Our 3-Wheeler is British green (Morgan calls it “Morgan Sport Green”), with dark brown quilted leather trim, and the classic dashboard with Tawny wood panel instead of the standard fighter-looking dashboard with its iconic bomb release button. This, added to the front badge bar with our colourful badges, make the whole a very classic looking combination.
The standard steering wheel, very sporty looking, doesn’t satisfy us for different reasons. Its black leather and black spokes, in our honest opinion, don’t match good enough with the classic style of our 3-Wheeler, and more precisely with the classic dashboard with Tawny wood panel.
Also, the position of the three spokes 2-6-10 is a little unfortunate. In the LHD cars, as ours, the upper right one (at 2) hides part of the dashboard, the tachometer to be more precise. And if you have a RHD car, it’s the upper left one (at 10) that hides your speedometer. It’s not for nothing that many 3-Wheeler owners have turned their standard steering wheels 180º.
For the above-mentioned reasons, we decided to change the standard steering wheel for a beautiful wood one. Our choice is a Moto-Lita wood rim, 3-spoke chromed with holes, 14” (as the standard one), in dark brown wood with rivets. And finished with an elegant Morgan badged cap. And, quite important I would say, we chose the thicker wood rim, to keep a nice grip sensation.
Changing the original steering wheel may seem easy, as it comes with the quick release system. But this quick-release system is factory-secured: the Allen bolt that carries the extra nut that blocks the quick-release system has a central pin, preventing the use of a standard Allen key. So, the removal of the standard steering wheel wasn’t that easy…
We love the result! The wood rim is definitely much better looking than the original black one.
We left the quick-release system operative. Despite the still open discussion about the security of the Traven system equipped on the new 3-Wheelers, we prefer to be able to remove the steering wheel every time we park it. It’s more for security reasons. Who would steal a car without a steering wheel? But for comfort too! I must admit that getting in and out of the 3-Wheeler is much easier if you have a removable steering wheel! At least for a driver of my size.
In order to keep the steering wheel properly protected after removing it from the column, we asked an excellent trimmer to make a bag for it. Really nice result! Made from the same dark brown leather, and quilted, as the trim of the car!
Practical and elegant. We love it!
On the other hand, we thought to reupholster the standard steering wheel with perforated dark brown leather, and thus have two steering wheels available for the car. For this, we would need another quick-release system for the standard steering wheel, since the one it brought is installed on the wooden steering wheel. And here we found an obstacle that deserves a special mention: Morgan Motor Company does not supply loose spares of the quick-release system, but only the whole assembly of the quick-release with the steering column.
Something frankly surprising and unfortunate, since for a simple quick-release system you must pay a fortune for a steering column you won’t use. Unfortunate and even awkward as a spare parts policy. I hope they’ll reconsider soon this policy, and allow us to buy only the quick release.
The change of the steering wheel for the wooden one was really positive. And not only from an aesthetic point of view. Its spokes are much better positioned! They are at 3-6-9, so none of them hides the instruments on the dashboard. We’re really happy with the result. I hope you like it too!
