What steering wheel???

[donsladek]

Was watching an old video for the Elan M100 on YouTube, and saw a steering wheel that I hadn't seen before:

screen grab from video 1991 Lotus Elan Experience the ten minute moment of truth a.jpg

Anyone know what this came off of, and if it is an airbag wheel?

Here's the whole video - not real great quality, featuring a young Mike Kimberly:

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Don: That is the Lotus VHS Introduction film that went to every US dealer in 1991.

If you look closely, it is a FED wheel but they doctored it to remove the logo. (If you watch closely, when he is making the right hand turn - around 3:55/8:41, there are lines across the middle of the steering wheel where the embossed logo should be). It might have even been a Firebird air bag that they had in a test car. Shots of other cars show the Lotus logo on the production airbag steering wheel.

moment of truth.jpg

I was looking at the original DVD I made from the VHS a few years ago - not the youtube version, so the time stamp might not be exact.

I uploaded it to NewLogik's site so he could host it. Here is the link: Intro Video

[donsladek]

Don: That is the Lotus VHS Introduction film that went to every US dealer in 1991.

If you look closely, it is a FED wheel but they doctored it to remove the logo. (If you watch closely, when he is making the right hand turn - around 3:55/8:41, there are lines across the middle of the steering wheel where the embossed logo should be). It might have even been a Firebird air bag that they had in a test car. Shots of other cars show the Lotus logo on the production airbag steering wheel.

Hi, John,

After looking again, you are correct - the airbag module just looks more stylized in the video, while the production piece seems "plumper"- or maybe it's just from looking at the big blob while driving and wishing it was more svelte...

Thanks for the video, too!