I picked up a beat up Nardi wheel on eBay a while back and recently restored it. I didn't restore it to perfection but considering the time invested, about 3 hours and the price paid, $212 shipped, its a pretty good bargain compared to the new ones at $1100-$1300.

It was actually harder to refinish than I thought, whatever coating that was on it was impervious to paint stripper and I had to hand sand the entire wheel. I scuffed the center spokes slightly and misted some Duplicolor Engine Enamel, color clear, over them to hide some scuffs and scrapes. (I love this paint, they also make a brake caliper paint that is similar, fast drying, very chip resistant) I sprayed satin polyurethane from a can on the wood. I always use polyurethane as a first coat (as opposed to water based) on bare wood, it is a little bit golden in color and adds richness to wood. You can use water based wood top coat after oil based polyurethane and retain the rich color. Using water based first makes wood look the tiniest bit milky IMO.

 

Looks good, nice job

 

Wow! I like it. It's the little details that go into a car that make it worth having. Great find and nice work! Do you have a before picture at all?

 

Well done

 

Very nicely done.

 

No before pic, it looked essentially the same but was a the equivalent of a "10-footer"-you know the kind of car that looks great at first and then up close....

 

Looks good.
I have the identical wheel on SpeedDemon, which needs the same treatment. The polyurethane has worn off the outer edge around the top half of the wheel, and you can feel the wood grain, and how dry it is.