Dear V-8 Buick interior decorators, You'all should now be able to see what my scheming brain has come up with. If you've got a worn out steering wheel and you're more interested in a period feel to the car than having everything Buick original, it hard not to be tempted by one of these Grant steering wheels (this particular example sold by Original Parts Group) http://www.opgi.com/p/interior-trim/5/92/S240602.html These steering wheels look very nice and certainly the price is hard to beat. Yet, if you are a stubborn about keeping the car "feeling" like it came from the 1960s, there is a glaring problem. For whatever silly reason, Grant sells only a modern Buick tri-shield logo for the horn button. That will fool most people, but it will never fool me! Still with a scheme like this, it is hard not to try to get around what seems like a small problem. Has anybody tried to simply glue a 60-70s era tri-shield logo on the top of the Grant horn button to make it look like it belongs in say a 1965 Buick? I can't see very clearly what is the size of that tri-shield. I assume it is reasonably small, but I had hoped one could use either a used but clean part, or alternatively a reproduction part that goes somewhere else on a Buick. Since it is a small tri-shield, hopefully you could find a reproduction part that is inexpensive. Then the only problem would be to carefully cut it out and glue it on. Another possibility would be to try to fit a Buick rally wheel horn cap somehow on to a Grant wheel. Original Parts Group will gladly sell you a reproduction Horn Cap: http://www.opgi.com/p/interior-trim/15049/92/S240215.html It seems if you want to pay the price, Original Parts Group has the components to reproduce the authentic Buick Rally Steering wheel, but it sure doesn't look cheap just eye-balling the component prices. Has anybody come up with an arrangement to save a little money on the steering wheel - or is this very much a case of you get what you pay for? Thanks as always for all the great advice on things Buick!! :TU: Cheers, Edouard :beer
Pictures worth 1000 words (Re: back-date a Grant steering wheel?) Dear V-8 Buick interior decorators, A while back I started this thread and nobody jumped in to reply. I've gone ahead and ordered a Grant steering wheel install kit and horn button arrived ahead of the rest. That allowed me to take a few photos and perhaps make a little more clear what I was asking. Here is the horn button that Grant provides for the steering wheel I finally selected: The button is 3 inches in diameter and the central Buick logo is 1.5" in diameter. However, it is the current modern look of the Buick tri-shield logo. I grabbed a reasonably clean 60s era tri-shield logo and just printed it in color on paper to see what it would look on this horn button: Even with the poor-quality appearance of the paper tri-shield logo, the effect of the older logo on this button I think is quite nice. One way I can make a good quality version of this, would be replicate this photographic technique using the tricks that Randall used on making his custom wheel caps as described here: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?208168-TheSilverBuick-s-1977-Skylark&p=2084230#post2084230 Another possibility would be to use a good looking decal. Original Parts Group sells a 1.5" decal that might look okay: http://www.opgi.com/p/wheels-tires-accessories/15015/101/SDB0327.html I have two problems with this particular solution. First, the color of the decal isn't as nice for the color scheme of my car (the black of my example is better.) Second, the original button the Grant horn button is beveled, so the decal won't stick properly to the edges. My preferred solution would be to find an original tri-shield logo that would fit nicely into that 1.5" circle. Now that the problem is a little more clear, anybody got a clever idea? Thanks as always for the bountiful wisdom to be found here on all things Buick!! :Smarty: Cheers, Edouard :beer
Hey, just what da' doctor ordered!! (Re: back-date a Grant steering wheel?) Dear bammax and V-8 Buick tri-shield logo experts, Ooh!! That looks just about perfect! :TU: Thanks a million! That's why you ask questions like this on V-8 Buick!! Cheers, Edouard :beer
I' m also in this same situation, I would not mine having one of these 1.5" in size but really only need one.
Best bet is to either call them and say you only need 1. Or just buy a set of 4 and sell the other 3 to recoup your costs. There's a chance you could end up with a great decal for free if you price things out right :TU: By the way if you go through the option list the size you want (1.5") is near the top. Just pull the original decal off and measure across the flat backside to make sure before ordering. It's hard to get a good measurement across the bubble face.
I would be more temped to put the 60's glass/ plastic with the black backroud in the horn piece its self. It would depend on how carefully you can cut the center out of the horn button and glue in the Tri shield piece from the back. I think a 1.5" hole saw on a drill press would do the trick.
