Early car dash cover question.

[71T Targa]

I’d like to get a coverlay dash cover. My dash has a speaker but I’d just as soon get rid of it. Can I use the non-speaker dash cover? Are the vents and everything else in the same place?

[Hotrod911T]

Joel.

You can do what I did. I bought a used warped and cracked dash at the swap meet for $15 (that was in 1990). It had a speaker grill and A/C vents that I didn't want. I plugged the vent and speaker openings with fiberglass mat, then used auto body filler to fill in the openings and blend them with the rest of the dash. Finally, I covered the entire dash with black vinyl naugahyde (sp?) using the pattern of the old leather covering that was on the dash. The pictures below show the dash as it is today after 15 years in the car. I had a carpet dash cover made for the top of the dash that serves as an anti-glare panel and blended in better with the black RS interior I put in the car.

Rod

[71T Targa]

All I can say is "WOW"... That really looks great. I was hoping not to pull the dash though.

[Hotrod911T]

Joel,

I know what you mean because it also requires pulling out the windshield in order to remove and install the dash. But, I knew that if I put a plastic dash cover over my old one, it would look cheap (in my opinion) and it would really bother me for as long as it was on the car. One good thing about pulling the windshield, though, is you can screw down the front edges of the dash cover to the metal dash so that the front edges won't warp up because of the heat. The real problem with the original dashes is that they are made of two different materials that have a different rate of expansion resulting in cracking and warping. If you cover the dash with vinyl or leather, even though it is glued to the cover, it will contract and expand as needed and not crack. The real secret I found is that it is necessary to screw down the front of the dash right behind the windshield with several screws (about 3" apart) to keep the front nice and flat.

Rod