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Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51008

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I've been looking for this steering wheel for the Manta Ray for almost 2 years now. A couple nice ones have come up but oput of my range. I bid on 2 others and came in second. Todat I scored one off ebay for less than half I bid on the last one and its in about the same condition. It's off a '62 Olds, highly sought after by customizers. Having about 10" dish it will work nice with the dash. It'll take a little work but the chrome is good.

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Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51017

Sweet, good for you, congrats!

Bob

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Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51040

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Your patience paid off, good for you. Those were always cool looking wheels. I worked at an Olds dealer in the early 60's preping cars for show room display after school. Made the dasboard seem like it was a mile away. :laugh:

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Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51041

cat,thats a very,very cool wheel!!!
but i worked on rons manta ray,there isnt alot of room between the seat back and dash,have you tried sitting in the boat with it close to where it will be,its a pretty deep wheel,i hope im wrong,i really do.
congrats on it cat,if you want help with it let me know,john,p.s. i just saw that its a 10 inch wheel,so it just looks deeper to me than it is,im darn happy for ya buddy,john

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\"too soon old,too late smart\" my pap

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.“

---Mark Twain

Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51078

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Thanx guyz :) It's a 3D dash fer sure. The wheel I had figgered on using has a 3 1/2" dish and needed a 6" min. spacer to clear the gauges. I had measured erery thing out prior to buying parts. I was able to get all the T-Bird measurements online. The Manta Rays beam was near perfect but the length of the cockpit was longer. The bucket seat backs will be slightly further aft than Rons. The back seat will be forward fron original to connect with console. It will still have the same rear seat leg room as the at-Bird. This will leave a space behind the back seat. Using the rear deck that came with the back seat I'll make a hatch to access storage, only have to take the rear seat backs out to crawl in.

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Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51086

cat, those seats are slick. i would luv to have those for mine but would cost me in the thousands to purchase and install.

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Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51094

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Thanx Ron, Ford called em Opera Seats. So far cost has not been bad, that gen T-Bird is not popular and lots of parts available. I wish I had a sewing machine to re-skin em myself. That's going to be pricey to have done. So far I'm at about $50 a seat and have an extra set of front seat trim to sell when done. I did a budget when I started, so far so good. Gotta shop around, saved enough on the steering wheel now I'm thinkin' to send it down under for a PearlCraft finish.

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Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51095

ok now i see,oopps,lol,pearlcraft does great work,very nice and cool.you go cat,and i like the back seats too,john

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\"too soon old,too late smart\" my pap

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.“

---Mark Twain

Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51112

Cat,
That s going to be one great looking boat!!!!! Love the seats, that should look awesome.

Bob

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Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51140

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No oopps John good to know your lookin' out. You brought up a good point. I was worried about how to explain, not very good at that. The geometry plays a factor also. In my garage rat days we refered to it all as "the angle of the dangle". All my MR came with for seats was a skinny bench the rest got lost. This is a couple pics that show the spacing.

Use the console in each to referance locations. The seats also have about 10" of travel with the tracks. Power buckets were availible but out of my price range. I'll keep the roll & tuck style, to quote Candy Clark in American Graffiti "I love the feel of roll & tuck upholstery".

John, how could I resist sitting in it to check out :laugh: Even made engine noises as I did a couple laps :woohoo:
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Re:Finally 13 years 7 months ago #51169

thats going to be one of the coolest boats out there!!! i cant wait to see it done,john

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\"too soon old,too late smart\" my pap

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.“

---Mark Twain
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