Okay here is my plan. I have a 67 malibu with the woodgrain dash strip. I have always disliked the wood because its the only thing in the car with woodgrain. So to make a long story short when converting to a ss or 300 dash strip you need the correct bezels for the switches which are pretty hard to find and not reproduced. My plan is to install the 300 gray dash strip (the silver strip looks cool and nobody does it) instead of the black SS. My plan is to dremel down the plastic housings on the strip, drill holes larger as needed and retain my malibu bezels! Has anybody did this?? I have many dash strips to tear up in the process, I plan to start with a crappy strip and make sure it is feasible. I have all 3 of the strips laid out on my bench it actually looks easy. Anybody know diff??
thanks
Jeff

I have my new black strip ready to change this winter to replace my wood grain one. In a previous thread I found out about the bezel difference.

One guy (older thread) did grind down the bezels on the replacement one and said that it worked for him. I am going to try the same thing. Probably use a dremel cutter and grind the rest down. I have A/C so I also have to cut out the middle part.

Let me know how your install goes. Probably a month or more before I start mine. Still worried a little about dropping the dash to get the strip off. I am going to remove the seats and console to make room to work.

Mike

sort of a side note....
I purchased a repro black dash strip for my 66 really CHEAP because some of the black was scratched off! I figured I would would clean it up and shoot some paint in the center and be good...
BUT as a started removing the old black paint I realized the the "chrome" underneath looked really cool as it retained the crinkle pattern...
I'm going to install it as-is!

I will let you know how it turns out. I have seen those discount ss strips and almost bought one a couple of times. ...So the whole thing is chrome like the edging? I guess the paint didnt stick well. I bet it does look really cool. You can never have enough chrome!!
Jeff

Just a side note, I am sure everybody probably knows this but those elusive SS bezels for the switches appear to be the same as the 300 series cars. The dash strip openings are exactly the same, the metal Malibu strip is the only one with diff openings. so thus I would say the bezels are the same. This info could save you some $$ when looking for these parts.
Jeff