Nardi leather steering wheel - Ferrari ? If yes, which model

looks like from a 308 ?

 

I can't recall any factory Ferrari steering wheel having any branding on it, so with the engraved Nardi on the front spokes, I'd guess this was an aftermarket Nardi wheel.

I also can't recall any Ferrari wheel with slots in the spokes (not to say that there wasn't ever one). This wheel may have been used on a Ferrari, though typically the factory steering wheels (at least from the vintage era) had 18 holes for positioning flexibility rather than only 6.

Size-wise, the vintage steering wheels were 420 mm, and I think the Daytona wheel was around 390 mm, so this 360 mm Nardi probably would have been used a newer model.

 

Here is an original RHD 512BB her in OZ.
Nardi wheel, RHD 1980
I am lead to believe that there was some disagreement with MOMO and Nardi was chosen for a short while. Have not confirmed that story so who knows.
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Most, if not all, mid-to-late production Daytonas I’ve seen with OEM steering wheels seem to have had MOMO branding on them and I have feeling I’ve seen others…

 

Thanks for the correction regarding branding on the wheel and apologies for the inaccurate information. I must be getting old, I went back and looked at my old photos and even my Mondial 3.2 had MOMO engraved on the wheel. I've been much more focused on vintage for the last few years, so I think that's why I was confused. Seems like they started having branding on the wheels with the Daytona model, the 365 GT and earlier cars didn't have any branding I don't think.

Since the changeover to allow branding appears to have happened in 1969, I'd guess it might have been a byproduct of Fiat taking ownership since the cars after 1969 seem to have branding.

 

No worries !
They, i.e. getting old and confused, happens to all of us.

 

I owned a 1980 308 GTSi from January 1997-September 1998.

I loved that car and want to have it back.

During the time I owned it, I would call it all original and nicely preserved, with basic maintenance.

I never changed anything, as much as I hated the smaller horn button. This is the exact steering wheel fitted to my 308.

 

this is what I also have written in post 2 here

 

365 gt wheels have momo branding on the back side of the lower spoke

 

i was only referring to branding on the front side (e.g. visible when mounted (post ‘69) vs invisible when mounted (pre ‘69)).

My guess is that Fiat negotiated a deal with the wheel makers when they bought Ferrari in 1969 to get better prices in exchange for having the branding/logo be visible. There could be no better advertising for the wheel manufacturers than to have their branding on Ferrari OEM wheels, so I’d guess that would allow Ferrari to get a significant discount. This is all a complete guess of course, but it was an opportunity lost if FiatFerrari didn’t negotiate a discount.

 

Nardi had different bolt pattern (different hub) and the horn button was exclusive and not exchangeable for Momo

 

Production date on my car is dec 69 and branding on back; also only model as far as i know that has black anodized spokes as opposed to silver ; early 365 had silver momo wheels

 

My 1981 308 GTBi had this same steering wheel. Don't know if it was original or not. The car was Euro production car imported here in 1986.

 

The OP's wheel looks like an exact match with @Gleggy 's 512BB wheel. Unless the size is different, I'd say "case closed" that this is a an original wheel Ferrari wheel made by Nardi. The only question would be which other models used it since it sounds like some 308's may have used this wheel as well.

In the vintage era, they essentially used one steering wheel for a bunch of different models over many years. Maybe it was the same for this wheel where it was used on several models. Looking up the Ferrari part number for the 512BB would probably shed a lot of light on which models used it.

 

Nardi wheels always found their way onto Ferraris, as an alternate (for whatever reason) to the Momo.

Those slots are unusual yet here we have both 512BB and '80 308 fitment!

"Normally" all the early 308s do have a MOMO which as mentioned has holes drilled in the spokes, not those graceful slots.
All things are possible would be my answer.

Although IIRC the 512 and 308 wheels were a different size.
Diameter I mean...