Removing power steering

I had a '61 Cruiser without power steering and I couldn't see the need for it. So, I ordered my '64 Daytona Wagonaire without p/s. Big mistake. It was much harder to steer than the Cruiser so I found a donor car and put p/s on it and this was back in the bias-ply tires days. Radials make it even harder to steer. A friend of mine took the p/s steering off his '63 Avanti some years ago. He put it back on a couple years ago because he said the additional strain of turning is much harder on the gearbox without p/s. I trust his information. He was the senior craftsman for White Post Restorations for a number of years and has virtually built some vehicles from scratch. Paul Johnson

Non power steering cars had different steering boxes ratio-wise.

My original Avanti R-1 had manual steering and it was quite a challenge to find the correct box as it needed replacing. Other than that, I never missed not having power steering.

Just my 2¢ worth...

JT

Very true about the different boxes. My Wagonaire had the slowest of all boxes being ordered as a manual steering car, something like 5 1/4 turns lock to lock. With power steering you can spin the wheel like they isn't anything attached. I have a set of quick steer arms that I will put on it sometime. One '63 Avanti I had was equipped with the fast manual steering option (16-1). I think it may have been just the regular power steering box less the power, but it had an option number. It was a handling fool rolling, but, parking... Paul Johnson

Yes parking can be a problem for the heavier cars without the proper skills. Obvious secret is to make sure that vehicle is "moving" while steering. This is a skill where wimmin fail quite often...

Speakin' of station wagons, there is one available, ('55 Champion two door), about ten miles from here. He wants $2500 for it which is way too steep for me though.

OTOH, I'd trade my yet-to-be-finished '55 Prez sedan project in a minute!

JT

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Oops... Just noticed that he lowered the price to $1,800.