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Famous Steering wheel

Lyndon

Bronze Member
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During world war 2, starting in 38 or there abouts, F. Porsche and his VW company, started building the"Strength thru Joy" car. People got stamps and stamp books to save up and buy one of these first VW's. But the war came and this was cancelled. Instead they built the Kubelwagen and the Shwimwagen. These were essentially German Jeeps. 22,000 Kubel's were built and you see them in war movies. One gets trashed by a tank in one of the Indiana Jones movies. The later reproduction you know as the "Thing" or Safari.

Also at the same time an amphibious, 4 wheel drive VW called the Schwimwagen was also produced. Roughly 30,000. These machines all had the 3 spoke wheel found in most snow tracs. After the war when VW went back to producing cars, the first few years had the 3 spoke stering wheel. When VW up graded to a more modern wheel Westermaskiner bought up the remainder of these. They started going on to ST4's about the time they quit going on to VW automobiles.

I used to 'Show' my ST4's at Vintage VW meets. There dozens of VW Fans would imediately recognize the vintage stering wheel. They are a bit of a collectors item, and are much older than the Snow Trac machines themselves. Today a horn button for one of these stering wheels usually fetches over a hundred dollars. A nice wheel with the horn button may bring upwards of 800$. I've seen some entire machines(ST4's) that I wouldn't give that much for the whole machine!

Also included in the bizare colection of "hand me down" and left-overs that went on many of the machines are the following parts manufactured long before the machines were ever built: 52 bug tail light, used well into the 60's on ST4's, a pre 60's Porsche turn signal switch which upon close inspection reveals a small lamp in the switch that blinks when the turn signals are flashing, 56 VW Bus wing window knobs, and a dipstick oil temperature sender. At a single VW Vintage Meet at least a hundred VW enthusiasts would point these features out to me. I later found pictures that substantiated their claims.

One item in perticular that is the wrong year part is the brake slave cylenders. They were originally used for some VW Truck, discontinued, then applied and manufacture started back up in 74. It took quite awhile to track down how MY 63 ST4 and some earlier ones ended up with a part for a car manufactured 11 years later! I went to my local VW place and ordered the cylender and the parts guy said it was for a 74? how can this be? the machine was built in 63? And now you know" the rest of the story".
 
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Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well Lyndon, I have an original steering wheel & horn button and now I actually appreciate it.

I had given serious thought to swapping the whole steering wheel/horn with a newer style VW wheel/horn, but now I think I may keep what I have!
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
Bob mine is a cheap vw bug type plastic steering wheel. BUT not for long! Anyway can we get a picture of your steering wheel?
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Mike, if you have a VW black plastic 3 spoke steering wheel then you have the original. Most people have lost the horn buttons.

Here is a photo of my steering wheel. This is a pretty old photo, probably taken shortly after I got the Snow Trac into my new workshop. The photo does not show the horn button, I found that in a box of spare parts and at first I didn't even know what it was. It took some time to figure it out!

Like I wrote, I now have a new appreciation for this old junky looking steering wheel. I guess it will need a nice paint job now. I had seriously considered buying a MOMO steering wheel for it!
 

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Lyndon

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This IS the steering wheel I described. More than 2/3 of the machines produced had them. Eventually they ran out and started using another steering wheel that is Not VW, But the one pictured above is the "Real McCoy" war issue bla bla bla....
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
Mine is not like yours. Mine is the newer model "CHEAP" vw bug type plastic POS steering wheel. Now if I had one like yours I would NOT change it out either. Dmiesner has one like yours. I wouldnt get rid of it period. The older style feels alot nicer than mine. I suspect that Aktiv ran out of the GOOD OLDIES and bought up a bunch of what VW had left over back in the 70s. Thats what I have.
 

Ice Queen

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I can't remember what my steering wheel looks like - I haven't driven the snowtrac much yet, but I will take the camera out soon and photograph it and then you can tell me what sort of wheel I have, please.
 

Lyndon

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
For Real Vintage fans, do a search on Schwimmwagen, this is the 1938 to 1944 amphibious german army vehicle whose official designation is a Porsche 166. Take a look at the picts: ST4 steering wheel, ST4 Headlamps, and one ST4 tail light!
Edit by Bob: Lyndon, here is the photo of the interior of the Schwimmwagen you wanted posted! The steering wheel looks like mine, but the horn button is slightly different than mine.

--middle photo-- Also a photo showing the headlamps.

--final photo-- From an Ebay auction, the final picture shows a tail lamp that matches my Snow Trac . . . however, I looked at 4 other Schwimmwagens on the internet and none of those (dating to 1943 and 1944) had a different tail lamp than is on this Schwimmwagen.
 

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Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
While we are on the subject of other common parts, the clutch and brake pedals look IDENTICAL to the clutch and brake pedals in my Snow Trac. The only difference is that on a Snow Trac (at least on my Snow Trac) the pedals are hung down and on the Schwimmwagen they are floor mounted and stick up. But they appear to be the same pedals.
 

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Snowcat Operations

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I love these vehicles! They are quite unique. I was under the impression alot more were out there. Well at least in Europe. Guess not. The Germans were and still are ahead of everyone else when it comes to building anything!
 

Lyndon

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
According to the "166 Registery" which is the Schwimmwagen owners association they can account for exactly 110 survivors.
 

Ice Queen

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SUPER Site Supporter
Well I have had a look at my steering wheel, it is a very boring one, as you can see. The picture is rather dark, but I don't really think it deserves anything better!!
 

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Snowcat Operations

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That would be a typical VW Baja bug aftermarket steering wheel you see on all the old Baja bug / Sand buggies. Those were very popular back in the 70s. Not the original. The steering wheels in the snow tracs should be at least 15" or 390 mm Diameter in my opinion. BUT it would give a little more padding for them white knuckle moments!
 

Lyndon

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GOLD Site Supporter
The Steering wheel may not be original but I see that most of the instruments and controls are, including the rare Porsche Turn signal switch. Polished up these are really neat! Some are red some are blue, but they all have a small lamp accessable from the rear, that flashes on the knob. Quite a novelty. Virtuall any VW Bus, Bug, Transporter, Fastback, Squareback, Karman Ghia, or Porsche wheel will fit so if you don't like your's go to a VW car show or Vintage meet and you can find one you like. If you bring pictures of your Snow Trac you will get a very positive response from the people at the Meet. If you bring your whole machine you'll be the center of attraction even if it's not painted and 'dressed up'.
 

Alp Trac

New member
For those of us who are not lucky enough to have an original horn push for our original wheels I found this replacement on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....ryProximity&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget

The internal diameter is 51mm and external is 62mm, before you rush out and measure the internal diameter of your steering whell it is just over 50mm so with a bit of jiggery pockery should fit, I will post a photo of mine when I have received/fitted it.

It is by no mean perfect but does fill an otherwise ugly hole!
 

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Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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Alp Trac said:
The internal diameter is 51mm and external is 62mm, before you rush out and measure the internal diameter of your steering whell it is just over 50mm so with a bit of jiggery pockery should fit, I will post a photo of mine when I have received/fitted it.
I have an orginal, but have often considered 'upgrading' to a newer/more attractive one. I'm looking forward to seeing your install. Here are some others that might also fit. These are sold by Flat 4 in England, and I know they fit the VW Banjo style wheel but I don't know if they fit the original tri-spoke wheel. The Greek Lady and the Sun & Moon were both of 50's vintage, not sure the origin of the St Christopher/Zodiac button.
 

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western auto

Active member
this thread is mis leading....... so far i have yet to see any snow trac with a schwimmwagen steering wheel, a schwimmwagen/ kubel has a splined hub , the ring of a scwimmwagen wheel was also rubber with 2 small grooves machined into the wheel itself, the snow trac wheels appear to be deutz/steyer/porsche tractor wheels........probably made by petri /////// the directional switch thats also a tractor/ generic use bosch part https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/v...=0&postorder=asc&highlight=schwimmwagen+wheel this is based on my knowlege of vw's and my personal hunt for a correct snow trac wheel, if i am wrong please enlighten me ;)
 

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300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
My 62 has similar steering wheel, but as noted it has a smooth non grooved wheel. Simple black horn button with a chrome or nickel reveal around the outside of the horn button.
Indeed I did have to fork out a $100 for the horn switch button for mine. Took years for me to find the proper one.
I believe it is a standard wheel for this vintage of Snow Trac.
 

western auto

Active member
My 62 has similar steering wheel, but as noted it has a smooth non grooved wheel. Simple black horn button with a chrome or nickel reveal around the outside of the horn button.
Indeed I did have to fork out a $100 for the horn switch button for mine. Took years for me to find the proper one.
I believe it is a standard wheel for this vintage of Snow Trac.
i was able to find everything ( wheel, button, directional sw,turn signals, early tailights, indicators etc) i have been searching for at "wescom tractor" if they ever decide to answer my query i will have it made
 
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