The tuff steering wheel 1981

[88 aries]

i was browsing through my options list for the 1981's and the tuff steering wheel was pictured, I recall seeing a car equipped with one in the junkyard about 8 years ago, it was a natural suade tan 81 Aries 2 door coupe floor shift and of course our most favorite engine the sucksubishi 2.6, at the time my knowledge on K-cars was really low and I could not figure out why this car had the type of wheel found on dusters and valiants. but now fast forward 8 years later and now I know. it was a crazy little K, it. ive never seen another one like it

[88AriesLEwagon]

Yes,I believe it was a 1981 only option.They were available in red too.
The 1982 Dodge 400 had an optional 4 spoke wheel (sorta metal version of the L body wheel).
I guess they werent popular,because after that you got standard or "luxury" wheels.
Daytonas did however get some sporty ones as optional.

[1of10K]

I remember that wheel being the standard wheel for only the base loss leader 2 dr coupes in 1981, and that only being for the first part of the model year. No one liked the loss leader coupes, Only the truely desperate people bought those sad strippers. They seemd to be only used at large not-so-honest dealerships just to get people in the door with a bait-n-switch low priced special. At the time, the 2 spoke woodgrain wheel was very classy and an elegant touch for the other K models and the thing to have if you were looking at a K. The wheel with the round center just indicated to everyone that you had the cheap version.

The Custom and SE had the 2 spoke woodgrain wheel, your '81 1/2 sedan was not available in the original lineup, but it had the 2 spoke woodgrain wheel standard, like the Custom and SE had. I also remember there was for a short time a leather wrapped 2 spoke wheel available in limited colors, but the wrapping did away with the woodgrain and the quality of the wrapping was not one of Chrysler's better ideas, ...at the time.....