[alfa] Re: 67 GTV dashboard refinishing

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom Hardy raised the question of restoring the original wood grain shelf paper finish on his 67 GTV dash, speculating that two gorgeous pristine examples he had recently seen had been faux painted, which made sense to him because he doesn't think ANYbody could successfully apply sticky paper to those compound curves, even if a mint roll of the stuff could be found.
This is not exactly a FAQ, but it is a previously discussed question. The original material would have been not paper but vinyl, which is thermoplastic and was probably vacuum-formed on the dashes with some goosing-along with heat lamps or hot-air guns, not unlike hair driers. With a little practice on analogous forms with scrap material, a hair drier, and an improvised smoothing spatula (such as a plastic teaspoon) the result should not be hard to duplicate.
Thermoplastic sheets with faux-graining have been widely used on faux-woody station wagons, varying with the tastes of current markets; parts departments stocked the materials, often precut, like any other parts, with usual NLA phase-outs; body shops usually had leads on some local talent who could flawlessly apply it to a repaired panel of any shape. The last time the digest covered the subject kits of such material were available from J.C.Whitney, and I assume probably still are.
However, the original version of that dashboard did not have a false wood-grain finish. If you check the parts book for the 1600 coupes you will find the Instrument Panel Without Veneering (for the GT, GTC, and GTA) on plate 134, and the Instrument Panel With Veneering (for the GT, GTC, and GTV) on plate 136.
There were slight cosmetic changes (in addition to three more horsepower) in enhancing the original Sprint GT to make the GTV- a new upholstery material, different grill, C-pillar badges, Veloce badge, smaller steering wheel, and the fake wood  so a persnickety concours judge could fault a flat-black dashboard as unoriginal on a GTV. To my eyes it would be more faithful to the designers original intent and to the proper character of the car, but that gets into murky areas of personal preferences. As always, indulge yours-
Cheers
John H.
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