recasting steering wheels
 

I need some redone
65 Tempest Deluxe gold
67 Tempest Deluxe black
68 Firebird Deluxe black

I want them recast not just repaired.
must be cast in color just like OEM

Do any of them have clear?Tom

Tom none have clear

If you can share any experiences with any of these vendors it would be great,thanks.

Kris does incredible work on some of the finest cars. Seen his work and met him. Wow.


Check his web page for past steering wheels he redid. Amazing. All the top car builders use him.

That stuff is truly works of art.
I would love to be a fly on the wall in his shop and see him work.

You could ping Dave at D&D Automobilia, in Charlotte, NC:

http://danddautomobilia.com/

I met Dave at Hershey a couple of years ago, and was impressed with his knowledge of various details. I was talking to him specifically about my '63 deluxe transparent wheel. He casts those in true clear, whereas some believe they should be smoke (I never remember my now-yellowed and cracked wheel as smoke, and my car has been in my family since '65). Dave knew right off how that wheel should look.

I saw some samples of his work, and it was consistently excellent.

I have not had my wheel done, yet. Soon, though.

I have another to throw into the hat, but I'll have to look him up. It's been a while. That outfit is in California, IIRC.

HTH

I called and talked to Dave at D&D
his price for each wheel was $1800 OUCH
his turnaround time is approximately 1 yr OUCH again.
I read past posts on D&D and it kept coming up as $400.
Thats the deposit to get on his 1 yr waiting list.
OUCH

Dave is definitely not cheap. That said, when the place in Cali quoted me $1950 for my '63, Dave (within a month of that, I guess) quoted me $1400).

Mind you, the first time I got a quote on my wheel from the place in Cali was in 2004, I thing, and the price then was $950, so I held off (take out gun, shoot self in foot).

(Sorry, fat-fingered that on this stupid phone...I hate typing on glass!)

I have another possibility to add to the list, from my most recent Riviera Owners Association bi-monthly:

Steering Wheel Bob:
bobmonetti AT comcast DOT net
(no website listed)

I thought there was a second one listed, but can't find it now.

The guy in San Diego, California from 2004 and again in 2020 was Dennis Crooks of Quality Restorations:

https://qualityrestorations.com
858-271-7374

Looking at my email exchanges with Dennis, he did not mention smoke in the clear part of my wheel, only clear, so perhaps Dave was referring to another wheel shop which did that (incorrectly). However, as I mentioned previously, his more current quote was considerably higher than Dave's.

At some point you have to wonder if getting these steering wheels recast/restored is worth it given the value of the cars they are going on.....

$1800 for a simple single color is insane.
Maybe thats why Ive collected about 20 cores and have been actively looking for a
mold maker for the last 20 yrs.

just got an email back from the guy in Sweden.
He doesnt have molds for the Tempest and Firebird,only big cars

apples and oranges
the wheels that have clear in them are at least 2x as much and understandably so.
But it looks like D&D has got plenty of work regardless of price.
Bob doesnt recast,only repairs

Everything is relative (and where there's a will, there are relatives).

Setting sentimentality aside, for better or worse, a steering wheel (unlike an ashtray insert) is something a buyer and driver will have his or her hands on all the time. It is right up there, front and center (relatively speaking - and there's that "relative" word again), and is in plain sight - all the time. Details matter, again, whether for personal reasons or as a finishing detail to get the best overall price for the car. That's a matter for a different discussion, however, as we may be discussing the cost of respinning a steering wheel now, but the same argument could be made for upholstery, chrome, paint, and so forth.

Too bad.

Indeed, the clear ones are considerably more labor intensive than solid ones. Dave's work intrigues me because he also does dash knobs (thinking about my '56). Of course, there is nothing saying I couldn't get him to do the knobs and get my clear wheel done somewhere else for a better price (as long as the quality is on par with the samples I saw of his work).

Thanks for starting this thread, and for reporting what you're hearing. This is all good information to collect. Good luck. I'll keep scouting while online and while reading.

https://www.kochssteeringwheels.com/mold-list/

Koch does the 64, 65 and 66 wheels for A-body but I’m not sure if they mold them in colors I think they’re painted.

https://www.kochssteeringwheels.com/mold-list/

Koch does the 64, 65 and 66 wheels for A-body but I’m not sure if they mold them in colors I think they’re painted.

Quality Restorations quoted even higher than D&D
waiting on call back from Kochs,Garys,Kris,JB Donaldson