Quote:
Originally Posted by mgarblik
That pad of yours came out very nice indeed. If I could get one in that condition for a Grand, I would be all in. The issue with the older pads, pre-1964, I think, is those pads have no core metal all the way to the windshield side. So that means the core stops about 2 inches from the windshield and its just foam and vinyl. That makes that front edge very hard to finish and/or recover. Yours looks great. See a few pics of what I mean about no core.
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The dashpad on my 62 GP looked very much like yours. Short of the windshield trim, with several cracks and one good crunch on the front edge. It also had a couple of warps.
I took it to a local upholstery shop to see if he would tackle it. I told him I didn't want a seam on the front edge and that the rear would have to be extended an unknown amount. He was willing to take it on and said it would probably be $450.
Got it back in about two weeks and it looked good. No seam, but was pretty obvious the the stretching around the front and ends had not been fun. I was a little unhappy with the folds in the bend on the passenger side end, so I decided to take some of that apart and re-glue it. It was actually pretty easy to do and I think it looks a little better than when I got it back.
The upholsterer said he filled in the cracks, filled in the warped depressions and extended the material toward the windshield with a thin layer of foam under the material
the biggest problem with reinstalling it was trimming the windshield edge enough to clear the windshield and still remain under trim. It was a lot of trim, install, remove, trim.......repeat.
The price, as you stated was about 1/3 of Just Dashes, so I think it turned out quite well and will definitely look much better at the local shows.
I took a few pictures, if anyone is interested. Unfortunately I forgot to take any before pictures.