New Dash Options

[whiterabbit]

Its time for me to replace my sun damaged/warped dashboard and I want a perfect replacement. Car is an 1984 with leather dash in burgundy.

My thoughts are to buy a lake well replacement from Europe and have it and the door tops re-wrapped locally in burgundy leather. Or maybe replace the door tops with black ones and keep the new dash as it is in black. My car has all burgundy interior but I think some came a mix of burgundy with black dash and door tops.

Any thoughts on this? I want it to be absolutely perfect either way. Seems like Lakewell make the best dash. Also am I better doing vinyl like the later year cars as it seems to be more durable.

I am guessing total cost with new windshield trim will be about 2k which is ok if I get perfect stock appearance.

[Sicklyscott]

Maybe a 3rd option, have lakewell do the wrapping in burgundy leather? Not sure they offer that service but it might be worth the ask

Personal opinion, if all else is stock on your car keep with the original style. My car lost many of its full leather interior parts and the original special order color is long gone. I truly wish that never happened.

[Cairo94507]

JustDashes.com?

[universeman]

I've heard from a few upholstery guys that modern vinyl is way more durable than leather. Not sure if it matters if your car is garaged etc. Door tops should match the dash IMO, they join right at the corner where the door hinges. Tops are fairly easy to recover vs. dash pad.

[canamfan]

Don't shy away from keeping it stock/burgundy, there are lots of places to rewrap dash in quality leather ie. Tony from Autobahn, Classic 9, Paul Champaigne, World UPH, Autos International etc. Get the Lakewell dash & try( like Sicklyscott suggests to see if Lakewell will wrap dash in burgundy first) if not many, many quality Porsche experienced places can. IMHO keep it stock if you can, in my experience it only gets more difficult to source several misc. pieces later, yet so satisfying to keep a supreme example original

[whiterabbit]

Thanks for all the feedback, I will see if lakewell can do the dash in burgundy and supply some more cloth so I can recover the door tops if needed. If not I will order the black one and have it covered in the US.

Totally agree on parts getting to harder to find as these cars get older.

[Avanti]

I personally like the dash to be black along with door caps and black carpet. To me it looks balanced and makes certain parts more noticeable. Like your soon to be perfect dashes. Perhaps a real thing to consider is if a black dash reflects less light than a lighter colored one. I heard this is why Mercedes only had black dashes for many years. Today, they have color choices.

[78-911SC]

Whiterabbit not sure if this is what you are looking for but I have had this for about fifteen years. The project never happened. It's new with burgundy leather and black stitching. If interested PM me. I will be out for most of the day but will check when I get home.