Hi all, I'm fixing up a 1966 Mercury Comet and am having a hard time
finding some interior parts that don't cost a fortune so just to be
different I'm thinking of doing some of the parts in
wood...specifically the dashpad, door panels and the rear window
package tray. The car is garaged and there's no kids involved so
weather damage and normal wear and tear should be minimum. The door
panels and rear package tray I dont think present much of a problem as
they're flat so it's only a matter of selecting the grain and
stain.The interior is red so I figure a dark cherry stain on the
selected grain veneer paneling should look OK and not dominate. The
problem will be with the dashpad which has curves and angles I'm not
sure how to deal with...so If anyone has any ideas on how I could
tackle this I'd love to hear from you. The existing dashpad has a
metal baseplate with mounting bolts attached and is easily removed
from the dash itself...so using this baseplate ( after removing foam
and vinyl) seems like the obvious way to attach the wood. Thanks for
any and all input........
I don't have a very good picture in my head of what a 1966 Comet
dashpad baseplate looks like, but could you press on a veneer over the
bare metal of the whole thing? I guess you'd need to rough up and
carefully clean the surface of the metal and then use CA glue or
contact cement, or possibly gorilla glue (don't know how this'd do with
veneer). Or Rockler has PSA-backed veneer sheets up to 24"x96".
Sounds interesting - post a picture to APBW when you get done.
Good luck,
Andy