What colour should the centre be on a rim blow steering wheel

[bdennis]

Team,
I have a question re the Rim Blow steering wheel option for our 71-73 Mustangs.

I live in Australia and in the past have owned our locally built GT Flacons. As part of the interior package of the local Falcons, they come with the Rim Blow steering wheel.
In all cases the locally built Falcon steering wheels, the centre's were always black. So I like the rim blow wheel and brings back memories of my old cars and would like to add one to my Mustang.

This is a pic of an Australian built Falcon. (note the different round logo in the centre of the wheel)


As such, I am looking to change the standard steering wheel in my 72 Mach 1 from the original steering wheel (2 spoke) to a Rim blow wheel.


The trim in my Mach 1 is standard ginger and has a ginger steering wheel.

My question is..
If the original owner / purchaser back in 1972 had upgraded from the std wheel to a rim blow wheel when the car was ordered, would the centre have been black or ginger?

I see plenty of pictures of cars with the deluxe trim that are in ginger that have a ginger centre on the rim blow steering wheel. Like this one..



Im am about to drop a fair bit of coin on getting a fully restored rim blow wheel from a guy that restores them in New Zealand.
He has a next to brand new centre that is currently black and can dye it ginger. But I wan to make sure that, "IF" one had been ordered with the car back in 1972 that has std ginger trim, would it have been black or ginger??
So I want to make sure of what colour it "should be" before the restorer dyes it. As if it should be black then I will just get it black...

Per the pic above of the 2 spoke wheel, (this is my car) the steering column and the dash surround is black, but the wheel is ginger.
I have dyed the crash pad ginger as the one in the car is a reproduction one so have assumed it should have been ginger.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards
Brendan

 

[bdennis]

Just found this thread re steering wheels.
https://7173mustangs.com/threads/correct-steering-wheels-by-year.26982/Based on the info supplied, it seems that if the 3 spoke rim blow was ordered then it would then be trim colour.. So if thats the case then I think I have found the answer to my question in that for my std ginger trim car then the centre should be ginger...

Any other comments?

 

[rio1856]

I don't know the answer to your questions but thank you so much for showing an image of the GT Falcon interior. Man! those bucket seats are very plush looking! Very nice!

 

[bdennis]

Rio, to be honest I dont remember the front seats being that "bucket" like. They may have extra padding. Here are a few other cars pics. Note the one with the cloth was an option where the cloth inserts were added for both front and back seats to help with the hot Australian summer.

They are great seats and are buckets compared to the 71-73 Mustang seats.




Now back to the question at hand re the steering wheel colour.

 

[Hemikiller]

Just from personal preference, with the standard interior, the ginger wheel looks completely out of place against the black dash and steering column. My opinion is to get a black rim-blow.

The only true way to determine what is correct is to have the build sheets of a base interior with the rim-blow option. The sheet will call out the wheel code.

 

[Sheriff41]

I'm siding with Hemikiller on this one; the black center pad would look good with your interior.

 

[secluff]

Hello Brendan,
These wheels were sourced from the full-size Ford and installed in Torino, Gran Torino, Mustang, T-Bird, and sister Mercury vehicles. The steering wheel pads were available in several colors for all the various car lines and color-coordinated to the interior color. There are some interiors, such as white or vermilion, where the pad color would default to black. The problem with dying the pad now is trying to get a good color match. If off by just a little, it could really look out of place. If you are not concerned about being 100% original or don't show your car at the Concours level, then the safe direction would be to use your source's original black pad.

I know 50+ years later; it comes down to supply and demand, which I understand as well as anyone. But when I see a wheel that was a $34.90 option on the 72's and sold over the counter for $135.00, it makes me cringe a little when I see the NOS wheels approach the 2-3K price range. So I hope your wheel restorer doesn't try to make enough off of you to retire this year!

The center emblem you posted in the Falcon GT picture is the same as would be found in the Torino/Gran Torino series with the 3-spoke rim blow wheel in the U.S. If the center pad your restorer has is from the Falcon; you can purchase a Mustang center which would be a tri-bar with a running horse. They are now being reproduced and can be found by searching for (D0ZZ-3649-A).

Good luck with your project, and be sure to post an after picture!

 

[bdennis]

Guys,
Thanks for the info.
I do tend to agree re the colour of the column and the lower part of the dash being black therefore the wheel probably would look better being black. There is already a lot of ginger in the interior with seats, crash pad, carpet etc etc..

Re the centre emblem. The restorer has the correct mustang one. He is located in NZ and does amazing work. Thanks for the info re the emblem used in our Falcons and the origin of them.

The car, while I own it, will never be restored to concourse. It will be more kept as a survivor, all be it with cleaned up engine bay etc. So while I am not going for concourse, I do like to keep things as original and as factory as possible. Guys in Australia are less likely to be concerned if something is not 100% perfect and very very few would even know what is factory correct as there are so few 71-73's in Australia.

As has been mentioned re the challenge of getting the colour right. I have ordered a ginger crash pad from Scott Drake as the black repro one that I had painted is starting to crack. So while the current crash pad matches the small centre console and rear plastics that I have had painted, it probably wont 100% match once I replace it with a repro ginger one.
From a resale point of view of the wheel it self, if I choose to take it off the car in the future, black would be much easier to sell.. All being it unlikely that I would ever remove it..

From the perspective of "what I'm use to" and probably the whole reason why I am spending the coin to add the rim blow wheel. As per the falcon pictures, all the Australian ones are black and that's what I had in my GT back in the late 80's to early 90's. So logic says, black would probably be best.
But, I am a bit of a stickler for making this "right" and "factory" correct.. all be it that my car was not ordered with a rim blow wheel.

My approach is to not change anything that can not be undone. Everything I take of the car / replace, I keep. (other than stuffed suspension rubbers etc).
Again, if I ever sell it, the next guy is unlikely to know or care. so it comes down to, my car, plan rules but with factory correct glasses..

Such a dilemma and a 1st world issue..

Thanks for listening / reading my ramble in an effort to justify to myself what colour I should do..
More than happy for any other feedback.

 

[Sheriff41]

I like your philosophy, bdennis. Make your car the way you like and enjoy it while you can.

 

[bdennis]

Interestingly, I found this picture on line for a car that was for sale - https://classiccars.com/listings/vi...ang-mach-1-for-sale-in-lakeland-florida-33810.

Other than the full size centre console, this is how my car would look.. I think I'm inclined to get the centre dyed to be ginger.
I see the rim blow rubber is also ginger in this picture. I will ask the wheel restorer to see what he does and if he also dyes the rubber or leaves it black.