...
Does anybody know of a good source for the leather wheel wrap? I scored a wheel from my son, but the leather has a bad tear in it. Any aftermarket leather covers that would work and look good?
The aftermarket leather wraps do not look nearly as good as a factory leather-wrap. There is a place in Florida that does custon leather wrapping & restoration for steering wheels. It's $180 to have it done though. I am going to have them do mine eventually...
Was this a Factory option on a Maverick/Comet? Maybe, maybe not!!!!! I knew I had seen a factory picture of a Maverick or Comet with the sport wheel, somewhere and finally found it. It is in the 77 Mercury/Lincoln Full Line catalog. It may be tough to see but it says..."When you elect the Custom Option you get...bla bla bla.....and leather-wrapped sports steering wheel, among other things." The wheel on the interior shot shows a black wheel with metal spokes with 3 holes in it, funny though you can only see the horizontal spoke, not the vertical spoke. The exterior shot of the white car does not have this wheel as it shows a tan wheel with tan spokes, which is the usual wheel. Was the interior shot drawn in? So....the question is......Did any Comets really come with this option, or was Mercury only thinking about offering it? Ralph
That looks nice, but I ain't going to pay $150 to cover a free wheel. I'll just have to keep looking for a aftermarket piece.
I paid a whole $8.00 for the wheel I'm gonna have wrapped. It's worth the $180 to have a nice factory-looking sport steering wheel...
I agree, I have one I got for free out of a friend's '77 Mustang II, was a factory leather wheel and the horn will work, will cancle the turn signals and everything. The original leather is falling off, but the rest of the wheel is super nice. I would gladly pay that to get it recovered, but my grandma has been doing upholstery since the 50's, and she can recover it in a matter of hours.
