Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I am working on my 1608 and have the banjo, 3 wire spoke steering wheel. The outer rim is excellent and looks to have been a reddish color.

Anyone have any more exact information?

Thanks


Bill

Hi Bill,

Just tossin' this in here... pictures of an original banjo wheel, this one from a '39 - those better-in-the-know than me can confirm if the 2 years were the same, as well as any difference betwixt Junior/Senior cars. Chris

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I don't pretend to know much about prewar styling details but the 38 Super Eight and Twelve fact book show and describe the Deluxe or banjo wheel as ivory and was a $15 accessory. The standard wheel thruout the years was usually a painted hard rubber composition material of various colors. Until 54 standard wheels were mostly in brown and black shades although I believe some 41-7 Clippers also had a lighter color.

In the custom car section of the 38 fact book it states the owner could order special color and upholstery combinations so possibly your banjo wheel in a reddish color is a custom wheel. Is your wheel the same translucent plastic or Tenite material as used on the Deluxe Ivory wheels?

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Howard

I'm pretty sure you're correct about Deluxe wheels. There's quite a bit of confusion about this.

I have a cream "banjo" wheel on my 41 120 Club Coupe. Several people have said it's an earlier wheel and the wrong one for the car. That may be true. But I think it is actually one of the deluxe accessory wheels. It's very attractive and nice to use. I can imagine a new car buyer opting for it. It looks exactly like your second pic. I don't know if it came new on the car or was fitted later. Doesn't really matter.

I'm trying to attach a pic showing mine below.

Cheers

Brian

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Wow, nice looking '41 Brian! The wheel certainly looks to be the 'ivory' colour described in the literature Howard posted. Attached is a pic of my '39 - do not know for sure if it is original to the car, but suspect it is; the colour is quite a bit browner or more 'tan' than the ivory examples, and it certainly does not show any signs of having been painted. It would be interesting to know more on the different colour options; how many and how varied. Most of the pics I've checked seem to be either the ivory or the tan...

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I had a chance to do some work on my wheel. I cleaned it with brake cleaner, Simple Green, polishing compound and 600 grit Wet or Dry sandpaper. Attached are results.

The shift knob is the same color.

I think it is a stretch to get ivory from this. Maybe the custom color is an option, but the car is Centennial Blue (almost black) and the interior is blue.

All of the information you guys have provided is fascinating. Thanks for posting. What does everyone think?

Bill

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I think Brian's wheel may have been introduced in an earlier year - maybe 38 - and for some purists, that would be "wrong" and the end of discussion. At one time maybe I would have thought so too but the more I learn about Packards as to something being "wrong", IMO that may be a strong statement. I think you said it well -- it is attractive, it was an official accessory and you like it. I have come around to what is in a car is entirely up to the owner. Perhaps the buyer liked it better than the "correct" offering. If bought when the car was new, maybe the dealer had it left over and made an offer that was hard to pass up. Any way you look at it the wheel makes a great statement.

For sake of stirring the pot here is styling shown for 41 standard wheels and the Deluxe 41 offering. Description refers to the standard wheels as having T styling. Hard to tell from the poor photos in the data and accessory books but perhaps the 110/120 had all hard rubber bars since the vertical bar looks a bit narrower when compared to this 160/180 sales brochure photo that shows that wheel with a chromed and wider vertical bar.

While the earlier Deluxe wheels were called Banjo Wheels, the 41-47 Deluxe wheel seems to be referred to more often as the K wheel.

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HH56,

Thanks for the posts. To your question, no it doesn't look translucent. I am finding a lot of mystifying stuff with this car.

Bill

The full dash 41 drawing is the Senior wheel with the chromed vertical spokes. The Junior wheel has a solid single vertical spoke like the horizontal spokes

On another issue. Has anyone had any experience having one of these chromed?