73-78 dash pad

[73gmc454]

Has anybody ever got a 73-78 dash from Dashes Direct ? I have got 1 and it has the vin cut out , the dealer is telling me that all the 73-87 dash pads from them have the vin cut out , it seems to me that these are the same dash pads that Classic industries sell ,I've also seen them sold under the name OER

[J Knight]

Originally Posted by 73gmc454

Has anybody ever got a 73-78 dash from Dashes Direct ? I have got 1 and it has the vin cut out , the dealer is telling me that all the 73-87 dash pads from them have the vin cut out ,

Ive owned 2-74s, 2-77s, 1-78, and if I remember right 77-80 was the years that had vin on dash but my 74s had them in the door jam, if so the guys repopin dash pads probobly put the vin holes in all of them to save cost of making some pads with and some pads without.

[73gmc454]

well the 73-78 has its own part number as with the 79-80 and 81 and up , I cant figure out why 73-78 and 79-80 would have different part numbers if they werent different , the chick on the phone tried to tell me because the difference was with or without a/c !

[bigblock73]

They don't know anything...the difference is because of the VIN, has NOTHING to do with A/C or not

73-78 = no hole
79-80 = VIN hole
81-87 = VIN hole, all the same

[73gmc454]

Thanks Jeff I figured it was just the vin , I just laughed when she said it was because the a/c , they have finally agreed to have this thing picked up and refund my cash but they still wont admit that its the wrong dash ,

[f.monroe]

Jeff is right . The only difference in the pads would be the vin cutout. I have two light blue NOS dash pads. One has the vin cutout and one doesnt. They are exactly the same with that exception. I have heard of people getting pulled over with a newer vin cutout dash pad in an older truck and getting hssled by the law because it looks like the VIN was altered since they cant see it through the hole .
Frank

[73gmc454]

Well I figued out why I got the wrong dash , I talked to the tech guy at Dashes Direct and he said that the mold went bad for the 73-78 dash a year ago so they just sent out the 79-80 dashes instead ,but they have fixed the mold for the 73-78 dash 3 months ago and now I should be able to get the correct dash depending on how long the dealer has had it , so anybody buying one of these should beware you could get the wrong dash ,