Custom made wood dash & door trim panels

[ECU PIRATE]

I just wanted to throw this out there and see if there was any interest or comments...........

My day job is working for a custom cabinet maker and distributor (amateur wood worker / fabricator on the side). I got tired off pulling off a dash pad and finding some if not all, of the mounting tabs and the back of the dash trim to be broken. Looking for that dare to be different situation, I decided to see if they could be made out of wood.

With the help of my buddy who is the shop manager, I came up with these mock ups. I decided to use a 73-80 dash as my model since I like the rounded style. These are just preliminary right now for fit before we shave them down a little bit, sand them and, spray them. The wood you see is Cherry but, I was thnking about using some Black Walnut or Mahogany on my truck. I am also thinking about using the same color but a thinner woodgrain skin over my dash bezel.

I am working on a template for the 81-87 dashes next but, the key would be to shave the wood down as much as possible where the dash meets the door panel on the passenger side. My hope is to possibly upgrade my membership and put these into production if there is some interest. If not, I will be the only joker rolling around like this. I got the idea from a Big 10 that i saw in the junkyard over the summer. It seems the PO did the same thing.

Let me know your thoughts men. I can get some better pics for you once we work on the mock up a little bit.