Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Bespoke wood steering wheels, made to order

Mike welcome to TM and I love the wheels you've produced.

Quick question on these and the 3 wheeler. How are you looking at attaching the quick release boos of the 3 wheeler, have you given this any thought?

When I first took delivery of my car, and before I changed the wheel to a smaller Motolita, I remounted tha standard wheel with the centre spoke at 12 oclock, for precicely that reason. I had to drill a further 3 holes in the centre however, to match up with the removable boss, I then used six matching dome headed screws so that there were no empty holes, looked brilliant I thought. It may be that they have now changed the wheel for a much better looking one. I always felt that the original wheel looked rather plain and let the car down somewhat.

Thanks very much for the kind welcome. I must admit I was quite thrilled with learning that Morgan had resumed production of a three wheeler, and also in that it seems to have been done very well, especially the styling. I love it. Can't afford it, but love it.

I'm afraid I can't help with the DC-3 mod :-/ To answer your question, asbojohn, I've made the centers to my wheels to mount to the bolt pattern of the supplied boss, but added three more holes for a better look. Those holes can be used with additional drilling of the boss, or just plugged with the tops of identical screws (like what PaulJ did). There may be an additional opportunity to use more interesting methods for fixing, like flat head, polished bolts or even riveting.

When I look at this car, I see an excellent job of having made the car look like a convincing classic. However, the steering wheel falls down in that regard. This is a common mistake made with all types of replicas with one good example being the popular 356 Speedster replicas. I've even seen some expensive replicas of more exotic cars like early Ferrari's with simple Moto-Lita wheels. Ughh. Please understand that I am a steering wheel snob, and as such have some very definite opinions based on the historical appropriateness of a wheel design for any particular car. I will also acknowledge that my focus is much more on what looks good than and concerns for reduction of size. That's because the steering wheels of past were larger, and the farther back in time, the larger they were. PaulJ, I will resist saying anything about an 11" wheel, but I think you know where I'm coming from... or did I actually just say something about it?

I believe it would help to look back at cars with cockpits of this nature to get an appreciation of the types of interiors, dashes, and wheels. There are many excellent examples. I have taken many pictures of my own and borrowed others. I'll have an eye out with special attention to these when I visit Amelia Island in March. Here are two great examples...



Both are Maserati, the second one I'll be making, and already do for the Sprite. Here is another, although only a mock-up drawing at this point:


There is another wheel that I think is a good choice for the M3W if only because it has some Morgan provenance; the wheel used on TOK 258 at the '62 Le Mans:

"PaulJ, I will resist saying anything about an 11" wheel"

That's all very well on a 'Classic' but the M3W isn't a 'Classic', it's a modern in the style of an older car, and therefore, using an 11" wheel is as allowable as using a modern engine, or a 5 speed Mazda gearbox, or radial tyres, or, or, or.......you get my point?

My contention is that if this car was truly a remake of an MX4 trike, people would not be buying it in droves, it would not keep up with modern traffic, and if it did, it would certainly not stop!

So why use a dated wheel when there are some perfectly good modern, but sympathetic items which would work? My 11" Motolita for example. BTW, I did not choose this wheel, it was already in my garage, from its' previous incarnation on a S111 Lotus twincam Seven, even then it was wrong, but looked and felt right.

Thanks for your feedback, Paul, very interesting. I would like to know how others view their experience with the M3W. You are certainly very comfortable with your steering wheel decision, and that is most important. What anyone SHOULD do is simply what makes them the happiest. What I do is advise people on what was used or what might be appropriate - typically on a classic car. There are some replica cars where people ask the same questions in order to be in keeping with the image of the car; those too are very much modern vehicles in the sense they have new parts, running gear, etc, but look to recreate the looks and experience of the older car.

There were some key statements you made that I think help answer some of your own questions, one being "...isn't a 'Classic', it's a modern in the style of an older car". That is exactly how I see it and why I've been excited about the opportunity to help some owners with steering wheel selections. Certainly there will be people that look at it the same as you, but there are bound to be folks that see this more in the spirit of the classic design, and in keeping with the design, a period authentic steering wheel might be an enhancement. The steering wheel becomes as much an aesthetic accessory as a functional one. You might look at it much like the front wheels wheels; a modern car would certainly perform better with modern wheels - solid wheels are always better performers than wires which are subject to falling out of true. But I suppose the designers saw the wheels as a very important part of the look they were trying to create, so they chose wires. The steering wheel isn't much different - it's part of the look. That's my view of the world, different than yours, but I'd be real interested to hear how others view it.

Please consider this an exchange of ideas, and as so none can be wrong if they are true representations of each person's own personal view.

Regards,
Mike L.

Mike, good reply and just what I would have expected you to say.

There are some cars, and Morgans feature strongly, where the owners buy them to recreate the 'good old days of yore', in which case getting the wheel right for them, is important, so each persons choice is highly personal, and frankly, there is nothing wrong with that, and your knowledge and enthusiasm will help them enormously.

I do fervantly believe, as do you, that the wheel is amongst the most important interfaces in any car and it can only improve the driving pleasure to get it right.

Yes, on this we do agree. Thanks for your understanding.

At the moment I've got the usual three spoke woodrim Motolita wheel on my 2010 4/4 Sport. It would be nice to have something a little different and unlike some I'm considering going up an inch from 14" to make it look more traditional. There's enough legroom still so thats not going to be a problem. A 4 spoke or a symmetrical 3 spoke wood rim are tempting me at the moment. Have you any views Mike?

Hello Jay. Right now I'm working on a 15.5" wheel for Rufus3 (Paul; K.). There appears to be enough room and it will give a better look, or I should say, more period, than a 15" wheel. Wheel size reduction can sometimes spoil the look of some of the beautiful old designs, but the M3W has a very small center hub going for it, which helps a lot. So since you asked me, I would do a four spoke on this car. I have three spokes on my cars and the smallest is 15.5", with a 16" on my Austin-Healey 100 BN2. Going back some with the indy cars there were some really beautiful designs from Maserati, Ferrari, OSCA, and a host of others. There were British examples too in both three and four spoke. The earlier wheels - earlier than mid-'50s - typically had segmented rims which used solid wood segments that were very attractive. Send me a pm offline if you would like to see some specific examples beyond what I've already posted.

Mike L.

Jay: My apology. I just saw that you were asking about the 4/4 Sport, not M3W. I would need to know what the instrument locations are. I suspect something like a Walsall (Makers of the Les Leston wheels) might work well. Possibly even the Bluemel's design I posted above from TOK. The Walsall would fit your Moto-Lita boss with only some re-drilling of holes.