Wood Dash Restoration

[hipogranada]

Member of the American Granada group, Joe Miotti, had great luck restoring the faded wood dash panels in his Granada with a product called FX Sheeting. It's a laminate material, goes on sort of like contact paper - but it's anything but contact paper. There's a very close match woodgrain material available. Info on the material can be found here:

www.alsacorp.com/products/sheetingfx/sheetingfx.htm

Click each image for a larger view...

BEFORE PICTURES




AFTER PICTURES

[robic58]

What a gorgeous update, especially on the instrument panel... it can be done,if you try hard enough . Way to GO!!!!

[hipogranada]

Some of their other patterns might be interesting to play around with, especially if you had a spare set of panels around with bad "wood" on them. They have another woodgrain or two, not so much like original but might make a nice change. There are other nice patterns, like brushed aluminum and a carbon-fiber too if you wanted to leave the pseudo-wood behind. It's worth looking at the website to see. Sample pics -





Come to think of it - why bother with rust repair? Just paper over it.

robic58 said:

What a gorgeous update, especially on the instrument panel... it can be done,if you try hard enough . Way to GO!!!!

[Jeff Roblin]

I quite like the polished metal applique. It would be very sharp on a black or silver car.....or an ESS of those colors. Would give a very modern look to the interior.

[hipogranada]

admin said:

I quite like the polished metal applique. It would be very sharp on a black or silver car.....or an ESS of those colors. Would give a very modern look to the interior.

The ESS panels didn't have plastic chrome around the edges, they were blacked out around the wood. Look at the pics of Joe's restored panels -- that cluster panel is ESS.



The brushed aluminum would look cool with the blacked out ESS style borders.

[Jeff Roblin]

OH, ok. I knew that there was something different. I thought he may have painted the edges black if the plastic-chrome looked poor against the new applique.

[hipogranada]

admin said:

OH, ok. I knew that there was something different. I thought he may have painted the edges black if the plastic-chrome looked poor against the new applique.

I first became aware of the blackout treatment on the ESS dash when there was a NOS cluster panel listed on eBay, with the blacked out chrome. Not too long ago, maybe last summer, there was a yellow ESS coupe listed on eBay with a good pic of the dash; the chrome was blacked out around the cluster panel and the panel over the glovebox, too.

Why does Joe's Ghia apparently have an ESS panel? My guess, assembly line goof. Henrik's '77-1/2 Sport Coupe has a Monarch panel above the glovebox; it has the "Ride Engineered" Monarch logo on it.

In 1971 I remember seeing a brand new '71 Torino on the dealer's showroom floor. The dash pad had a Montego emblem in it!

Gary

[jhkaster]

The chrome edges on these dash panels don't survive well. I had mine rechromed for my Versailles. And, the Versailles faux wood dash panels are even worse. I had to use real wood veneer, American Walnut, in the crotch-cut pattern to replicate the original vinyl applique for the Versailles. The original material can't be found and there is no close vinyl match either. A close match is needed so it works with the other painted wood trim on the consoles, door panels and pull strap covers.

Also, the panels are slightly different on the Versailles as compared to the G/M. They have a ridge around the panel which the applique sits within. And the passenger side dash panel goes around the air vents. These are subtle differences that the casual observer would probably not notice.

[hipogranada]

James - could you post a closeup pic of your restored panels with the real wood veneer? I'd like to see the results. The real wood must look nice.

jhkaster said:

The chrome edges on these dash panels don't survive well. I had mine rechromed for my Versailles. And, the Versailles faux wood dash panels are even worse. I had to use real wood veneer, American Walnut, in the crotch-cut pattern to replicate the original vinyl applique for the Versailles. The original material can't be found and there is no close vinyl match either. A close match is needed so it works with the other painted wood trim on the consoles, door panels and pull strap covers.

Also, the panels are slightly different on the Versailles as compared to the G/M. They have a ridge around the panel which the applique sits within. And the passenger side dash panel goes around the air vents. These are subtle differences that the casual observer would probably not notice.

[jhkaster]

Here are the pics... The veneer's rich color and the dark leather (Cordovan) really warm up the interior. The real wood, though, has a slightly more reddish tint to it than the remaining faux wood, like the steering wheel pads.

[hipogranada]

Looks VERY nice, James.

How thick is the veneer? Did you have to sand down/bevel the edges?

This must have taken some serious time and patience.

[jhkaster]

I had this veneer done by a guy that restores dashes on Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Bugattis, etc. He's the only source where I could find the right wood. It took him a year because he was using the same veneer to work on a car for Nicholas Cage as he claimed. I guess Nicholas Cage's exoctic car comes before my Versailles. Anyway, the veneer is very thin. I'm not sure the measurement, I'll see if I can find details on it.

The original vinyl applique on the Versailles dash peels off. This makes a great template for cutting new material. So, I sent the vinyl appliques to him. The veneer was cut from the vinyl pattern and then the veneer was glued to a 1/8" metal substrate. Once solidly glued, he varnished and shellaced the veneer.

Because of the substrate though, the veneer and substrate sit level with the edge of the dash panels and not inside it like the original vinyl applique does. But, no one really knows it belows inside the edge. It looks more beveled now than before.

[sixty9santa]

I just might have to get the brushed stainless for my dash.
How difficult was it to trim the sheeting in and around corners?
A very tempting product indeed!

[1982granadawagongl]

I ENJOY BEAUTIFUL INTERIORS AND EVERYONE HERE HAS GREAT LOOKING INTERIORS. THE WOOD GRAIN DASHES ARE NICE! I WORK AT A COMPANY CALLED LIQUID PRINT, www.LIQUIDPRINTONE.com AND IT INSPIRED ME TO UPGRADE MY INTERIOR. WE DO WATER TRANSFER IMAGING AND ITS MUCH MORE DURABLE THAN VINYL SHEETING AND ALOT EASIER THAN LAMINATES AND VENEERS. IM NOT PUTTING DOWN OTHERS WORK AND VEHICLES. I WISH FORD AND OTHER AUTOMAKERS WOULD HAVE PUT AS MUCH THOUGHT AND HARD WORK IN THEIR CARS AS WE DO. HERE ARE A FEW PICS OF THE DASH PANEL AND PASSENGER TRIM IN MY 82 GRANADA WAGON.