Ford standardized all columns and steering wheals to black on the thunderbirds from 84-at least 96 ?
thanks for the help.
I know my '84 Cougar had a tan/gray steering wheel and column cover.
No this is not true. Steering wheel color was determined by what trim level and what interior color the vehicle was.
SO there is such things as blue steering wheels in tbirds that had a blue interior or not? thats the main reason, been trying to find a replacement for the bird i just bought cause it was really falling apart the steering wheel.
My old '87 Sport and current '88 both have grey columns and steering wheels (red interiors in both cars)
The only color-keyed wheels I've seen in any Fox T-Bird/Cougar was the four-spoke 83-84 unit
My column and trim are dark blue. Steering wheel is black (which seems to be the standard).
Carmen, I guess in Canada y'all got different wheels. My '84 Cougar had an A-frame wheel that was color-keyed. Yet, my '84 T-bird has a thick, leather wrapped, steel frame 4-spoke wheel with flat, wide spokes and no functions on the wheel. (Horn and cruise were out on the signal lever.)
so far i'v had 3 dark blue wheels, one tc wheel one factory wraped black leather wheel, and one plane jane wheel. and iv seen the weels without the cruise buttons.
i had a blue steering wheel and interior, sadly i no longer have the car
1983-84 cars had the steering wheels and columns color-keyed to the interior. With the new dash in 1985, things started going more toward charcoal grey for the wheels. I believe the columns could be either interior color or the matching grey in those years, also depending upon column or floor shift. As far as I'm aware, 1987-88 cars just had grey wheels and columns.
Now I have a theory that I haven't been able to verify yet, but I *think* if you had a tan or brown colored interior, your dash panels around the instrument cluster and radio were a dark brown instead of grey, and the same went for the column and steering wheel. There's a 'Bird at the boneyard with a tan interior and I keep forgetting to snag other panels and compare them in person. If this is true, then it would be unique to those interior colors. Then again it could just be foolin' my eyes in my old age. ;)
I've got an '88 turbocoupe parts car outside right now with the tan interior. It has grey trim around the gauges and console and grey column and wheel - same as my '87 Cougar with the grey interior.
:canada:
I remember Robi, the 1984 cougar owner from Hungary snagged a pic of his interior.. it was Tan.. and his steering wheel was the same tan colour.. the dash top is a dark brown.. here's a pic..
My brown '87 cat has the woodgrain dash and black column with black steering wheel. I'll take a few interior pics later today if I remember.
Crystal, let me rephrase that...I *think* that may be for 1985-86 cars only. Reason I bring this up is because in one of my brochures, those dash surrounds look seriously brown and not charcoal. Now those photos can be prototypes or non-production pieces in the brochures. But in the real world, like on that car at the boneyard, I swear it looks more brown than grey. I'd know more by looking at the part numbers and comparing. Again, my eyesight is excellent but it may just be trickin' my brain. ;)
I have no idea if it will interchange to a Fox 'Bird but the 93 LXs had a "monochromatic" interior color scheme. Blue interior=blue wheel. LX was the base model begininng then and it was the last year (in US) without SRS airbags too.
The blue bird in my free parts post had a black coloum and black wheel. Had as in I have it now.
My red '84 T-Bird
(http://users.rcn.com/jroyle/T-%20Bird%20Wheel.jpg)
I think you are right, Eric. Actually check the 1986 Tbird brochure if ya got it...there is a base model V6 in the middle (one of the value package ones that gave you a few options for a decent price) that was tan/tan...and I think the trim was tan and not charcoal grey.
Same thing happened in 96-97, the tan interiors had a dark brown dash plastics and wheel. Looked a little wierd with the black floor shifter, but still cool in its own way. :)