Topic: Guide to original 1969 and 1970 Dash Pads

[Anghelrestorations]

Some of this information is based on an older posting but wanted to put something together for future reference so we have it.  Any questions, comments, or issues here with this one let me know.

http://www.anghelrestorations.com/uploads/3/1/7/6/3176630/dash_pads_v1.0.pdf

[TLea]

Marcus,
 Great stuff as always. A couple of things I would add. The 69 dashes (maybe 70 too but I dont see as many) I agree that both Utica and Davidson made both ac and non but it seems heavily weighted that Utica made the majority of non AC and Davidson made majority of AC/power vent. Not sure why but as a special friend would say "its just the way it is.
The other thing that is important is in the duct area for the defroster. On assembly line units the vinyl wraps around the duct opening and smoothly turns under dash. On service dashes (not sure if maybe early service were like assembly line) it appears material covered opening during fabrication then opening is cut out with something that looks like done with razor knife leaving a sharp edge.

[specialed]

I think the original assembly line & VERY early service replacement ( back 30 years ago at carlisle I found 1 in old autolite box yet) dash pads were heat stamped out the vinyl opening around the defroster duct area leaving a nice oval rounded corners look. The assembly line autolite boxed 1 I found was probably left over inventory from 1970 model year run ending & like many older correct parts from the depo just reboxed for service. Something must have happened with the tooling along the way because they roughly hand cut out the defroster opening vinyl with a knife & some are better cutouts then others however you can improve the rough cutouts by trimming them out better yourself to improve the look. This is why I think something happened to original tooling moulds because it would be much faster & simpler & look better tohave defroster opening stamped out when first made than to have to go back when pad is finished & hand cut out the opening.

[Anghelrestorations]

Yeah I remember we talked about this and I can add it in here.  The main problem was getting a good photo to show this.  When the dash pad is installed in the car its not easy to get a picture thru the windshield.  But its a good way to identify the originals.
I can add this picture that shows it from the back of the dash pad unless someone else has a better picture???  And would be nice to have a comparison to the rough cut ones we see too.  I dont have any of those.

[Anghelrestorations]

Ok, I updated document to add reference to the cut outs for the defrost area. 

[tony 63C]

Thanks Marcus.  Great information.  I was never certain that my A/C dash was a period original, and because it is a California car dash in perfect condition with no splits I suspected a possible replacement.  Thanks to this info I've now confirmed that it is a Utica made unit.

Cheers,
Tony