Need opinions on Steering Wheel color

[zog]

Greetings.

I just installed a brand new Mark Davies Springall wood steering wheel in my latest Elan project. It is advertised as being finished with no stain and I'm wondering if that is how the original wood wheel was when new. It looks pretty bland set against my darker stained wood dash.

Here's a link to the Jacob engineering site: http://jacobengineering.co.uk/index.php ... -wheels-2/

Should i leave it alone or should i strip it down and stain it a bit?

Thanks!

zog

[Frogelan]

It looks very good as it is !

Looking forward to seeing the final photos of this project.

Andrew

[gherlt]

I got two restored original steering wheels from Sarto, they look much like yours.

[joe7]

Bob, check out the1965 Elan carpet pics post on this website. Your welcome , Joe

[elans3]

I like the colour. Looks good to me like that !

[Fred Talmadge]

Personally I find the wheel rim to be too small in my hands. To that end I wrapped it in bicycle tape then a black leather cover. I know it's not original, but I just like driving it more than showing it.

[mac5777]

Hello Zog, Here is my 1966 Lotus Elan coupe when I purchased it Nov. 2003. The dash and wheel color came with the car. It also had a black and silver horn push. I added a yellow and green horn push, thinking it was correct for the year? Here it is after I stripped the old varnish off and refinished the wheel with a clear finish. Some of the original wheels I restored did come with a darker finish but after stripping, the lighter wood came through.
I followed Jim at Unibrain's great detailed restorations of his yellow 1966 Elan Coupe when restoring mine.
I see that gherlt has revised Jim's Lotus Elan history in Excel. WOW!

Take Care,
Sarto