Just finished sanding and priming the metal components of my 68 Malibu dash. I started to paint it gloss black but man, it is shiny! I'm not doing an original resto, just want it to look nice, and I'm afraid that gloss might be TOO shiny. I know this is more of a personal taste issue, but I'm prepared to go with the popular consensus. If anyone has pictures of a 68 interior with gloss black metal conponents, I'de love to see them!

So: Flat, Semi, Gloss, help!

I did all of mine in satin, it gave it some sheen but not a lot. No idea what the original looked like since my dash was painted when i bought the vehicle. But it isn't so bright its going to reflect the sun @ my eyes when im driving.

I agree that gloss is just to glossy and won't look right.

I remember reading somewhere that the metal sections of the dash were originally painted with a 60 degree gloss. This roughly translates to a semi-gloss finish. 100 degree gloss is definately not right, nor is flat (0 degree gloss).
The section between windshield and dash pad may very well have been painted with less gloss than the facing area, so perhaps a 30 degree gloss, or satin finish.
Since you are not doing a resto back to 100 percent original, I wouldn't sweat it... just don't go with a 100 degree gloss.
Hope this helps...
Patrick

Also something you might want to try is paint some cardboard with all the different sheens and see which one you like. Thats what i did, didn't want it to glossy nor to dull. Although i think dull looks really nice to.

Thanks for the help, I'll probably go with semi, and definitely try the cardboard first...God knows I have enough work to do without having to re-sand and paint!