Re: Spider dashboard cracks

[Bill Bain <BBain@domain.elided>]

I would expect that the dashboard cracks have a number of causes - some
you can do something about and some you can't.
1.	Pre-82 Spiders are significantly more "flexible" than later
Spiders - that "cowl shake" seen in earlier Spiders is simply a visible
manifestation of the chassis flexing that goes on all the time.  Later
Spiders do seem to have a lesser problem with dashboard cracks than the
older ones, but in all fairness, plastic does get brittle with age, so
it's hard to isolate just one cause.  Having said that, my '83 Spider
dash is just starting to crack now.
2.	Hans Milo holds that the black dashes crack more readily than
the other colors because their color makes them more susceptible to the
sun's rays.  I'm not sure of all the colors that were offered over the
years, but it strikes me that most Spiders, particularly pre-82,  were
either black or tan.  After '82 I remember seeing blue ('83-'84) and
burgundy, as well as black and tan.  Just to be on the safe side I use a
sun shield over the windshield when I have to park my Spider outside.
3.	Although the use of cleaners and protectants is somewhat
controversial, a gentle cleaner and protectant like the 3M product sold
for cleaning plastic windows seems like a good idea to me. Slowing the
gradual loss of plasticizer from the vinyl seems to me to be a good
idea.

	Bill Bain
	AROC Atlanta
	'83 Spider 

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