The Vacuum hoses thread made wonder, are Dealer Technical Bulletin changes done years after manufacturing considered factory original in competitive show judging on factory originality ? Maybe this is a question for POCI judges or the CRG.

Personally, I would consider a car judged for originality correct with or without some Dealer Technical Bulletin changes.

For example, would a '68 Firebird being judged be considered correct with the five factory TVS hoses or the T2/T2A Bulletin three hoses? I believe, yes.

I would agree with that since it was the factory that ordered the change. Anything else would be disqualifying.

I was at Englishtown for HPP magazine Pontiac Day. A guy had a 1968 Firebird convertible, absolutely beautiful, and he had the original deluxe steering wheel. You know, the nice plastic ones with the Firebird horn cap, that are always cracked and broken? I told him I had never seen one on a show car or any car for that matter. He was the only one. I told him the reason you don't see them was because they all cracked and it was a factory recall item. His was perfect. I told him to never let it get way because it was so rare.

So is he correct in keeping it? Or should it have been replaced under the recall to be 'correct'? I don't know. If I had a nice one I would use it, as they are the nicest. I have my original, which is cracked, and another that is not so bad. I intend to try fixing that one. I am never 'correct'.

I believe the recall replacement deluxe steering wheel as factory original, assuming the replacement was the same as the original.


I have a red one in my '68 convert. During one of my first warranty visits to the local Pontiac Dealer Service, the service writer informed me of the recall and installed a new replacement deluxe steering wheel. Ironically, the new deluxe wheel they gave me (an exact match to the original) started cracking soon after they replaced it.

That is interesting. I did not know anyone who got the deluxe wheel replaced with another deluxe. Most got the wheel replaced in the 70's with the 70's stock Pontiac wheel. I guess it took a while for some to begin to crack. I got my '68 hardtop in 1975 and the wheel was just starting to crack a little. 16 years later it was shot and I had replaced it with a Grant. The car was bought new by a girl neighbor in 1968 and she only used the dealer for maintenance. Maybe it was not bad enough to replace it yet?

So by that information, any 1968 Firebird with the deluxe interior should have a deluxe steering wheel. Either the original, or the factory replacement. Where does that leave the people who got the 70's wheel as a replacement? That would be hard to document.

You got me curious so I looked at my repair receipts. The steering wheel was replaced by my local Pontiac Dealer Service on 7/9/69. I looked up the recall notice and it was issued 4/14/69 so mine was likely one of the early replacements. Back then, I did not get a recall notice. It was the service manager who initiated the replacement when I brought the car in for some warranty work.

Interesting trivia; GM blames the drivers for putting "their full weight on the wheel when getting out of the vehicle" as the cause of the cracks in the recall notice.

One factory part that I could never match is the original Rayon Radial white wall tires it came with. Coker does not repro those.

That would make a little sense as my original owner was a petite woman. I was never rough on the car since it was the OHC6. I was also much lighter back then. Wink wink, nod nod.

I'll add one more twist to the '68 steering wheel recall. The recall mentions it applies to both '68 Firebirds and '68 Tempests yet only says "Potential Number of Units Affected 12,164. Note that the Definitive Firebird & Trans Am Guide 1967-1969 shows 47,532 Deluxe steering wheels were equipped on '68 Birds.

Note that there were only three steering wheels from the factory, standard, deluxe and sport. With 47,532 deluxe, 3,655 custom sport, I would assume there were about 56,000 standard steering wheels.

Did they estimate only some of the wheels would break?

Maybe they crunched the numbers looking for fat males that lean on steering wheels to get out? Did Pontiac have a 'fat guy' box to be checked on the order form at the dealership?

All I know is that I rarely if ever see an intact deluxe wheel like Jim's. I have a pretty good black one stashed away but it is not perfect. That is why I fixed up a Formula wheel with the wings down Firebird.