Dash VIN Plate

Here is a photo of the completed Dash VIN Plate. It’s as authentic appearing as the ones that were provided by the Hamtramck Assembly Plant. I will also have all the “Factory” Paperwork for this vehicle completed soon. It will have numerous Broadcast Sheets placed throughout the car, a Factory Invoice, an MSO Certificate, a DOT Title, a Factory Window Sticker, authentic Safety Certification (VIN) Label as well as a 4 Door Barracuda listing in an “original style” advertising brochure. Stay tuned!

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Dash Gauge/Cluster

Here is a picture showing the Dash Gauge/Cluster for this project. I had Gentry at AUTO INSTRUMENTS in Martinsville, Virginia do the restoration work and the results turned out just like the original setups from the Factory. The unit will look perfect when the complete Dash Assembly is installed.

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The Door Panels had to be completely re-designed to fit the Custom Door configurations. Here are a few photos showing the first attempt at constructing the custom Door panels. They will be covered with Vinyl that matches the material being used for the Seats.

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Here are a couple of pictures showing the completed Bezel.  The white Lettering is complete, along with the silver Border and the Wrinkle Paint finish on the out-lying perimeter plastic.

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Here is the restored Heater Control Bezel.  It takes a few weeks to complete the process but the results are worth it.  The first thing I did was to lightly glass bead the plastic to remove any old paint.  It’s important that the silver border & white lettering HAS to be done with hardened urethane paint.  We use Spies Hecker because it dries very hard and is extremely durable.  It does not react with lacquer based products when cured.  (More on that in a moment.)  I used an Airbrush to paint the white and silver colors for better control of the paint coverage.  The white was painted first, followed by the silver.  The less the amount of paint, the better the overall outcome.  After both paints have been applied, they should be allowed to completely cure for about 2 to 3 weeks.  After they have cured, I used SEMS trim black paint (lacquer) to spray over the two urethane colors.  I suggest using an Airbrush because it fogs a very fine and controllable amount of paint.  You don’t want the black coverage to be too heavy.  Just enough to cover the recessed areas makes the next steps much easier to perform.

After the black has been applied, use a thin cotton material (T- Shirt) stretched tightly across your index finger to remove the black paint from the raised portions of the border and lettering.  You must dip your cloth covered finger tip in lacquer thinner for this step.  Don’t get the cloth too wet or the thinner will run into the recessed black area.  You can have a blotter cloth close by to make sure there is not too much thinner remaining on your finger cloth.  Be very careful and steady handed so you do not touch any of the surface area below the raised border and lettering.  The lacquer thinner will remove the fresh black paint from the raised areas but will not attack the cured urethane colors that were sprayed a couple of weeks earlier.  The underlying colors are exposed when the black is wiped away.  The border & letters are crisply defined and vibrant.  Here are some pictures of the progression steps and the finished Heater Control Bezel.  IMG_6876 IMG_6882 IMG_7815 IMG_7818 IMG_7821 IMG_7828 IMG_7831 IMG_7851