Dash pads

-
stretch

stretch

I cut my cars!
Joined
Jan 31, 2012
Messages
154
Reaction score
69
Location
michigan's U.P.
Does anyone offer reproduction dash pads for the early A's?
Have any of you had one recovered by an upholstery shop?
Have any of you had any luck dying an original one?
I plan to change the interior color to red. I also plan to change my '65 Valiant dash out to a '66 Barracuda dash during the restoration. The '66 Barracuda dash I have has the holes for the pad. I'm trying to decide if I should weld in the pad holes or try and find a pad.

Thanks for the help.
 
I'm not aware of any reproductions. I also have no experience with reupholstery. There are dash caps for early a's which look decent if you have the base pad to cap. I have used vinyl dye on several pads and they come out nice. The key is to get them really clean before applying the coating. it's hard to find a pad that old without cracks but if you find one the dye would make it nice.
 
They can be very hard to find in good shape. I’m sure a place that specializes in dashes can restore them. I think a plastic dash cap is available that goes over the cracked pad too.
 
Is that a straight dash pad?
Try a DIY.
Don't see any reason it can't be done without using a fancy vacuum.

Simple sand, wrap and glue.
Pick your own vinyl color at the fabric store.
Or dye it.
Herb's Parts - Mopar Restoration and Performance

Landau Vinyl Roof Top Pad Sculpting Foam Closed Cell Foam Padding 1/8" | eBay
yourautotrim-store_2269_24674490.jpg



 
The plastic dash caps can look nice when properly installed. You do need a decent core to put it on.
If changing a dark blues, greens, or black to red, go to some neutral base color first. Sand, camel, beige, whatever is available of the shelf.
Many years ago, my 67 dash cap arrived black. My 67 metallic red dye was custom mix. I found out real quick that it wasn't going to cover and turn out right over black.
 
Remember too when looking for a pad that the Dart and Valiant/Cuda pad has a couple differences. Shown here side by side, the blue pad being the Dart and the black one being the Cuda. The Dart unit has a long crease detail and an inset cutout on the top, whereas the Cuda unit has no crease or cutout, but has an inset profile that meets near the center.

The blue pad I’m selling, the black pad pictured is going in place of the one in my car, which has no cracks, but a couple of small checks. I would be willing to sell the unit in my car once I get it out.

1E0055E3-1B11-45A0-962E-DC30C8E8CCF6.jpeg


78F9194A-FD7A-48E5-902C-544ECEFB8B51.jpeg


92543575-37AC-4C8D-9EE4-844089BE2F8A.jpeg


A0CAD516-82AD-4458-BDA9-91F20318D487.jpeg
 
My local upholstery shop re-did the dash pad on my '65 Formula S for like thirty or forty bucks, nothing to it: some foam, glue, fabric. I cleaned up the metal base and painted it first.
 
My computers down right now, but I will post a foto ASAP.

In the mean time, another forum member posted fotos, do a search using: "1965 Barracuda Padded Dash" dated Feb 18, 2018 by Dibbons.
 
Last edited:
20190114_135904[1].jpg
20190114_140026[1].jpg
Here's one I had an upholstery shop recover and dye:
I had to do some minor trimming to get it to fit properly, but I think it came out looking pretty good. Upholstery shop charged me $60.00.
 
65ChargerDart said:
View attachment 1715275747 View attachment 1715275745 Here's one I had an upholstery shop recover and dye:
I had to do some minor trimming to get it to fit properly, but I think it came out looking pretty good. Upholstery shop charged me $60.00.
Click to expand...
Looks good. It looks like they just did a glue and stick( and did it really well (and or) you had a great pad to start with) I wanted a softer look for mine and used 1/4" headliner material over my dash pad since it was a little worse for the wear and brittle. I fixed the "oops" on it but decided that to recover it like yours was wayyyyy too much hassle to make it look good.

DSCF3592.JPG
DSCF3595.JPG
 
66Dvert said:
Looks good. It looks like they just did a glue and stick( and did it really well (and or) you had a great pad to start with) I wanted a softer look for mine and used 1/4" headliner material over my dash pad since it was a little worse for the wear and brittle. I fixed the "oops" on it but decided that to recover it like yours was wayyyyy too much hassle to make it look good.

View attachment 1715275770 View attachment 1715275771
Click to expand...
They filled in 2 cracks and did a "stick and glue" with material they furnished with the gold poly dye I had mixed. I was trying to achieve an NOS look without paying big bucks.
Yours looks nice also!
 
65ChargerDart said:
The vinyl dye I had custom mixed was $46.00, so my total investment was $106.00, but thanks!
Click to expand...
Wow! That really looks nice! I'm still undecided if I'm going to fill in the dash pad holes or find a good pad core and have it covered. For the money you have invested you really knocked it out of the park.

I live in a very rural area. There isn't an upholstery shop within 200 miles so I'm still really undecided. I have Barracuda bucket seats and want to have those, the rear seat, the door cards done in the original style but in a ox blood red. I need to find a good upholstery shop before I paint the interior. I want all the metal interior parts to match the seats, carpet, door cards, and headliner.
 
stretch said:
Wow! That really looks nice! I'm still undecided if I'm going to fill in the dash pad holes or find a good pad core and have it covered. For the money you have invested you really knocked it out of the park.

I live in a very rural area. There isn't an upholstery shop within 200 miles so I'm still really undecided. I have Barracuda bucket seats and want to have those, the rear seat, the door cards done in the original style but in a ox blood red. I need to find a good upholstery shop before I paint the interior. I want all the metal interior parts to match the seats, carpet, door cards, and headliner.
Click to expand...
I didn't watch the upholstery shop do it, but I don't believe it was all that difficult for someone who does that work professionally. It took me forever to have the paint store to have the dye mixed to match gold poly, and it was the same store that mixed the paint for the interior gold poly and spring yellow paint for my car!

Maybe you could get a recommendation for a quality upholstery shop from a local street rodder or classic car enthusiast. In my experience, upholstery work is like paintwork, if done poorly once, you'll end up paying twice to have it done properly.
 
65ChargerDart said:
I didn't watch the upholstery shop do it, but I don't believe it was all that difficult for someone who does that work professionally. It took me forever to have the paint store to have the dye mixed to match gold poly, and it was the same store that mixed the paint for the interior gold poly and spring yellow paint for my car!

Maybe you could get a recommendation for a quality upholstery shop from a local street rodder or classic car enthusiast. In my experience, upholstery work is like paintwork, if done poorly once, you'll end up paying twice to have it done properly.
Click to expand...

In post #8 cosigs post. The bottom one is a Plymouth one. getting the 2 grooves in it is hard to do even if you skin it like yours with no foam padding since you have to "push into the groove with no stretch whatsoever or it will lift out of that area. The dart just has the ends (and center inside curve for the speaker)to worry about and they do pull away slightly no matter what glue you use. I help recover 60's Lincolns twin dash pads and see the pull away happen almost every time, sometimes it's almost immediately, sometimes it's many months to years, but it'll pull unless vacuum formed. I'm looking for a really good dash pad from a plymouth with the lines in it in good shape one to get a casting off of in order to redo one of my friends 65 Plymouth convertibles he wants to show. If I can get my armrest pads working to my satisfaction, I'll then go on to the dash pads as a replacement pad.
 
65ChargerDart said:
Maybe you could get a recommendation for a quality upholstery shop from a local street rodder or classic car enthusiast. .
Click to expand...

Ha! I am that guy. My Dad started the local car club and I work on most of the local classics and hot rods at work ( I run and wrench in a local auto repair shop). This is a real small area. The "car guys" pretty much all know each other.

If I could figure out how to post some pictures on here I would post a couple of the 1929 Oakland Sport Roadster I just finished building the wood body structure for I started working on it in my spare time 5 years ago. 2 Winters ago I went through the entire drive train and rewired a 1935 Pontiac. This past summer I rebuilt (including making the impeller shaft) the water pump for a 1902 curved dash Olds. After the water pump was done I got the old girl fired up for the first time in around 14 years. I have a All original (other than the transmission) '73 charger rallye 340. It came with an auto but after owning it for 20+ years I decided to find all the correct '73 4 speed parts and swap it over.
My 65 Valiant will be converted from 3 on the tree to a 340 4 speed 8.75 combo. I'm just now stripping it down to replace the floor pans. After that its getting sub frame connectors, rear spring relocation and some other chassis tricks. Paint will be a light metallic silver with a ox blood red gut.
 
Just got a call from Bob, ABCMoparts. He has my dash pad ready to ship. I’ll post some pics when I get it.


Just got it this week

D9648293-B94F-4CD4-A5A8-D79A378136AB.jpeg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top