Just got a new repro SS dash for my 72 SS Chevelle and the trim color around the gauges and radio is Silver paint, is this correct? My old dash was cracked by the steering column and worn in the bright area's but it looked more like plastic chrome then silver paint. I'm new to Chevy's and have only restored Mopars in the past, they were all the plastic chrome accent. The parts vendor also forgot to mention the repo dash did not have the 72's seat belt warning light provision and had the wrong size Vent duct on the bezels. Repro parts are better than nothing but most of them are poor quality just like with Mopars. Is there more than one company making SS dashes?

I think on the originals the entire thing was vacuum plated silver then everything but the tirm was painted black. I know on mine if you scratch the black there is silver under it. I could of course very well be wrong, though I am pretty sure most repro dashes went overboard and put silver trim on some the circles where it doesn't belong. Is it too late to send the repro back and search craigshelper for a real one?

just seen an ad here yesterday of a guy who has a NOS dash from a 70 i think he is looking to sell. Im sure it will cost way more than a repo though.

I think on the originals the entire thing was vacuum plated silver then everything but the tirm was painted black. I know on mine if you scratch the black there is silver under it. I could of course very well be wrong, though I am pretty sure most repro dashes went overboard and put silver trim on some the circles where it doesn't belong.

x2:yes:

I think on the originals the entire thing was vacuum plated silver then everything but the tirm was painted black. I know on mine if you scratch the black there is silver under it.

x3, I can see plating under the black that is scratched in some areas on my dash. It may have originally been installed in a 70 or 71 as there isn't a seat belt light.

Mark,

As noted in the threads above, the original dashes were vacuum plated to look like chrome and then painted. The reproduction dashes are accented with a silver vinyl tape because it is cheap to do it that way.

In answer to your question regarding manufacture, Dynacorn is the only manufacturer that I am aware of. Also, there is no '72 specific dash with the seat belt warning light bezel. Apparently, there's just not enough call for it to make tooling worth while.

For anyone installing the reproduction dash, my advice is to remove the silver vinyl tape and paint the bezels silver instead before assembling and installing your new dash. The tape looks good initially, but a year or two down the road, the adhesive will start to fail and the edges of the tape will begin to flake off. It's much easier to get it right before the dash is installed than try to correct it after the fact.

Lastly, if you do nothing else, peel off the vinyl tape from the turn signal, brake warning and high beam indicator bezels. They're not supposed to be silver and it's just wrong.

Mark,

As noted in the threads above, the original dashes were vacuum plated to look like chrome and then painted. The reproduction dashes are accented with a silver vinyl tape because it is cheap to do it that way.

In answer to your question regarding manufacture, Dynacorn is the only manufacturer that I am aware of. Also, there is no '72 specific dash with the seat belt warning light bezel. Apparently, there's just not enough call for it to make tooling worth while.

For anyone installing the reproduction dash, my advice is to remove the silver vinyl tape and paint the bezels silver instead before assembling and installing your new dash. The tape looks good initially, but a year or two down the road, the adhesive will start to fail and the edges of the tape will begin to flake off. It's much easier to get it right before the dash is installed than try to correct it after the fact.

Lastly, if you do nothing else, peel off the vinyl tape from the turn signal, brake warning and high beam indicator bezels. They're not supposed to be silver and it's just wrong.


I wouldn't be so quick to say all the dashes had the chrome plating. I know I owned a 70 L78 years ago that did have the chrome. However I just saw Joe P's all original L78 and the ACES Mid-America show that is believed to be one of the first, if not the first L78 and it was painted silver, not chrome. I've also seen a lot of other original dashes that are not the chrome. Possibly there were multiple suppliers and they did things differently...

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/blackcherrySS/70MonteDashBackside.jpg
http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/blackcherrySS/70MonteDashCooper.jpg

This is the backside of a 70 Monte Carlo dash that a friend picked up a while back.
There is silver on the back side of the glove box area. Most of the rest of the back side is black though, so it wasn't totally silver or chrome.
Someone wrote his name on this one during the assembly process. Kind of strange.

I think Dana is right. I have seen some dashes that definitely look chromed while others look like they have silver paint on them.

I have seen quite a few NOS or over the counter replacements painted silver. All the factory installed examples I have seen were vacuum metalized.

Mike
www.instrument-specialties.com

I wouldn't be so quick to say all the dashes had the chrome plating. I know I owned a 70 L78 years ago that did have the chrome. However I just saw Joe P's all original L78 and the ACES Mid-America show that is believed to be one of the first, if not the first L78 and it was painted silver, not chrome. I've also seen a lot of other original dashes that are not the chrome. Possibly there were multiple suppliers and they did things differently...

Over time, what started out as a bright chrome finish 40 years ago has turned dull with age and lost the luster. Can be easily misinterpreted as paint. I'm not saying that you're mistaken, but I grew up with these cars back in the day and I can't recall ever owning one or knowing anyone with a painted dashboard. My original '70 SS dash was originally vacuum plated chrome but that bright shiny look is long gone.

Whats it run to just replate a dash?? I can finish it after plating....

Dave, IIRC , CV Vacuum Platers does them and I think the price is close to $800 but I don't know for sure if that's the plating or doing the whole dash. www.cvvacuumplaters.com (http://www.cvvacuumplaters.com)

$795 For finishing it in black.

Does anybody know of a shop that will vacuum metalize a dash and restore it back to oe? As cv vavuum platers are no longer in business.

I have seen original dashes both vacu plated chrome and silver painted. As posted above they are easily identified just by looking at the rear. Even though I have seen original silver dashes, we chose to have ours either vacu-chromed or chrome paint which look virtually identical after the black has been sprayed. Both run close to $800. The unfortunate part about the plating is having to ship the dash off to have it chromed especially the way freight carriers handle freight these days.

This is who does ours though it has been a few years. Dennis Lang's Shadow Grey LS6 was the last car we used PF on.
http://perfectionfinishers.com/vacuum_metalizing.asp