Aussiemopars
Well-Known Member
Are the interior parts on a convertible interchangeable with the other body styles? In particular I'm looking for the black plastic piece in the photo on the upper part of the interior. This be for a 69 Cuda.
Convertible interior's
- Thread starter Aussiemopars
- Start date
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cudavert
DARTAHOLIC
That whole plastic panel is one piece, IIRC. Specific to the convertibles only.
Oklacarcollecto
Life is an experiment
Barracuda convertible only. There has been a member that reformed some reproduction Dart convertible panels to fit his Barracuda.
Aussiemopars
Well-Known Member
Cool if you find the link then please let me know. I haven't been able to find any reproduction stuff at all, be it dart or cuda.
Oklacarcollecto
Life is an experiment
The panels came from Layson's. I can't find the exact thread. You might post a new thread asking about the differences and how they made them work.
Aussiemopars
Well-Known Member
I just had a look on their website and it looks like they do the ones for the Cudas as well. Albeit for $360/side. Actually that might only be the lower section?
George R
Mopar Nutcase
There aint no lower or upper section. That side panel is one piece of molded plastic.
Aussiemopars
Well-Known Member
My 67 Dart looks to be same panel with gloss black upper, and stippled lower panel mono tone color black to match black interior with same chrome strip. The difference looks to be two-tone color scheme.
If you remove that panel be very genital particularly when releasing it from door jamb, as it will be apt to crack. I repaired cracks in my plastic side panels with plastic repair epoxy, also plastic welding machines may be capable of repairing these cracked panels.
If you are looking for factory fresh look, than I suspect new panels are needed.
If you remove that panel be very genital particularly when releasing it from door jamb, as it will be apt to crack. I repaired cracks in my plastic side panels with plastic repair epoxy, also plastic welding machines may be capable of repairing these cracked panels.
If you are looking for factory fresh look, than I suspect new panels are needed.
I have only "heard" about the repops from Laysons, Im curious about the quality. Im sticking with my originals for now, as they are in pretty good shape, but am curious about Laysons.
cudavert
DARTAHOLIC
This is an interesting topic to me because this is the one thing that I absolutely hate about my car, these fruity plastic panels. I'm in the process of trying to fabricate some sheetmetal to use and try and make my rear seat panels look like a notchback's. I have some pearl white panels and I obtained and cut some upper metal pieces too, to fit there. All I need now is to have a metal guy fab up some covers for the conv. top mechanism arms.
Aussiemopars
Well-Known Member
Yeah, its definitely all one piece. I will probably e-mail Laysons to get some info/photo's of theirs.
George R
Mopar Nutcase
Why not just repair the panels you already have, and respray them to match your interior? Reason I ask is because they look to be in pretty good shape from where I'm sitting, and the price of the reproduction panels is, in my opinion, stupid.......to put it mildly.
Remember, original parts work & fit better than reproduction parts in most cases.
Good Luck!
George
Remember, original parts work & fit better than reproduction parts in most cases.
Good Luck!
George
Aussiemopars
Well-Known Member
You can't quite see them but there are a few spots that are missing the corners and pieces are broken out of them, I haven't been able to find the missing pieces to do the repairs with.
George R
Mopar Nutcase
You can use a fiberglass kit to "make" the missing corner by the sill plate that isn't there. Once it's shaped correctly, just paint it to match your interior color.
Not trying to tell you what to do, just offering help. I can't see spending $1000 on those 2 parts.
George
Not trying to tell you what to do, just offering help. I can't see spending $1000 on those 2 parts.
George
I replaced my old broken brittle units with Layson's. The new ones look good and are flexible. They had the the window crank holes a 1/4 inch off and went for half price. I don't know if they have any more left. It might be worth asking.
MOBodyman
Well-Known Member
I redid the ones in my '68 when I changed the interior from all black to holstein. The white interiors in '68 were pearl white. However the rear panels were just plain white and didn't match, even when new. I wanted mine pearl white to match the front panels.
Let me back up just to mention I nearly ruined one of mine cleaning it up to prep it for paint. It had already been sprayed once so I was using laquer thinner to take the old paint off. Well, it just kept coming off-then I realized I was taking the original coating or finish off, too. Sure did away with the texture. So I recreated the texture by shooting it with thick primer which left a really rough finish which I then wet sanded until I thought it was close to the original texture.
I then painted the bottom with some pearl white basecoat. Still not enough pearl to match the front so I added some old white pure pearl I had on hand to the basecoat and to the first coat of clear. The clear was over reduced so it wouldn't be too thick and shiney. Anyway, it was quite a bit of work but the rears matched the front nicely.
I wanted the top to be gloss black so I used base/clear for that.
Here is a pic. You can only see the edge, of course. I still find it hard to believe I only took a few pics of this car during the 4 years I owned it. Don't have any of the back seat-rear panel area at all. :banghead:
Dallas
Let me back up just to mention I nearly ruined one of mine cleaning it up to prep it for paint. It had already been sprayed once so I was using laquer thinner to take the old paint off. Well, it just kept coming off-then I realized I was taking the original coating or finish off, too. Sure did away with the texture. So I recreated the texture by shooting it with thick primer which left a really rough finish which I then wet sanded until I thought it was close to the original texture.
I then painted the bottom with some pearl white basecoat. Still not enough pearl to match the front so I added some old white pure pearl I had on hand to the basecoat and to the first coat of clear. The clear was over reduced so it wouldn't be too thick and shiney. Anyway, it was quite a bit of work but the rears matched the front nicely.
I wanted the top to be gloss black so I used base/clear for that.
Here is a pic. You can only see the edge, of course. I still find it hard to believe I only took a few pics of this car during the 4 years I owned it. Don't have any of the back seat-rear panel area at all. :banghead:
Dallas
Aussiemopars
Well-Known Member
Dude, whats with that steering wheel?
MOBodyman
Well-Known Member
It's a '60s style custom metalflake wheel. I remember them from when I was a kid and have always liked them. You sure don't see many octagon ones, though.
The best thing about it was the reaction from small kids who saw it at a show or cruise-in. It was the first thing that caught their attention. "It's sparkly" and It's not round!" were the two most common comments.
I kept the wheel when I sold the car. It will probably go on some nostalgia project someday.
Dallas
Aussiemopars
Well-Known Member
Do they still make them?
Another little tip about restoring these panels just incase you decide to go that route...
The trim strip on it is vacuum metalised plastic just like the instrument bezel. To remove it and send it off for replating is one option but the chrome wont exactly match the stainless strip on the doors.
I started with an extra stainless strip from a door. Cut it in half ( 1 door piece covers both rear panels ) and trimmed these 2 pieces down until they were only a skin to slide over the plastic pieces. The plastic pieces had to be whittled down a little also so it fit inside the stainless.
How you finish the back end is up to you but what I did was cut a tiny opening through the panel and let the end of the stainless run right on through so that end of the stainless didn't need fit and finish.
The trim strip on it is vacuum metalised plastic just like the instrument bezel. To remove it and send it off for replating is one option but the chrome wont exactly match the stainless strip on the doors.
I started with an extra stainless strip from a door. Cut it in half ( 1 door piece covers both rear panels ) and trimmed these 2 pieces down until they were only a skin to slide over the plastic pieces. The plastic pieces had to be whittled down a little also so it fit inside the stainless.
How you finish the back end is up to you but what I did was cut a tiny opening through the panel and let the end of the stainless run right on through so that end of the stainless didn't need fit and finish.
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