[stratosmgt]

Acquired this recently for my Twinspark, lovely condition, 9/10, yet to put it on.
Not seen one like this before, was it an option?

 

[HaydnW]

I'm 99% sure that was an option pal

 

[v6junky]

That's a late model QV steering wheel prior to the airbag versions. So not many to be found!!

 

[stratosmgt]

Looks like Alfa made 988 cars with this steering wheel so won't be many about now.

 

[QVHK]

Looks like Alfa made 988 cars with this steering wheel so won't be many about now.

This steering wheel is standard on my 164QV24 sold in Hong Kong; mine was perhaps the first lot of the QV24 RHD manufactured in 1993. The aircon console is still the dial type, not digital.

 

[stratosmgt]

Looks great. Those seats look awesome too

 

[v6junky]

Tan Recaros, rarer than rocking horse poop!!!

 

[QVHK]

Thanks. Yes, the seats in tan and the door card in two tone really light up the car. My earlier QV was black/black, also has the same steering wheel. See pictures. Please note the difference in the aircon console. The Black/Black is a 1994 model. The Black/Tan is 1993, both QV24. I have seen a later 164QV model that has a different steering wheel fitted with airbag, and it also has a different original Alfa master key with a key head in red.

 

[v6junky]

Yep, 1993 to some point in 1994, this was standard QV non airbag wheel until the airbag became standard and no more of these great wheels were supplied.

 

[steven immel]

I'm curious who made that wheel for Alfa. Under the center pad does it have this stamp on the aluminum frame?

 

[stratosmgt]

Don't know who made this wheel, do you?

 

[steven immel]

Thank you for this photo, I don't see any giveaway identifying marks. Is the hub steel or aluminum? Any markings/stampings on the back side? MOMO usually stamps their wheels on the back of the hub with "MOMO" plus a date (see photo). My guess is that this is a Kolbenschmidt (KS) wheel manufactured in their plant in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. KS, usually associated with piston manufacturing, got into steering wheels around 1974 and became oem providers for Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Alfa, etc. in the late 80s and 90s. All the air-bag equipped wheels for the Alfa 164 are KS/Magna. In 1994 KS sold to Magna International (logo below). The oem wheel for the Alfa 156 is made by Momo. It would be great to eventually verify the maker of this beautiful wheel.

 

[stratosmgt]

Hi again. I found this if it helps?

 

[stratosmgt]

The hub appears to be Steel. The leather wraps and covers the rear of the wheel so might be covering further markings

 

[steven immel]

Stumped. The number in your previous photo seems like a manufacturing date "06-05-93"... hmm... followed by "GCP" —what's that? I've looked at a bunch of contemporary Momo, Italvolenti, Raid, Vortex, Nardi, and can't find a match. This wheel uses a 2-piece leather wrap on the rim (very stylishly done) whereas most artisan wheels have a 1-piece covering with seam at bottom spoke.

 

[steven immel]

Doing a little poking around, "GCP" could be Gallino Componenti Plastici of Turin. Breed Technologies, a big maker of steering wheels and airbags—who was in full expansion mode in the mid 1990s—bought both Momo and GCP in 1996. So maybe this steering wheel is from Gallino, prior to the sale of the company to Breed.

GALLINO: PASSA A BREED TECHNOLOGIES (MOMO)

 

[steven immel]

Yep, it's probably Gallino, here's one patent of many I just found compliments of Google. This proves GCP made steering wheels in the 90s

Method of manufacturing a motor-vehicle steering wheel by the moulding of plastics material so that it looks like a wooden steering wheel, and a steering wheel produced by the method - Gallino Componenti Plastici S.p.A.

 

[steven immel]

By the way, I said "leather" in a previous post, but not having one in my hand perhaps I shouldn't have assumed; is this wheel leather covered or pvc covered? Most steering wheel producers were capable of doing covering in either material.

 

[steven immel]

I'm taking a bit of a leap in making this conjecture, but it seems that there may be a connection between GCP (Gallino Componenti Plastici)—patent holder for two types of of steering wheel manufacturing procedures made in 1991—and the firm V. Gallino S.p.A. Some of you old-timer Alfisti may know this is the venerable manufacturer of the "Hellebore" and "Gallital" brand of hand-crafted steering wheels in the 60s. Does anyone know if V. Gallino S.p.A. was amalgamated into GCP? Seems plausible. . . same name, city of Turin, artisan steering wheels, wood rims being replaced by plastics.

Nice idea! (that your "rare" QV steering wheel has Hellebore lineage)

 

[stratosmgt]

By the way, I said "leather" in a previous post, but not having one in my hand perhaps I shouldn't have assumed; is this wheel leather covered or pvc covered? Most steering wheel producers were capable of doing covering in either material.

Yes, it certainly is Leather throughout. The attention to detail and the stitching/jointing is superb. Hope the photos give you an idea.