[Purcell69]

I met with my leather guy this morning. He is a retired state trooper and quite an artist when it comes to saddle repair and working leather. I gave him the disassembled air bag module and we talked about what I have in mind. To say the least, he is excited about the prospects and what I have in mind. One thing about my guy, he's not fast when it comes to doing things like this, but for the level of quality, I'd gladly wait a LONG time if need be. He has a lot of irons in the fire and other work ahead of me, so I will spill the beans rather than torture everyone.

The steering wheel rim itself is wrapped in black leather from the factory, which is also part of what lead me down this path. For the air bag module, I'm going with natural leather. I don't really want it to resemble the stock module, so black is out.

Years ago, I received a small, novelty branding iron for use when grilling food. The brand itself is about the size of a half-dollar and while I think it would be a unique touch for the center of the steering wheel, it would be on the small side. We talked about this idea and he says, "Send me a picture of what you want, and I'll hand tool it in instead, with a little bigger proportion to the center of the steering wheel."

Knowing Flipper's skill and craftsmanship, I jumped at the idea. Which brought us to this...














-Joe