1938 Steering Wheel Color

[Bill Gauch #23121]

After a long hiatus which comes from having kids, I'm finally back to the job of restoring my 1938 Series 65. I'm about to recast my steering wheel in a 2-part urethane resin. I have lots of pictures of what the wheel is supposed to look like, and some of them have pretty good representations of the color. However, in the interest of a purist* approach, does anyone have an RGB or a CMY color value for the correct color of the wheel? I've seen pictures where the ring around the horn button and the wheel are the same color (a tan, average RGB values of <137, 121, 96>). I've also seen pictures where the wheel and ring seem to be the same color as the hub which has a slightly more pinkish tint to it. My plastic is completely gone and I'm sure I will eventually paint the interior parts of the dash, so close enough is probably close enough. However, if I'm going to the effort to recast the wheel, I would like to try to color match it as closely as possible so I can polish and buff the wheel and match the paint to it, rather than the other way around.

Bill Gauch #23121


* - As purist as one can get without reproducing Bakelite or cellulose or whatever the wheel was made from originally

[Steve Passmore]

I have seen them in various colours Bill and the biggest problem will be the horn button which is quite intricate, this should be the same as the rim.   If you do the wheel and the button surround then get a button of a different colour it won't look right.
These are pictures from the top man in 38 parts Bruce Berghoff.

[Bill Gauch #23121]

The bottom picture shows the color of my steering wheel hub. It's got that sort of rose/coppery tan color. I've seen pictures which look like the wheel and retaining ring are the same color. However, I've also seen pictures like the top left one where the hub, wheel and retaining ring are all the same color. I have the button and spring sitting on the dash of the car, although I'm not sure what the color is, at this point. I'll have to look when I get home. I realized the other day that I don't have the retaining ring. It's possible it ended up under the seat or elsewhere in the car. At this point, I was planning on recasting the wheel. I've got a mold made and the resin to cast the part, as well as some decent test castings of radio knobs and other small items. I was planning on mixing up some color in a bottle to be able to patch any bubbles or imperfections that might form. I just figured it would be best to use a known color palette instead of eyeballing it.