Steering wheel

Phil -
All the Pantera vendors have nice steering wheels...

The wheel from an early Capri should fit (not sure about the Escort splines, however), but just about anything is an improvement over the stock unit. LeCarra makes a very nice period-looking wheel.

What's "early" when it comes to Capris?
Mk1's started in '69 but were facelifted I think in '71. Mk2's started around '74, and Mk 3's did '79 thru '88

Phil (I quite like Capris)

Phil,

De Tomaso fitted the Momo Prototipo wheel to it's European GTS and all GT5 an 5S cars. I have one in my car and love it. They are now back in production and much cheaper in the USA as normal.
This wheel was also standard fitment on the Porsche 917 Le mans cars!


http://www.eautoworks.com/html/ORD-1-1-1-1942.cfm

http://www.cardomain.com/item/MOMPRO35BK2B?ref=msn2

http://www.ltbmotorsports.com/moprblstwh.html

Johnny

The UK Capri guys tell me that Mk1 Capri and Mk1 Escort use the same wheel, so I shouldn't have much trouble getting a nice one off ebay. What diameter is recommended?

I have seen (and may still have) a picture of a Mk1 3000 GXL - and the wheel looks identical to the wheel in my '72 Pantera including the rubbery cover bit in the middle (which I paid Hall a load of money for - when I probably could have found one in a scrap yard oh well...).

Hmmm. Now I'm curious and would be interested to see a photo of that Mk1 steering wheel. I thought that the US steering wheels were unique to the Pantera with that rubbery deal. I know that Euro-GTS cars got a nice 2-spoke steering wheel (don't know who made it) but the US GTS cars got the standard (and rather ugly imo) rubber wheel thingie. So it is kind of odd that it was a European car (Capri) that was used for the US market but not the European market.

Any chance you could find a pic? I'm curious...

Thanks!

I have attached a picture from the Faster Fords site.
See:
http://www.fasterfords.com/brochure_mk1_capri_3000e.htm

That wheel looks the same as the one in my '72 UK spec right-hand-drive.

See also:
http://www.capri.pl/capri/ford-capri-mk1-facelifting

Forgive me, but that wheel is hideous - not what i'd expect in a Pantera at all.
I'm taking a trek up to my local Capri breakers/banger racers in the morning to see what he's got.

For comparison here is original factory steering wheel in my '72. Complete with shiny new cover from Hall Pantera.

Thanks for posting that picture. I'd never ever seen a photo of the stock US-wheel in the Capri application. Interesting...

Can somebody count how many splines our wheels have for me? I've been offered a wheel but we're not sure if it's for a Mk1 or Mk2 Capri and they have different columns.
Ta
Phil