hi sl6 sages- not wanting to get clipped by the western outfit who i hear also has awful customer relations, i have given up trying to get the shot dash pad redone for my 76 feather duster and have almost given up trying to find a good used one . still holding out some hope though. however have a few addresses like jc whitney and some places in the mopar collectors guide magazine that sell for about $60 a plastic cap which snaps on over the old dash pad and is glued down. rumor has it that it is a pretty good piece. some say it is no good and looks like hell. does any sage here have experience with it? it is supposed to look just like the original and be a thin plastic. let me know. appreciate it. regards bob fisher

Unfortunately for all of us, there are a lot of outfits that don't deliver on their promises. Many of them are out west. Can you please indicate which outfit you are trying to avoid, so that we might be able to make alternate recommendations for you?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I think he may be talking about Just Dashes.As far as the cap is concerned I have used three on late A- body dashes and they all came from J.C. Whitney and all have held up reasonably well,the oldest one being installed about 4 years ago and starting to warp slightly at the ends.

HyperValiant

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1960 Hyper-Pac Valiant(rolling test-bed)
1963 Valiant V2OO(Son's summer project,- he just turned 15 )
1972 Valiant 4dr(Daughter Kelly's repair in progress)
1974 Valiant (v8) daughter Kelly's work in progress

I used a Just Dashes cap from Whitney and had zero problems. Just follow the instructions and do not overdo the adhesive- this leads to warpage. Here is a pic of it on my Charger, ten years after I installed it:



Russ

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1968 Valiant 100 4 door 225/6

thanks hyper, dan and 68 val- just dashes was the outfit i was talking about. thats a good picture on the charger- how did you attach it in what looks like a seamless way? do you have to scrape a lot of the old sponge dash pad off or do you put the adhesive right on the old vinyl? i surmise the one i saw in whitneys is a cap made by just dashes right? does the replacement cap have the sponge in it or is it hard plastic? thanks again for your interest and advice. thinking i will order one from whitney. did get a good carpet from them.one other thing- is the cap installed snug and secure, ie. tight fit. regards bob fisher

I will try to answer your questions as best as I can Bob:
The dash pad fits over the old dash exactly. There is just enough extra material around the lip that it kind of "tucks" into the existing gaps.
Basically, the old dash remains exactly as it is. You clean it as best as you can and sand down/remove any high spots around any cracked areas. The open cracks get some of the adhesive when you are ready to permanently install the cap.
yes
No sponge. It is very thin (but surprisingly strong), liteweight, UV resistant plastic.
When you first test fit it you are probably going to think to yourself that it seems way too loose. It will be snug when all is done. Your old dash provides all the strength. Just a few suggestions:

1. Test fit, test fit, test fit. Make sure that you are happy with the way it fits while loose. You can always trim anything that makes you unhappy but it is more dificult once installed.

2. Don't coat the entire piece with adhesive. Run a bead around the outside edges but be more liberal with the underside of the pad. You will want to leave enough gaps for expansion. Wipe off any adhesive that oozes out before it dries unless you use something that cleans up easy enough.

3. Do the installation somewhere that is at least room temperature. You do not want to install it in the extreme cold or heat.

Hope this helps! Here is one more pic of the pad on my Charger:



Russ

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1968 Valiant 100 4 door 225/6

thanks russ/68val- your answers were very helpful. the picture of the charger installation really looks good. it looks original. cant see any seams. think ill go ahead and order one from whitney. take care. bob fisher

Let us know how it turns out!

Russ

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1968 Valiant 100 4 door 225/6

I hadnt heard the "bad stuff" on Just Dashes. I had heard from other sources similar comments on places like Layson's, Clifford, Jim's, Keisler, etc as I have seen posted here, but as I'm just about to send off an F body dash pad to Just Dashes, this is the 1st bad comments Ive heard on them. While I'm not disputing that SOME may have had problems with them, and I'd love to find a source for the service that they provide at a better price (or even a GOOD used tan dash pad) is the overall "picture" on them as bad as some of the other businesses above??? Does anyone out there know of another company out there that provides the same services (and a good job of it too) as Just Dashes at a better price? I see those glue on covers all the time for my Volare on Ebay and I actually turned down a slip over that someone was gonna give me for free because I was skeptical of how well it would last!
I have probably 6-8 F body dash pads here of varying colors that would be great for cores to be redone, but no good ones! So it appears that unless I get lucky (never happens) and find a good one, I'm not gonna have much choice but to send one off to be redone. So who else can we send our interior stuff to for restoration?

you see don, thats the problem. the cal. outfit has apparently no competition. i have seen no vendor in the mags or at shows that does that kind of resurfacing. since there is no competition, the prices are way to high. never dealt with them because their price is too high. 300 plus ship, handle and insurance. that was two years ago. thats too much. dont mind a single or a double, but a home run wow. have talked to others who did not like the customer service and communication. seems others resell their product and then charge a middleman fee. have seen that stunt from many shysters before. regards paladin

I was just in a yard an hour ago where there is a 74ish dart. It has a green dash pad that has one crack way over on the passenger side where it is hard to see. PM me if you are interested.

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OK, hold it a minute: How is it that you're determining this is "too high" of a price? It's more than you want to pay, OK, each of us gets to determine that for himself, but have you figured the materials, labour and skill that go into specialty resto work like this? I don't think that you have. Let's make a reasonable guess that there's $100 worth of materials in an average dash restoration. That leaves $200. I'm going to conservatively guess there are five hours of work in an average dash restoration. That's $40/hr. Checked shop rates at your ordinary local car repair garage lately? $80/hr or more is common.

Let's be reasonable, folks. This is not 1970 any more!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

alright Im gonna change this a little. I didnt mean to say that EVERYONE in any one part of the country is not to be trusted.... but just that we've all had bad experiences on doing business "sight unseen"..... and that it has made me at least, a little more wary on some of this stuff. I for one, appreciate "reviews" of these sort of companies from you guys.. No, I don't expect an all expenses paid trip to their factory to see their process or free dinner coupons to be given with the purchase... but some people dont seem to even want to answer relevant questions to their product.

And Dan, thanks for your time to research it to see that there are choices of businesses that provide this service. Some people have more of a "knack" for that, Ive looked for info (not just on interior restoration) for hours on end to come up dry.
I just wish that as a whole we could get back (to rob from a beer commercial I remember from when I was too young for beer) to where "a Handshake's a deal" if you know what I mean, or at least a "yeah'll take care of that" over the phone means something.
Now lets all try to get along and steer this thread back to where it was meant to go.

I've never had occasion to patronise a dashboard restoration shop, but this thread is growing ridiculous and bordering on slander. The made-up factoids and guilt by association are piling up to a really inappropriate level.
Well, I'm sure that'll be amusing news to at least these two businesses, which took me all of 20 seconds to find with a simple search:


Dash Specialists
1910 Redbud Lane
Medford, OR 97504
(503) 776-0040

The Newdash Group
4747 E. Elliot St. Suite 29
Phoenix, AZ 85044
(800) 283-2744
(602) 893-3030


Customer service and communication are secondary. Quality and timeliness of work are primary. This what they're doing is an artisan skill being done at very low volume. If that means they don't have time to chit-chat on the phone, that's OK with me. It's also OK with me if they're on the gruff side and don't have a cheerful, chirpy response to my every question. When eventually I will need dash services, I will need dash services, not a new dinner companion or friend. This is no different than if I would ever decide to start watching TV again and develop a sudden need to spend money on a television set. I know nothing about television sets, so when I walk into the store, I don't want some yes-man who'll flatter my every stupid question, I want someone who knows what the hell he's talking about and will correct my misconceptions and give me straight info. Fact is, Just Dashes seem to have a lot of happy customers. See here on the Imperial Club, for example. This is not a Layson's or a Jim's or a Mister G's kind of situation where nobody likes them.
Hardly Just Dashes' fault, is it!
Probably not, see above. The fact you don't want to pay it doesn't make it too high.
Which has absolutely zero to do with any of the dashboard resto companies we're discussing...
Talk about tarring an entire geographic region with too wide of a brush! There's really no helpful response to intellectual laziness like this; if you can't see the gross flaw in the "logic" of this what you've posted, then my pointing it out for you isn't going to help.

I'm surprised at you, Don. You're capable of much higher-quality thinking than this. I know you are; I've seen you do it!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Alright folks this is getting out of hand.
Dan is right with a little time and effort you can find alternate vendors but, the fact remains it is a small venue they are supplying. The laws of supply and demand dictate the prices of sought after part with a limited supply will raise prices. It is also a specialized skill to produce and or repair this part. As with everything else in the world prises are going to go up as difficulty of production rises and demand increases.
There are four choice as I see it.
1. Pony up the money for a new one and be happy.
2. Stomp the yards in search of one that has either survived the ravages of time or someone else did in #1 above.
3. Find someone that has done #2 and take your chances with their honesty and the shippers ability to damage your package.
4. Deal with what you have and quit whining.

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