Steering wheels had to do with mechanical leverage
1954 Jag I owned was 16" Recirculating Ball 16" wheels
1951 Chevy was 15" with 15" wheels Recirculating Ball steering
1947 to 1953 trucks was 16" Recirculating Ball
MGA was 16-1/2"
1965 MGB was rack+ pinion 15" wheels, best steering I have ever driven......
In the "old daze" they were larger to give at least some advantage.
A very long time ago as a child I always did read Uncles' newspapers which invariably had photo of someone impaled on the steering wheel.
en.wikipedia.org
Though the
collapsible steering column was
invented in the 1930s, GM didn't begin installing them until 1967.
The first power steering system on a vehicle was apparently installed in 1876 by a man with the surname of Fitts, but little else is known about him.[1] The next power steering system was put on a Columbia 5-ton truck in 1903 where a separate electric motor was used to assist the driver in turning the front wheels.[1][2]
Robert E. Twyford, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, included a mechanical power steering mechanism as part of his patent (U.S. Patent 646,477) issued on April 3, 1900 for the first four-wheel drive system.[3]
Francis W. Davis, an engineer of the truck division of Pierce-Arrow, began exploring how steering could be made easier, and in 1926 invented and demonstrated the first practical power steering system.[4][5][6] Davis moved to General Motors and refined the hydraulic-assisted power steering system, but the automaker calculated it would be too expensive to produce.[5] Davis then signed up with Bendix, a parts manufacturer for automakers. Military needs during World War II for easier steering on heavy vehicles boosted the need for power assistance on armored cars and tank-recovery vehicles for the British and American armies.[5]
Chrysler Corporation introduced the first commercially available passenger car power steering system on the 1951 Chrysler Imperial under the name "Hydraguide".[7] The Chrysler system was based on some of Davis' expired patents. General Motors introduced the 1952 Cadillac with a power steering system using the work Davis had done for the company almost twenty years earlier.
Charles F. Hammond from Detroit filed several patents for improvements of power steering with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in 1958.[8][9][10]
I never thought about it much as my Deuce had hydraulic power steering, and I always wanted a suicide knob in my
Maybellene 66 caddy 390 four speed but hardly had a dime to my name.