MOMO JOHN PLAYER SPECIAL STEERING WHEEL
John Player Team Lotus
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Momo John Player Special JPS steering wheel
JPS horn button & JPS golden logo print
The Momo 2-spoke John Player Special (JPS) steering wheel is indeed a special in the line of Momo signature steering wheel series as Momo produced the wheel contemporaneous to the signature series and it has a certain relation to one of the signature series steering wheels, the Momo Mario Andretti. But for the first time Momo designed a steering wheel with a sponsor logo of a Formula 1 team. It was introduced to the beginning of the sponsorship of JPS in 1974 to the market, first as a promotional object with its own horn button, years later available in stores. To this day, it’s the only Momo steering wheel with a Formula 1 sponsor on it that is not a car manufacturer.
Momo John Player Special JPS steering wheel
Momo Mario Andretti signature steering wheel
However, the sponsorship of JPS was only for the Formula 1, not for the cars off the normal Lotus production line. Therefore, no logo was found on the normal road cars. As being said, the steering wheel with the JPS was first used as a promotion wheel and was sold separately. The Lotus Esprit S2 of the 1978/79 World Championship Commemorative Esprit S2 however had the JPS logo, but they were equipped with the Momo Mario Andretti steering wheel, who was also unter Lotus Formula 1 contract. However, the steering wheel came with the Lotus horn button, not with the helmet button of Mario Andretti. The Lotus Esprit S3 Turbo had the 2-spoke steering wheel, but without the JPS logo and with a horn pad and Lotus horn button.
very early Momo John Player Special promotion-only steering wheel
Made in Italy – in terms of the JPS steering sheel – the early promotion-only model
A very special steering wheel in any case, the 2-spoke design allows a good view of the gauges. Particularly interesting are the early models with “Made in Italy” only, which were manufactured between 1974 and 1976 and were not sold publicly, these were merely promotion objects and are therefore super hard to find. The later models from 1978 onwards were commercially available, the steering wheel was manufactured until 1982.