teak wheel
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,881
Likes: 1,283
From: Horsham Pa
C2 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
teak wheel
How can you tell a real teak wheel from a repo, how long have they been reproducing them? I bought a car that has been sitting inside 14 years, it looks to nice to be original unless it was redone at some time.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 3,345
Likes: 87
From: Northern MN
St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15-'16-'17
Someone may correct me if I am wrong but I believe that there were repro's back in the early 80's. I had mine refinished at that time and a friend who had a 65 was thinking about buying the repro to put on his car. He did not do it though. Not sure who was making them.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Feb 2008
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From: prescott arizona
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 19,777
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From: Canada's capital
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (appearance mods)
C1 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
You could buy what they called rebuilt teak wheels 25 years ago. I know because I wanted one for my 66, but at the time I thought the 200$ price tag was outragious!
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,788
Likes: 131
My friend had a repo on his 66 vette in the early 80s. It wasn't as smooth tight grained as mine. I could tell the diff immediately. I remember ads wanting to buy cracked steering wheels for teak conversions. Yes they have been around a long while.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2002
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From: Close to DC
C2 of the Year Finalist - Modified 2020
You might call Gary and Gary's Steering Wheel Restorations, Carlisle PA. 717-243-5646. Real nice guy, restored my orig. teak wheel and he just might have the answers for you. Dennis
Dennis
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Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Central Arkansas
I don't know how typical this is but I have a repro Teak wheel from Cranes Corvette that is about 7 or 8 years old. I don't know who made it. It seems that the edges of the finger grooves are a lot sharper, than the obvious originals I've seen which are more rounded. Also, it may be my imagination but I think the wood rim of my repro is a little thinner in diameter than the originals. It may be that is because they are made on the refinished frame of plastic wheels. I would be curious if someone with an original would caliper the diameter and post it here. Hope this helps.
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: Clayton NC
I don't know how typical this is but I have a repro Teak wheel from Cranes Corvette that is about 7 or 8 years old. I don't know who made it. It seems that the edges of the finger grooves are a lot sharper, than the obvious originals I've seen which are more rounded. Also, it may be my imagination but I think the wood rim of my repro is a little thinner in diameter than the originals. It may be that is because they are made on the refinished frame of plastic wheels. I would be curious if someone with an original would caliper the diameter and post it here. Hope this helps.
Dave
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2007
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From: Down on the bayou in south Louisiana
St. Jude Donor '10
The repos have been available since at least the late eighties but the quality was poor. I have one from around '88 that looks nice but when you grip it in the car you know it's not right. Teak Freaks had the first real quality repros around the early 90's. I think they advertised that one of the guys that made them for GM in the 60's had acquired the original equipment and was making them again. The wheels were nice but the price was very high. Then came Eric Freeman. His are very nice and reasonable. I have one original teak wheel and a couple of Eric's, except that his are in better shape you can't tell them apart.
Race Director
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From: Central Arkansas
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,608
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From: Durham ON
Teak Mater makes repro steering wheels.
Doug Graves 519-752-0780
Brandford Ont. Can.
douglas.graves@sympatico.ca
Teak Master is one of our NCRS Ontario chapter sponsors.
Dave
Doug Graves 519-752-0780
Brandford Ont. Can.
douglas.graves@sympatico.ca
Teak Master is one of our NCRS Ontario chapter sponsors.
Dave
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,973
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From: Valrico Florida
