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Ghostmonk · 05-04-2008, 05:03 PM

I just got my car back on the road after some major engine trouble. Harmonic balancer failure.

I managed to get my hand-crank operated camera working and I got some pics of my car.

I'm also attaching some pictures of my blacked out dash. I had a thread on here months ago about replacing the woodgrain on my dash panel. After a bunch of rigmarole I decided to mask it all off and paint it black. I think it came out pretty well.

In the future I'm planning on replacing the panel with a restored one. I'll put in a factory stereo with some updated guts. I'm not in a big hurry though and I really like the black.

Ghostmonk · 05-04-2008, 05:04 PM

Blacked out dash. It took a lot of tiny pieces of masking tape to get around all the bezels.

RicksGTO · 05-04-2008, 08:04 PM

looks great to me, I like the contrast it makes with the chrome trim, I'd be tempted to leave it like it is

marauder · 05-04-2008, 09:13 PM

Very nice looking car!

Ghostmonk · 05-04-2008, 10:29 PM

Thanks for the compliments. I'm very happy with how the dash paint turned out. My chrome has kind of turned a bit yellow so it makes a good contrast with the black paint. My dash panel has some issues though. I'd like to leave it but I'm afraid my obsessive nature isn't going let me. There aren't many out there like mine and I'm very happy about that.

shannon2356 · 05-05-2008, 12:47 AM

It looks great.
When I was messing with the 68 I am restoring we were unsure what to do with the dah. All the chrome had faded off. So I painted it all black. I knew we were going to install the wood grain on it. I just laid the wood grain on it at first. And it was trimmed in black. It made the wood look to dark. So I got some alumi. paint and used it. It made the wood stand out more. And looked good to me. Its not the chrome it should be. But hey it worked!

fyrebird68 · 05-05-2008, 08:36 AM

Great minds think alike. Here's my 68 convert with blacked-out dash. I like it this way.

marauder · 05-05-2008, 08:56 AM

This has made me think about losing the woodgrain on my '69 dash and going with the '70 lower pieces....

surfnuke9 · 05-05-2008, 12:10 PM

I too, prefer this look.

Pic is from summer 2006 during mini refurb of the car.

My interior looks like fyrebird68's now.

fredjchavez · 05-05-2008, 06:28 PM

Interesting thoughts and application. I assume by the postings that nobody re-does the plastic chrome stuff? I need help with mine and may wind up going black out as well.

Can someone that has used alum/silver paint post their pics? Thanks.

shannon2356 · 05-05-2008, 11:57 PM

Here is what the car I am doing for someone looks like after I used some alum. paint and installed the wood grain decal.

The AC vents are from Vintage Air. I took them apart and painted them also. We installed a Vintage Air 68 & 9 Chevelle Sure fit kit. It fit great and But I did have to do a little adjusting on the cables to make it work.

fredjchavez · 05-06-2008, 12:27 AM

That looks good! Another great option. Thanks!

mash · 05-06-2008, 04:51 AM

mine has damage to the woodgrain, i like the black better, how did you get the crinkle look finish?

Greg Reid · 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mash

how did you get the crinkle look finish?

It's the natural finish of the dash, sans the woodgrain applique'.
In fact, the blacked dash was standard in the Tempest and (I think) Lemans...but with the chromed instrument bezels. The woodgrain was standard in GTO.

surfnuke9 · 05-06-2008, 07:26 AM

Here is the pic from when I got the car. Black dash with silver trim on bezels and silver trim aournd the outside pieces, like shannon2356 did to the customer car. Thought about putting on wood grain but liked the thought of all black better and figured I could try it and go wood grain later if I wanted to. So, I simply chose the lower dollar option of painting over the rediculously worn off chrome trim around the instruments.

Krylon plastic paint works great for this, has a slight gloss to it and is cheap. It has held up very well so far.

ilo · 05-06-2008, 01:25 PM

Greg,

Standard color was a dark blue, they were all painted it then if it needed a woodgrain
it was put on over it. It's the same color used in the gauge pods to cut down on
reflection. And it was flat no gloss.

Not sure if the woodgrain was a option on LeMans or if it was standard. But they
did come with it. Tempest got no wood... bare bones. But might have been a option
too... hell almost anything was back then..

Greg Reid · 05-06-2008, 04:03 PM

Yes, you are right ilo..I should have said 'blued out'..lol The gauges and the panel were a dark blue like gun blueing.
On an original or properly restored panel, you can see a bit of it around the gauge openings where the wood sticker didn't quite cover.

shannon2356 · 05-06-2008, 10:08 PM

Hey!
Since everyone is talking about dash panels.
I know where a car is in a salvage yard. And last time I looked at it. It had a nice uncut dash panel in it. Uncut means the radio has not been cut. I was wondering if someone on here may know what they are worth?

mash · 05-07-2008, 05:03 AM

Mine is a 68 lemans with woodgrain, not sur eif it was an option or standard, have to get around to getting the PHS report one day!

Greg Reid · 05-07-2008, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shannon2356

Hey!
Since everyone is talking about dash panels.
I know where a car is in a salvage yard. And last time I looked at it. It had a nice uncut dash panel in it. Uncut means the radio has not been cut. I was wondering if someone on here may know what they are worth?

Hard to say but they are getting kinda hard to come by uncut, unwarped and with all the screwholes intact. In fact, I'd be interested in it if you come up with a price that's not too high....Say, $100 or so...Again, depending on condition, it could go up or down.

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