The dash frame got touched up with some glazing putty, sanded, painted, and re-clearcoated. It is perched atop the now-infamous sawhorses curing in the sun.
Time to do something about that awful instrument panel.
The black strip across the bottom has many areas where the paint is flaked-off, is scuffed and has several poorly done touch-up blobs. The chrome plating is flaking off just about everywhere is is applied. $450 for a repro? I'd rather not, thank you. Perhaps, if everything else goes well, I'll put it on my Christmas wish list. For now, however, I'm going the arts n' crafts route and will try to achieve tolerable aesthetics with readily available supplies, elbow grease, and perseverance.
I am also not a fan of the wood grain + black version of the instrument panel favoring, instead, the textured black + matte silver of the standard panel. To me, the wood tone just looks awful against the red interior.
Let's begin!
This cluster came out of the frame and went straight into a thick contractor bag and has been sealed up since last Summer. It has not been cleaned like everything else so that will be the first order of business.