Steering wheel

Kahuna

Well-known member
I have a 56 Ford Victoria.
The steering wheel is HUGE. The car doesn't have power steering, but I'm adding it.
Was a smaller wheel used on cars with Power Steering?
Any one know?
Thanks
Jim
 
The wheels were all the same size, power steering or not. It's one reason why early power steering felt overboosted. Most of the early systems were manual steering with a hydraulic ram assist added on.
 
One of the cool things about these cars is the big wheel. If yours is cracked, they are not hard to repair.
 
Mayberry, the 64 Mercury wheel with P/S is one inch smaller than the non P/S version. Bigger wheels didn't used to bother me but maybe like humans their diameter gets larger with age.
 
I can remember when I was a kid and sometimes I would see an elderly man or lady with a shrunken bone structure, driving down the road in a 1950's car and I would laugh because the top of the steering wheel was over their heads.
Now, I AM, that elderly shrinking man, and I was never big to begin with. I've been getting funny looks driving this car all my life.
 
When I was a kid it seemed like at the front of every long, slow line of cars was a little old lady in a '54 Chrysler. She had on her Sunday best including white gloves and she was headed to town at the blistering speed of 25 mph. Most highways were 2 lane then, and it was nearly impossible to pass her. My ol' man would get so frustrated he was chewing nails.
 
I'm in the process of converting to power steering, I bought one of these wheels off ebay...it needs minor modification to fit my column...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-1956-19...m210e637119:m:m6EvjQG-TGxBL89m9DBglxQ&vxp=mtr

Wow, looks nice and its 1" shallower than stock. I have the seat all the way back in my '59 and I'm a bit cramped behind the wheel (have long arms).

I fixed my OG steering wheel with PC7 epoxy and it looks great. I'll have to see how it drives before doing anything.
 
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