1969 Highwayman instrument panel/ dashboard/ console.

BC Sunshine

BC Sunshine

Active Member
What is the instrument panel made of?

Mine is intact, but it's rough feeling and a bit paint speckled. I'd like to restore it somewhat but know some of today's cleaners can ruin older composites.

Also, what gauges are normally on the panel besides speedo/odo, temp and fuel?
There's an 'empty' spot on mine.

Would anyone be willing to share photos of theirs for reference?

(Sorry for lack of photos - I have a bunch to share but have had no luck whatsoever with accessing the site from my MAC despite clearing caches and resetting the browser and various other actions that I now regret terribly. Next step is bribing the offspring to use their PC.)
 
'69 so it should be a heart shaped dash. They do get horribly mucky, I used a strong detergent (Autoglym caravan cleaner) and gave it a good scrub in the sink. A load of horrible brown gunk came off it and it took a while to shift it.
The normal gauges either side are amps and water temp but you can fit any 2" gauge you like - I swapped the ammeter for a nice rev counter I found on eBay:)
 
Mine has been changed to the later square one unfortunately but commer guru Martin Malpas told me that early dash replacements are like rocking horse........shiz and are extremely brittle. So a delicate scrub maybe???????
 
I cannot begin to imagine the work to get it off in the first place... do I want to know how long that took?

The steering wheel is also grungy and there's dirt under the horn cap - any prayer of getting that off myself? I've been gently soaking and scrubbing but am concerned I may be dissolving the blessed thing rather that actually cleaning it. :eek:
 
Apart from all the wires there a four nuts holding it in. Tthe bottom two are pretty easy to get to but the others at the top - well you need dis-jointable wrists and very long fingers. I did manage with normal extremities but I didn't bother putting the top ones back:rolleyes:
The horn cap will prise off easily but dis-connect the battery first and be careful you don't loose the spring loaded contact for the horn button. The assembly comes off at the join about half an inch from the top where the button is, put a blade in the join and gently ease it off.
The dash panels do go brittle, and it's easy to crack them, but you wont disolve it as long as you don't use any solvents or thinners good strong detergent will sort it out eventually followed by a wipe over with some silicon polish. Good look

This is what Harvey's looked like after the treatment
I also scrubbed the steering wheel and gave it a lick of paint:)

 
thanks for the warning! random honking will not make me very popular.

Now that I've been able to see your photos of the very handsome Harvey, I have questions:
  • do the dash compartment fronts fold down or slide?
  • is that wood work original?
  • what do you have suctioned to the front window?
  • what gauges do you have on the dash?
 
He is a devilishly handsome chap indeed:)
He's an Auto-Sleeper and the fold down compartments are standard on that conversion but his original one suffered water damage. I re-created it using and old oak wardrobe side for the veneered facing (happened to be a good match for the original) and glued it onto some ply wood, also added the speaker boxes made from perforated steel mesh either side. Managed to find the original handle after ten years off the road:)
The suction cup thing is a Barnacle road tax disc holder, it kept falling off so replaced it with a conventional lick and stick vinyl one.
The gauges are oil pressure, vacuum. volts- with amps and water temp in the pod either side of the speedo. since this pic was taken I've moved the ammeter over to the cluster on the left in place of the vacuum gauge and fitted a rev counter in the pod
 
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