Found this cool old wheel, column and steering box at an estate auction. The guy had a lot of miscellaneous old car parts. All different makes. I was lucky to get this wheel for my '33 Chevy coupe build. Can anyone tell me what car this came out of?
'37 Chevy accessory wheel. Great find and worth a lot more than you paid for it, I'm willing to bet. Probably north of $500.00 !
Accessory wheel? Meaning it was an option? I paid 120.00 for it. It has a few cracks, but perfect for the style car I am building.
Yes, it was an option. I can't find my '37 Chevy accessories catalog right now, but it probably sold originally for $2.00 to $3.00 dollars. Chevrolet Buyers were a fairly conservative lot and back in those post-depression years, $3.00 was close to a days wages for some - hell, my mother-in-law told me that she earned $18.00/week in 1939 !! There were very few of those '37 banjo wheels sold. The cracked plastic is to be expected and are normal, since the plastics weren't very stable at that point in time. The one on my '37 Chevy coupe has several. $120.00? I'll buy all you can find in that condition for $120.00!
Great info! Thanks guys. As stated, this was from an estate auction. The guy had a ton of parts from this era, but no rhyme or reason to his parts stash. It's like he had one or two parts from every car from the 30's. Behind his shop was a banjo rear end with the drive shaft tube still attached and the end of the drive shaft tube with a tree root grown over it. Basically, pinning it to the ground. The auctioneer walked right by it and didn't even attempt to sell it.
Have you found any manufacturer info on the steering wheel? That S/W may have a special connection for me. Prior the Depression, a friend of my dad's was running a plant that supplied parts to many of the auto manufacturers. By the time the depression was in full swing, the plant gates were padlocked. My dad got the idea of turning the plant into a "Job Shop". They would make anything, of anything, no matter the quantity. My dad was the key...he was a mechanical genius, and could convert the shops equipment to make what was needed in very short order. When necessary he'd build the machinery from the ground up. The shop's biggest contracts were making baseball bats, Mail Pouch Tobacco advertising thermometers, and making banjo steering wheels for Chevrolet. Unfortunately I have no idea what model year(s) his steering wheels were for, but the low volume typical of an accessory wheel would be a perfect fit for his shop. If you ever find anything referring to Defiance Ohio, it would make the connection for me.
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