I will take a shot and call them on Thursday to see how much they charge and if they offer a volume discount if we get a bunch of 59 drivers who want to get theirs done. I know I do!
D & D Automobilia has changed hands. Originally owned by Don & Donna Eash of Mount Airy, N.C. has been sold to Bob Denault, of Lincolnton, N.C..
It is still called D & D Automobilia and the new address is 2284 Reedsville Road, Lincolnton, N.C. New phone contact number is 704-748-3447 and the new email is bob@DandDautombilia.com I believe the sale went into effect this year (2017).
I personally have not done business with D&D, however the previous owner of my 59 Sport Fury (Robert Hinds) when he was restoring the steering
wheel, had the clear plastic portion recast by some company. Robert has passed away so I cannot locate to actually did the job and I suspect
it might have been D & D out of North Carolina. Since I was passing through Mt Airy, N.C., on my way to Wilson, N.C., I was going to stop and visit D & D last week when I found out D & D had been sold to a new owner as posted in the previous comment.
My steering wheel was done by D&D in 2004, they did a great job for a reasonable price. If the new owner also bought the mold for the steering wheels as well he might be able to keep restoring 59 steering wheels.
The previous owner of D & D sold all the tooling and he talked highly of the person that purchased his equipment. I guess we will have to wait to hear from someone that has had a steering wheel redone by the new owner and hear what that person has to say about the workmanship. The steering wheel in my 50 was redone by it's previous owner who is now deceased. It appears he only hand the clear portion (top and bottom) done and I blieve
the rest of the wheel is original. It appears the clear material was injected around the steel core and allowed to flow (in the mold) around to the
handle grips. If one looks closely where the new clear material meets to old handle grip material there is a rough feel that might have been hand
polished to blend the new material with the old. Nobody has ever noticed it but me. I suspect that D & D might have done the work but can't
say for sure.
William found this place in San Diego that recasts and restores steering wheels, including those for '59 Plymouths. Do you know of anyone who has had one done? Let us know here. The price is steep!
After waiting about a year, I just received my re-casted steering wheel from D & D Automobilia. The newly recast wheel looks fantastic and D & D
tells me that the clear material will stay clearer much longer than the original material from the factory. I wish I could figure out how to place photo's from my computer into this message box. (It says you can "attach" files by dragging and dropping them in the message box - dragging them from where ??? ) Recasting is not cheap but there is a lot of work that goes into such a project including re-chroming the metal portion of the wheel prior to pouring casting material onto the wheel ring as well as rechroming the two small inserts that go into the handle grip portion of the wheel. In this process the clear is poured first and the colored grips second.
It says you can "attach" files by dragging and dropping them in the message box - dragging them from where ???
It looks like you figured it out! You have to drag them from whatever folder they are in on your computer. You can even browse your camera, and drag them from there! Finding files in folders on computers can be tricky, depending on what type of computer you have, so I can't say much more than that here. But I'm glad you got the hang of it, and shared with us these cool pictures.
Yes it wasn't clear to me on how to get pictures into this system. Frustrated, I mentioned I was having problems getting pictures in this system and only after I hit "Submit" the pictures showed up. I was expecting to see them before I hit Submit, so I could be sure I entered the correct photo's. I am 74 years old and still have a lot to learn. Thanks for the comment on my new wheel. I plan to offer my old wheel (old wheel sounds bad, but the wheel
is actually in pretty nice shape-no cracks), on this site later on. It is not just the wheel, but also will include the horn ring and center pierce all in pretty nice. I am trying to decide on a priceto ask. The image on the right is my newly recasted wheel. On the Left is my old steering wheel. (I hope I have the right photo.
When you drag pix into the posting area, you have to wait for them to finish uploading before you hit Submit - otherwise, the pics get "orphaned". Once the pictures are on the site, *then* you hit submit. Here's a picture, that may help you know when your pictures have uploaded.
You'll notice that at the bottom the posting area, there are two tabs - Options, and Attachments. After dragging your pix in, click the attachments tab. You'll see a little green slider that slides across the tab. When it reaches the other side, your upload is complete. Then hit submit. You'll can also watch the individual progress of each picture upload as shown on the right in the picture.
All of your pictures will appear at the bottom of your post - unless you place the cursor where you want them in your text, and click the "place inline" button. I've done that here, placing the picture in the middle of my text. But that's a complexity you needn't concern yourself with!
Plymouth's got it!"
