I think I recall hearing, that Koch’s in CA no longer recasts steering wheels for '59s in clear plastic (they did mine).
I stopped by “Gary’s” in Carlisle - he doesn’t recast them, but he says this guy does (and Gary had his card):
Dan
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!
John Q.
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 have a deluxe wheel, I would like to get recast. Keep me posted on what you all find out.
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.
Ron
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.
Art Schlachter
It looks fantastic, Art!
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.
Dan
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.
IMG_0779 [/image][/img]
Back to the drawing board - I tried inserting the photo of both wheels sitting side by side and after I hit “Submit” it didn’t work. Sorry.
Art Schlachter
Danville, Ky
Ah! I see where the trouble lies, Art.
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!
I hope this works for you. Keep the pix coming!
Dan
Thanks for you input on how to place photo’s on this web site. I will give it a try.
Art
i had him do a wheel for a '60 polara last year. Took a year and cost $1800. Beautiful job. He had a kid working for him parttime doing most of the work, i think Just wish i had the know-how to collect so much for so little.
Yes, my steering wheel on my 59 Ply also cost $1800. In the cost, all the plastic was removed and the metal frame sent out for rechrome which means the chrome plating place has to remove old chrome on the core before new chrome is applied. Also, in the case of the Ply SF Wheel there are two small chrome pieces (near the handle grips) that had to also be replated. Then the plastic for the handle grips has to be matched to ones interior for the correct shade. After the handle grips are cast, the last step is to cast the clear plastic, and D&D told me that there is a lot of hand work to do on the wheel after casting and before it can be shipped. So there is a fair amount of expense involved. Yes the cost may be high but the quality of work is very good. Having a top notch looking steering wheel in the car is so very important to give first impression when displaying or selling. I have seen older wheels that the clear material has aged and has yellowed considerably and mabey even cracked. If I see a steering wheel covered in leather, red flags come to mind.
If you want to try and do your own recasting, I have found on the internet how to make a casting mold that splits apart to extract a molded wheel. You pour (inject ? ) the liquid plastic into the cavity and then wait until it hardens. I recall locating a place up in Michigan that can supply you with everything needed but that was a few years ago and I don’t have the name anymore. For me I didn’t have the time or place to do it. So I decided to have it done by D&D.
A new owner has now taken over D&D Automobilia for recasting steering wheels. (This is the 3rd time the business has been sold) D & D Automobilia was started by Don & Donna Eash, of Mt Airey, N.C. and ran the business until 2017. The new company retaining the same name (D&D Automobilia) was taken over by Bob Denault of Lincolnton, N.C who continued on with the business until 2021. D&D Autombilia is now owned by Dave Bowman, of Charlotte, N.C. who continues on with steering wheel restorations. Dave Bowman’s contact number in Charlotte is 704-650-4632 for anyone who might be interested. (The 2nd owner Bob Denault of Lincolnton did my steering wheel and had done beautiful work) I have recently spoken to Bob Denault - a super nice guy and he said decided to retire from steering wheel restoration. (You can see pictures of my recasted steering wheel in previous post ) I have no experience with the new D & D Automobilia of Charlotte, N.C., although Bob tells me the new owner is carrying on with the restoration business.
Art Schlachter
Danville, Ky
Wow!
Thanks for the update, Art.
