saudivette

Guys, my 82 is 2 tone silver exterior with the dark red interior. The bezels on the console, around the instruments and around the speedo/tacho are really showing their age and the fact that they have been exposed to desert heat for quite a few years. They've gone all wobbly!
:sad:

I found this site http://wooddashman.com/ who does replacement bits and his prices seem to be on a par with parts from all the Vette specialty sites.
:skep:

My question is, what should I go with - standard black plastic, a wood grain finish or even a brushed aluminium finish?????
:confused:

Has anyone else out there got the dark red interior with something other than standard black, plastic dash finish?
:nonod:

I don't ever plan to show my car, I just want a nice looking Vette, so please don't bombard me with comments like "the 82 never came with wood grain, although fake Orangutan ******* WAS a factory option" etc... I just wanna know what looks good.
:nonod:

Thanx :thumbs:

gliot1

I thought I saw a company selling carbon fiber inserts, which I think look the best of the replacment panels. To me if a woodgrain dash isn't real wood, it just looks cheap.

mrvette

I agree that fake wood just looks fakey, hate it....

haging said that, years ago around '66 or so a friend had a '60 vette also, similar to mine, he was into woodworking,....tore apart an old antique chest for the wood, solid walnut.....and fabricated his own genuine thick walnut nice interior for his '60, damn thing looked like it grew there, built in what was them daze known as 'spot pac'.....predecessor to the 8 track....

GENE

Avette4me

If you interested, these guys offer carbon fibre dash inserts...I don't think that they're stick on...

http://www.woodtrim.com/

saudivette

Coolio, thanks for that site - I'm lookin at it now. They are a bit more expensive than the site I posted, but their kit looks much better.

My 82 has a red interior, so I'm thinking the black carbon fibre or maybe even the red on black carbon fibre. Oh, the choices...
:eek:

Another question I have is where the hell is the clock??? I have been looking at the dash/console replacement bits and they say to suit clock IN radio or clock ABOVE radio?!?!? The instrument cluster I have is water temp & fuel and below them I have oil temp, oil pressure and amps and where the radio should go is the factory hole!?!?!?! If I was to have a clock, where would it go? Or, in other words, what console bezel do I want???


.......I feel SO ripped off now - I don't have no steenkin clock :shocked:

saudivette

Sorry, I forgot to add another question I had. Has anyone used a "dash cap" instead of replacing the whole dash pad itself? Are they any good? How far over and/or down (towards the driver) do the go?

:confused:

Avette4me

Since you have oil temp and oil pressure, you likely have (or should have) an in radio clock.

I haven't heard much good about dash caps. The top of mine is trashed so I have a wig on it as a temp fix until I get a new dash. I got it from mid america for about $60...

Desertdawg

82's have the oil temp gauge, none of the other C3 years did. Your clock was in the stock radio.

As for the fake Orangutan *******, that was never an option, but you could order Yak Placenta as a replacement glove box liner. Of course the selling dealers hated that option if your vette sat to long in the sun. :D

Touringpro

Hmmm . . . My '81 has both oil temp and oil pressure gauges. I've always assumed they're stock. :confused: The clock's in the radio and I know that POS is. :D

saudivette

I assumed all the gauges were factory, but I couldn't picture what the "clock in radio" looked like. :cry

Anyone got a pic of the radio with the clock in it??

saudivette

Nice lookin interior you have there mate. Have you put much work into or was it in pretty good nick when you got it? What year is it?

saudivette

Hehehe.... still idling when you took the pic??? :shocked:

Avette4me

Thanks, it's an '80...I have had to repair the lower portion of the dash, added the stereo, put the visors back on, replace both door handles, fix the oil pressure guage,replaced the pillar post and headliner pieces, added the 140 speedo - I suppose quite a bit when ya get to looking at it..

The car was off, the tack has always gone up to about 20 when I shut it off..

:cheers:

saudivette

My old beasty has lacked any serious TLC for quite a while. I bought it a few weeks ago but haven't had a chance to do anything on it yet as I am temporarily in a different part of Saudi to my car!

Shouldn't take too much work.... :shocked:




please don't :U


[Modified by saudivette, 11:40 PM 5/12/2004]

Avette4me

A little TLC will fix her right up. I had a similar dash crack - got it fixed for about $50.00 then put a wig on the black part. Finish cutting out the section for a decent radio, a little spit and polish and you're there. :cheers:

saudivette

Yeah, I reckon it won't take much. I've spent the last few days ordering just about everything for the interior. Cost a few bucks but it's gonna look better than trying to clean up old bits.

I was surprised at what's available. I've got just about everything I could think to replace!

Did all the C3's have acrylic/glass T tops? Some years ago, mine were replaced with locally manufactured metal T tops after one of the originals was broken. I found and bought T top liners so I'm assuming that some cars had metal T tops from the factory??

terry82

the lens over the speedo and tach can be bought ,i would recomend it, you will look at it alot. now would be the time to go to the 140mph speedo its only like $50.. exchanged from redline . i put wood on my dash verry happy with the way it looks . now would be a good time to think about a cd player ,you will have to cut the dash .

saudivette

Good thinking. Do you have the website for Redline? An 80mph speedo is a bit of a crock... :confused:

Avette4me

I have redlines site location at work..I'll try to remember to post it tomorrow.

I believe that the factory T tops were all fiberglas although some may have been tinted glass - someone more up to speed will likely chime in on that one, but both are currently available...

And yes, you can get almost anything for a vet. I've even purchased several items from forum members here with 100% luck so far..check the parts for sale section once in a while...

:cheers:

Desertdawg

Red Line Gauge & Clock Repair
800-375-2310 - John Devorski
469 Windy City Rd
Humboldt, Tennessee 38343


As for the T Tops, all 82's had glass, the collector editions were bronze, and the rest of the 82's were silver.
I have never heard of METAL T Tops. you need to get some pictures of those, can you see the metal, or are they by chance fiberglass, and just painted????

Also the "clock in the radio". The radio had a digital face, just like all modern radios have, and the clock was just part of the numeric display.
Kind of like this.