[Trevor78]

Today's edition of weird trivia...there's a curved steel plate under all the dash foam. This came from a '73 but it appears to be the same right through the 2nd gens.

If you are trying to get your bearings this the section above the glovebox, grab handle holes, vent to right.

Firebird dash grab handle cut steel plate under foam (1) by Ben, on Flickr

Firebird dash grab handle cut steel plate under foam (2) by Ben, on Flickr

Firebird dash grab handle cut steel plate under foam (3) by Ben, on Flickr

Firebird dash grab handle cut steel plate under foam (5) by Ben, on Flickr

This is a 1973 casting dash #488668 but photos I have of other NOS dashes show the rivets on the inside.

Firebird dash grab handle cut steel plate under foam (18) by Ben, on Flickr

I'll add pic anyway. Here's a #10018005 78-81 NOS dash clearly showing the rivets.

NOS GM 10018005 78-81 Firebird dash pad (8) by Ben, on Flickr

[Formulabruce]

IMHO could be to keep dash from cracking to the right of the grab handle as the under structure gets thin there. ?