One of the positives about living in Idaho is that there are lots of tractors and tractor stores nearby. I stopped by one today and picked up one item I hadn’t yet purchased: a steering knob for my steering wheel for only $6.99 — the best price I’ve seen anywhere (I got it at D&B, a local farm/garden store). Now, these aren’t legal in every state, but they are sure handy for jeeping and racing.
I brought it home ready to mount it, but realized I couldn’t remember exactly how to mount it, so I jumped on the internet. The first thing I learned that a steering knob was actually called a Brodie Knob, which is where the term “doing a Brodie” comes from.
From Wikipedia, “Brodie Knobs were widely popularized, especially on the west coast of the U.S., during the 1950s. Their intention was to be used primarily as addition to a Hot Rod. The knob was used to spin the steering wheel, rapidly in one direction or the other, while accelerating, to cause the tire(s) to spin while rapidly whipping the car 180 degrees or half of a “doughnut”. Hence, comes the term “lay a brodie”. In the 1950s and 60’s a person could go into any local “Pep Boys” and choose from a large variety of brodie knobs, with every conceivable theme, from “Candy Apple colored”, “Product Logos”, to “nude women,” and everything in between, some automobile dealerships even used them for advertisements. They were very useful during a period of auto manufacturing, when power steering was truly a luxury…. ”
I also discovered that there’s a wide variety of knobs that I didn’t know exist. For those growing up in the world of hotrods, they probably aren’t surprised, but the knobs I have seen are generally all tractor related. Other names for the Brodie include the Suicide Knob, Granny Knob, and Steering Wheel Spinner
Check out the different kinds of knobs offered through thehotrodgirl.com.
