steering wheels

valueextra · Mar 10, 2013

what different steering wheels where on the lemans i have seen 13 inch leather ones on some and wooden on others

Harrington Jan · Mar 10, 2013

The only steering wheels used on Le Mans were three different kinds of Carlotti 16". Slotted spokes, non-slotted and one kind with thumb grips on the horizontal spokes like the logo. All were made in wood.

valueextra · Mar 10, 2013

are you sure jan?

Harrington Jan · Mar 11, 2013

Otherwise I would not replied. Contact me off-Forum, sunbeam.harrington@swipnet.se

napa 1 · Mar 27, 2013

...and some Le Mans were fitted with Les Leston wheels.

bernd_st · Mar 28, 2013

Plus there are several threads about steering wheels incl. Pictures in this Forum. Just use the search function...

65beam · Mar 28, 2013

i would have to agree with jan. my three lemans all have carlotti wheels. i have all the dealer literature for the lemans and they also say the cars were fitted with carlotti wheels. nothing is mentioned about the use of les leston wheels.

Limey · Nov 18, 2013

Carlotti Les Leston

There is a well known book 'The Sunbeam and Tiger Gold portfolio' which is a compilation of reviews and Auto test. In one section, the tester is reviewing a Harrington tuned by Hartwell that comes with a 'Leston-Carlotti' wood rimmed steering wheel. He would have been fed that info by the Hartwell or Harrington PR man.

I'm with jan but the confusion seems to have started even as the car was being launched and they do look very similar.

Just adding this to the 'hive mind' that is SAOCA.

Oliver

alpine_64 · Nov 18, 2013

Limey said:
There is a well known book 'The Sunbeam and Tiger Gold portfolio' which is a compilation of reviews and Auto test. In one section, the tester is reviewing a Harrington tuned by Hartwell that comes with a 'Leston-Carlotti' wood rimmed steering wheel. He would have been fed that info by the Hartwell or Harrington PR man.

I'm with jan but the confusion seems to have started even as the car was being launched and they do look very similar.

Just adding this to the 'hive mind' that is SAOCA.

Oliver

Oliver, that was the first road test of a Harrington, and was the early Series 'A' car. At that point it's quite possible that the spec was being finalsied. I have mentioned this car (and that test) before in regards to the wheel, it also appeared to use a Talbot style center boss. The spec between the Harrinton and the LM cars quite possibly changed.

As for leather wheels.. no period mention or pics of those.. they are likely to be later mota-lita etc additions by owners.

in regards to the road tests.. the pictured are sometimes better sources f info than the text.. the same book has later tests of the Tigers where the writers mention automatic options and 289 performance versions available during MKI production.

Android · Jan 2, 2014

All H's had woodrimmed Carlotti wheels.
The 'Carlotti' was just a sticker over the LL

if you're brave enough to look underneath ....

It's sounds exotic so charge the mugs some more !!

65beam · Jan 2, 2014

wheels

the wheel shown is not the same size and style as the les leston wheel I have in the red Harrington at this time. the les leston wheel is also a smaller diameter with similar spokes.

Limey · Jan 3, 2014

All wood?

Not all H's had wood. I understand that HLM's had wood but HA's had standard wheels

Oliver

alpine_64 · Jan 3, 2014

Limey said:
Not all H's had wood. I understand that HLM's had wood but HA's had standard wheels

Oliver

olvier.. i think as a base the HA's had a stock wheel.. but they interiors were tailored on order.. the car in the road test we mentioned had what looked to be a Mark alpine wheel.. def not stock. i dont have my gold portfolio book to hand.. but I think the road test of the white HA had a stock SII wheel.

Limey · Jan 3, 2014

Hi Mike,

Agreed. Jan Iggbom once told me this also

Oliver

Harrington Jan · Jan 3, 2014

G'day China man

alpine_64 said:
olvier.. i think as a base the HA's had a stock wheel.. but they interiors were tailored on order.. the car in the road test we mentioned had what looked to be a Mark alpine wheel.. def not stock. i dont have my gold portfolio book to hand.. but I think the road test of the white HA had a stock SII wheel.

Agree to what you say but not to "a Mark Alpine wheel", it's complete different. Just an Alpine S.II wheel. I have a small story about steering wheels which I will put on the site within 2-3 days. Included will be a text coming from the Sabre/Sabra club which also had LL and Carlotti on their cars, but smaller 15" diameter.

bernd_st · Jan 3, 2014

The really important point for HLM's is what - if not only the sticker- makes a LL wheel different from a Carlotti. As far as I understand both had the specific glued on wood which is why the majority of them have desintegrated over the years. Furthermore the wood layers were "spindled" which makes a proper rebuild rather complicated & expensive.

To Jan: Extremely exited to see your article which hopefully sheds more light onto the mysteries...

Harrington Jan · Jan 3, 2014

Almost finished, but I'm no God just somebody who puts two and two together and hopefully get four.

Harrington Jan · Jan 3, 2014

bernd_st said:
The really important point for HLM's is what - if not only the sticker- makes a LL wheel different from a Carlotti. As far as I understand both had the specific glued on wood which is why the majority of them have desintegrated over the years. Furthermore the wood layers were "spindled" which makes a proper rebuild rather complicated & expensive.

To Jan: Extremely exited to see your article which hopefully sheds more light onto the mysteries...

BTW I guess your Carlotti comes from a Sabra/Sabre wheel centre looks like it. Measure the diameter 15" or 16".-s?

napa 1 · Jan 3, 2014

That makes so much sense. It's always been a point of confusion as to why les leston wheels appear on hl's, when they supposedly Were made with carlotti wheels. Thanks for that clarification.

bernd_st · Jan 3, 2014

Jan,

The steering wheel which came with the project is definitely a Carlotti. The sticker is there , it' s glued (top already desintegated) but diameter is only 15". Furthermore center is smaller plus it has only 5 fixation screw recesses -opposed to 6 used on HLM's. Looks like it could be a Sabre wheel. Wonder how previous owner found it because it's scarcer than the HLM one...