Rehabing my 51 fleetline and the steering wheel cap had a gray background. I see on eBay they came with a black background too

Did they just come with optional colors?

The color in the horn button matched the exterior color on the car.

The 1951 had a gray cap.....the 1952 had black

1953/54 had the matching colors except cars with PS which had a white button.

1953 had a colored to match the steering wheel button and no PS button
1954 had the button match the steering wheel color + the white button for PS cars.

I have a nos cap in the '52 color that I call salmon (bittersweet is the official name). Also have a green one around here somewhere. They are the same as the one on my '51 two door. What did they fit if not a '51 or '52 Chevy?

For 1952 Deluxe sedans and club coupe all had the black steering wheel rim and button. The interiors could be gray, green or blue.
The BelAir, convertible and wagon had steering wheel rims and buttons that matched the dash color. Could be maroon, blue, green, brown, black or Bittersweet. The wagon had just green, brown or maroon.

Gene,
Thanks for setting me straight. I had always thought that both '51 and '52 had several colors for the horn ring covers. Now I know it was only '52.

I knew 1951 had only gray but did not know how many colors were used in 1952. Got the info. from the 1952 Engineering manual.

So as i am just restoring this extra steering wheel that looks like my 51. Could just put a black cap on it and sell it as a 52? Or was the wheel different in 52 as well?

The steering wheel and horn ring were the same except for the colors. The rim is black and the center bar a very light gray for 1952 Deluxe sedans and club coupe. The back of the horn ring was the light gray also.

The cap was also different for the optional "butterfly" style wheel for '50 through '52. Black with a gold bird?