On a roll this evening--Just Dashes, etc.

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Phil Williams asks about:

After removing the plastic dash cover that someone had put on my 76
spide
r a long time ago, and finding the mess that was under there I removed
the
 dash. It is now ready to be restored or replaced. I've got it all ready
t
o be shipped to Just Dashes in CA and was just wondering if anyone had
any
 experience with how a restoration by these folks comes out. They are
aski
ng $450 for the job and said it would take 8 weeks (wish I'd started
this
sooner).=20

 I also need to clean the back side of the glass on all the gauges.
There
is just enough dirt to cause fogging on the back side when the weather
is
cool. I have removed bezels from gauges before and have never been
satisfy
ed with my ability to reinstall them. I can't seem to come up with a way
t
o get them crimped around the gauge very well. Does anyone have any
advice
 on this? I may send them out to be cleaned but I'm not sure what this
will
l cost. I'm aware of Palo Alto Speedometer and will check with them for
an
 estimate unless someone tells me otherwise.

On another note, My wife wants new leather on the seats of here 83
spider.
 Can someone tell me of a good supplier of leather kits. I've think I've
h
eard good things about New World Upholstery. Maybe someone can refresh
my
memory.

*************

Phil, Just Dashes are, for me, something akin to god (note lower case).
Irwin, the boss man, charges a whole bunch for his / their work. I'd be
surprised if anything left the shop without being close or more likely,
beyond perfection.

Currently I have a '69 Round-tail Spider in the shop. Someone, somewhere
recovered the dash. And that is exactly what they did. It is covered in
the wrong material and one can see the crack in the original material
beneath this wrong material.

On a 1 to 10, this dash is a 3. The '73 Spider dash and center console
Just Dashes did for me several months ago is a 10+. They removed
everything, the crappy, cracked outer material, hardened foam, and
replaced everything with equal or better than original material. They
assign a 'worker' to each project and he honchos it all the way through.

Yes you pay for it, but how long did it take you to remove the dash,
instruments, etc? Want to do it all over again in a couple of years?

True, you get to replace them all once the dash returns, but you will be
thrilled as you do it. Hell, it's only money.

Gauges: What a pain, what a pain. Apparently there are tools that remove
the chrome bezels and another to replace them. I, sigh, use a smallish
screwdriver, start 'undoing' the crimped over portion, little bitty , by
little bitty. Eventually it comes off. Clean everything and check it
twice. Put it back and uncrimp (squish down) with a slightly larger
screwdriver.

Leather seats: Re-Originals have leather seat covers. While not trying
to take anything away from Matt, most decent sized cities have at least
one good upholstery shop. Find them, go to them, talk to them, nicely.
Bet they can come up with a leather (or whatever) you really like and
will make those seats better than they were originally.

Yr humble servant,

Biba
Irwindale CA, USA

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