1968-1973 STEERING WHEEL ID

[Mike Self]

2 hours ago, Conserv said:

I have a stupid amount of steering wheels, including this one dated 1968. I'm not sure if someone swapped the horn pad for a full moon one or if it came like that.

Those smooth center steering wheels were used only on the '68 cars--at least in the US.  It's interesting that yours is dated 12-68; my Feb '69 production date '02 has the ribbed center cover, but has tail lights, instruments, wheels etc dated Dec 1968.  And I don't recall seeing a "first series" '69 (VIN lower than 1664760--long neck diff, two speed heater fan etc) with a smooth center steering wheel, so they must have cut 'em off at the beginning of '69 model year production in Sept 68.

 

And for Steve and the others who wre interested in bus wheel diameters, the OEM steering wheel from y '69 is 420mm in diameter, while the wheel from my '73 (also OEM) is 400 mm.  Not quite an inch difference and kinda hard to notice unless you compare 'em side by side.  I believe the "sport" wheel (70-71 on US cars) is the larger diameter but don't have one to measure.  And the wood-rim bus wheels are 420mm.

 

mike. 

[69Bimmer02]

My July 69 vin 1666711 has the ribbed center. I purchased from the original owner so pretty sure it hasn't been swapped.

 

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[HBChris]

And my former 11/68 2002 had the ribbed cover.

[Gearbox]

3 hours ago, mike said:

And for Steve and the others who wre interested in bus wheel diameters, the OEM steering wheel from y '69 is 420mm in diameter, while the wheel from my '73 (also OEM) is 400 mm.  Not quite an inch difference and kinda hard to notice unless you compare 'em side by side.  I believe the "sport" wheel (70-71 on US cars) is the larger diameter but don't have one to measure.  And the wood-rim bus wheels are 420mm.

 

mike. 

Thanks Mike, good to know, and if you hear a sigh of relief from the other side of the world, that will be me, I just bought a 400mm wheel for my 73 tii from Germany before knowing that they came in different sizes lol.  Love this forum.  Cheers Allan

[Conserv]

19 hours ago, John_in_VA said:

My original '02, a '70, 1673695, came with the indented wheel with pleather rim.  I never checked the car's date of birth through BMW AG, as it's been out of my life since 1992.

 

Thanks, John,

 

My cheat sheet says VIN 1673695 was likely manufactured March 1970.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[davidhunternyc]

Wow, I read this thread with great interest and confusion. What a puzzle. Is there a definitive answer as to what steering wheel(s) were factory produced for the 1973 2002tii? Was one type of steering wheel used for european models and another type used for American models in 1973? Thanks.

[Conserv]

18 hours ago, davidhunternyc said:

Wow, I read this thread with great interest and confusion. What a puzzle. Is there a definitive answer as to what steering wheel(s) were factory produced for the 1973 2002tii? Was one type of steering wheel used for european models and another type used for American models in 1973? Thanks.

 

There is no dispute, David, over the factory steering wheel on 1973 tii’s. It’s the same as on 1973 2002’s (non-tii’s). And... the Euro and U.S.-spec wheels were the same. It’s a three-spoke, plastic-on-metal-armature wheel with horn buttons on each of the three spokes. The surrounds for the horn buttons were black — not silver as in Gearbox’s example, a design feature, I suspect, borrowed from the E3 sedans when his new wheel was re-done. The steering wheel used on 1973 ‘02’s was 400mm in diameter (thank you, Mike!). My ‘73 tii, manufactured October 19, 1972, wears its original steering wheel, although I’ve never checked the wheel’s production date, which should be 1972. Below is a photo of the wheel in the car.

 

The overall diameter of the three-spoke steering wheel, used from October-ish 1967 through August 1973, however, did change once, but I’m thinking it was 1970-ish. I’d bet Mike S. has a more accurate estimate of the changeover date.

 

But in 1973, you might still be able to buy a sport wheel, as a dealer option. I believe I have an example of the U.S.-spec sport wheel (oval indents rather than oval perforations in the three spokes) with a 1972 manufacturing date. I don’t know how long production continued.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2019 by Conserv

[davidhunternyc]

12 minutes ago, Conserv said:

But in 1973, you might still be able to buy a sport wheel, as a dealer option.

 

Thanks, Steve, for clearing this up for me and for the photo of your period correct steering wheel. Now for that sport wheel that "might" have been an option, have you ever seen one on a 73tii that you think is original to the car? What would this second sport wheel look like? Regardless, I now see why concours winning cars would have to have this original steering wheel here. As much as I like the look of the wood rimmed steering wheels that I see all of the time but I would still rather have the stock steering wheel that came with the car.

Edited November 8, 2019 by davidhunternyc

[Conserv]

11 minutes ago, davidhunternyc said:

 

Thanks Conserv for clearing this up for me and for the photo of your period correct steering wheel. Now for that sport wheel that "might" have been an option, have you ever seen one on a 73tii that you think is original to the car? What would this second sport wheel look like? Regardless, I now see why concours winning cars would have to have this original steering wheel here. As much as I like the look of the wood rimmed steering wheels that I see all of the time but I would still rather have the stock steering wheel that came with the car.

 

99% of the sport wheels I see on U.S. cars appear on 1970-ish models. We’ve long cherished an story — perhaps apocryphal, perhaps not — that there was either a “fire in the steering wheel factory” or a “strike in the steering wheel factory” that caused BMW to install sport wheels on many 1970 model cars.

 

Other than those 1970-ish models, the sport wheels on U.S. cars were installed post-factory, so whose to say whether they were installed in 1973, 1993, 2003, or yesterday? Certainly in the 1970’s, they were rare enough that I never saw one on anything but a 1970 model. I’m going to install one on my ‘73 tii, however.... just ‘cuz! 

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited November 8, 2019 by Conserv

[davidhunternyc]

6 minutes ago, Conserv said:

... just ‘cuz! 

 

... and long as you then keep your original steering wheel locked up in a climate-controlled safe! : )

[Conserv]

52 minutes ago, davidhunternyc said:

 

... and long as you then keep your original steering wheel locked up in a climate-controlled safe! : )

Original three-spoke steering wheels, in both the earlier 420mm size and the later 400mm size, are plentiful. But... 45 years down the pike, many (certainly a majority) have cracks, either in the rims, or at the bases of the spokes.  There are plastic steering wheel restoration specialists — I used a great one for my ‘61 Ford F-350’s wheel — but it’s still generally less expensive to find an excellent used wheel than to have one re-done correctly.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[Flunder]

Here is the Sport Wheel with a smooth horn pad, original "pleather" covering and metal open spokes. The sales brochures for all years of 2002ti show this variation but perhaps only the early cars were actually equipped with the smooth horn pad.

 

[Conserv]

6 hours ago, Flunder said:

Here is the Sport Wheel with a smooth horn pad, original "pleather" covering and metal open spokes. The sales brochures for all years of 2002ti show this variation but perhaps only the early cars were actually equipped with the smooth horn pad.

 

 

I believe that’s where we are currently finding a general consensus, Tom: despite its consistent appearance in the sales literature, the smooth horn pad appears to have yielded to the standard (i.e., ridged) horn pad — at some point in time, although not necessarily at the end of 1968.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[davidhunternyc]

Wow. I really love the sport wheel. It looks to be smaller in diameter than the standard wheel and the pleather(?) cover over the rim adds grip. In my dream ‘73 2002tii I would like to have the sport wheel but... let’s just say, in a concourse competition, would it pass muster with the judges? 

Edited November 10, 2019 by davidhunternyc

[_Markos_]

4 hours ago, davidhunternyc said:

Wow. I really love the sport wheel. It looks to be smaller in diameter than the standard wheel and the pleather(?) cover over the rim adds grip. In my dream ‘73 2002tii I would like to have the sport wheel but... let’s just say, in a concourse competition, would it pass muster with the judges? 

 

It is very easy to swap wheels. It only takes a few minutes.

 

The sport wheel is visually similar to the wheel found in many european e9’s. Often found in the CSi. I have restored and refurbished a few of these. They come apart easily and freshen up nicely.

 

This one I fully restored. I didn’t do the leather myself but was very pleased with the output. The wheel now graces Stan’s Great White.

 

More info if you want to disassemble yours and give it a once over...

 

https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/csi-sport-steering-wheel-restoration.28385/