body and interior Super rare Watanabe Falcon steering wheel on my latest purchase

[LimeySteve]

I bought a 69 2002 yesterday & was intrigued by the steering wheel so thanks to Google I find out its a Watanabe RS Falcon wheel, one of 250 made in 1985 , popular with the Datsun crowd as Watanabe are a Japanese company, the wheel was made in Italy & is in perfect condition, it just is missing the Falcon script between the 2 notched holes, there is an NOS one on Ebay at the moment for $1000 !! I had already decided to replace it on the 69 with a stock wheel I have in stock, this is going on my 71 now , it's a lovely wheel .

 

 

 

 

[jmr_1602]

Very cool. What size is it? 350?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LimeySteve]

Spot on 350mm or 13 3/4 in old money

[zinz]

dang.... that looks fantastic, Steve.  

 

Ed

[LimeySteve]

Thanks Ed, the wheel is worth more than I paid for the car !! crazy , it's a good job we make steering wheels & I'm an inquisitive collector, it was the quality that made me look deep into it's origins.

[Chamonix72]

Watanabe also makes a 3-piece wheel that is very Panasport-like. If you can find those cheap, buy them!

Edited July 26, 2015 by Chamonix72

[visionaut]

Watanabe is primo stuff - wheels too. Kudos, Steve!

[jrkoupe]

very very  cool wheel.........and Im a wheel slut..lol

 

what id do?....sell it,  and get a real deal  3 spoke alpina wheel.....

[math labs]

I got some old watanabes off of yahoo japan in the right fitment. pretty happy old japanese parts arent frowned upon! 

[JimSlay]

I have what looks to be the same wheel on my 74' ..... I never looked into what it was, I’ll have to see if it’s the same. Mine also came with a wood cover. 

 

Yours looks Nicer, mine is definitely been used. I'll Post a Picture of the Wheel and Wood cover later in the week.

 

 

Thanks for the Info

 

 

...... Humm .. I Suppose it has been a while since my last post ..... I've got to figure out the image posting again in between the attacks by a two year old

 

 

 

 

Got It ......

 

 

I Still didn't  find any identifying marks....

Did you Find any? Perhaps under where the Hub Mounts. Mr. Limey?

Edited August 1, 2015 by JimSlay

[LimeySteve]

I'll look forward to seeing another Jim.

[Jace]

Not necessarily Watanabe, at least two other companies used that same wheel frame, and the 'Falcon' script is etched/embossed. Still a very cool steering wheel, but not Watanabe.

[rey949]

beautiful steering wheel. You don't see that too often.. Hey!!! are those mashamoto zx tires on that car in the pic?

[JohnS]

That steering wheel looks very similar to the 350mm Momo Prototipo wheel.  I've always liked the looks of those, esspecially the flat (non-dished) ones.  Is the Falcon dished?

[LimeySteve]

Yes it's dished, I have it on my 71 daily driver & it's great , nice aluminum hub too, even the horn works