Hello, you'll probably see several questions from me in the near future. I do appreciate your help.
I have two questions for you.
In the picture below, what is the knob used for that's hanging under the dash on the left side of the steering column?
Also why do you think the dash bezel trim color around the gauge cluster is different than around the radio and glove box? The cluster has a gold trim appearance and the rest of the dash looks chrome. My wife likes the chrome look better and was asking if I could match the gauge cluster to the rest of the dash.
PicsArt_08-05-06.54.02.jpg (181.5 KiB) Viewed 463 times
Hello, you'll probably see several questions from me in the near future. I do appreciate your help.
I have two questions for you.
In the picture below, what is the knob used for that's hanging under the dash on the left side of the steering column?
Also why do you think the dash bezel trim color around the gauge cluster is different than around the radio and glove box? The cluster has a gold trim appearance and the rest of the dash looks chrome. My wife likes the chrome look better and was asking if I could match the gauge cluster to the rest of the dash.
The knob in question is not a factory installed knob. It may be for an after market reverberator for the radio, or maybe a set of road lamps. (A reverberator is an early attempt to make music sound like stereo)
The reason your gauge panel is yellowish is because it is plastic, it was chromed (vacuum metelizing) but time has made the chrome deteriorate. The rest of the panels on the dash are diecast metal so thy have traditional chrome plating on them.
Jim
Like Jim said, the instrument bezel is plastic. Plastics in the 60's didn't have the UV stabilizers in them that today's plastics do. The UV from sun exposure caused them to fade and become brittle. There are places that can re-chrome the plastic for you, but it's a bit risky and not cheap. You have to be very careful in removing it to avoid cracking or breaking it. The plater has to very careful in the plating process, and of course there's shipping both ways. I've heard a couple of stories of guys that sent theirs off for re-chroming and they ended up broken. It's no substitute for chrome, but some guys opt to spray their dash panels with "chrome" paint. Of course, it never looks as good as the top on the spray can, but it does give the dash a uniform appearance, and it's cheap. You can buy the replacement vinyl woodgrain inserts to replace the originals after you re-chrome/paint them.
You can buy the replacement vinyl woodgrain inserts to replace the originals after you re-chrome/paint them.