Can a woodgrained dash still say "hot rod"

I am torn on this issue... I really love the woodgrain dash look, but does it say hot rod? My gut instinct is no, but that doesn't mean I can't go for it. Either way, I am going to pinstripe my dash, but should I just stick with gloss black or give the woodgraining a go?

Here's a nice interior I saw on a '36 delivery. I think it rules.

 

It does rule.

And you should woodgrain your dash if you want to.


PS: Thanks for the pict. I plan to install a '35 dash in my '32 truck.

 

FWIW, when I see wood on the dash (or anywhere on the car), it says, "Not a hot rod" to me. But I haven't seen any with the treatment Ryan mentioned, so maybe you'll change my mind with yours???

 

I agree with Ryan, wood grain dashes look awesome. You were struggling with whether to put a steering column tach on as well were'nt you? I say go for it.

 

I think it depends on the car, a cool classic looking car, ya. A hands down in your face hot rod no.--TV

 

Thanks Ryan. I agree. Funny you mention aircraft dashes cause I've been looking for an emblem from the center of a control yoke for a horn button. But the ones that I like are all stupid money and I can't justify spending that much money (like $200) on something as trivial as the horn button. I did spend a few bucks for some 1937 air races water decals for the windows though.

The column tach is on hold until I can change the column back to an original one and that is just about last on the priority list right now on my punch list.

 

When I did the dash on my 37 I was torn with the idea too.
But what i was trying to achieve was the look as though a couple of kids threw it together back in the late forties or early fifties. I think the wood dashes give hotrods more of a "Forties Hot Rod Look",
Here's mine for the nintieth time

 

How about a wood steering wheel?? It has leather seats but it sure as hell is still a hot rod!

 

Good woodgrain is true art. I love it.

My "Someday Ford Sedan" will be a black car, with a dark woodgrained dash and garnish moldings, and will have dark green leather guts with matching '55 Chevy carpet.

Class.

JH

 

That looks really good PeteJoe. I love your seat material.

Yeah, it's not like my car is some chopped up, hopped up fenderless Model A. It's a different animal. I am also torn on the exterior direction. I go back and forth between simple and classic, like something that would appear in HOP UP, to this design, which I have been staring at on my fridge for the past 2 years.



Then I stare at it as it sits and I don't even want to change anything cause it's perfect! Ok, not so perfect but I dig it.




Guess that's why it took so long for me to decide on the design for my tattoo. Sometimes being a visual person has it's downsides...

 

To me it’s the engine that says Hot Rod, not the dash.

I think the stock wood grain looks cool and fits the theme of your car as I understand it.

Understated can be the ultimate look.

 

Django,

If this helps you decide at all, when I saw the picture you posted of the car with white/green flames, I assumed it was a photo of a "Rat Rods" 1:64 scale car.

I don't dislike the look, but to me it does NOT say 1950s. It says "2004".

Go with the 1940s look and you'll never be disappointed.

 

I also like the classic look without flames.

 

Yeah, the dash would have to be black for the flames.

Haring, you're not the first person to tell me that my design wasn't traditional. My Dad and my buddies Thom and JonJon have been trying to talk me out of it for months.

I guess as much as I try to make it rockeriffic (hey, I AM in a rockabilly band... hahaha ), I have subconsciously been going more to the classic style. For instance, I have no plans of scrapping my mohair interior, although my door panels did get ruined in storage.

Maybe I should take my RATROCKERIFFIC (TM) ideas and throw a suitable body on our extra chassis after I get the cabriolet on the road. hahaha

 

Chad,

What guages are you going to run in the dash? Your selection of guages might infuence your decision. As much as I love the look of a nice woodgrained dash, it just doesn't say hot rod to me. Just my opinion. Either way I just love that car. What a great ride that is gonna be.

 

The HAMBS own- JDEE -is the finest available wood grainer I know of............

 

A nice way to go on a Early 50 ish style dash where you want the wood grain is to incorporate the stock gauges in the dash and then add a nice polished 3 or 4 gauge holder underneath the dash, this was very common practice on early 50's cars, a column tach would be nice but try to keep it early, some inexpensive gauges used would be the Stewart and Warner 2 1/16 that came out in 59 I believe and ran into the 80's, these are the ones that have an all white needle, I have seen a few done like this and it looked great but had a little Hot Rod flavor as well.

 

I think it would look good. Especially with a nice pinstripe on it to kinda set off the wood grain. And will also break up the monatany...Details!!!!

 

Rich, I'm going to run gennie gauges. However, I have a 3 gauge (gas water oil) panel mounted vertically on the side just below the dash, so I can see them, but they don't interfere with the design of the dash. Black face gauges in a black panel.

Ryan I think you just put it exactly into the right perspective for me. That is so right on it scares me. I had already been thinking how can I make the car more WWII airplane-like. I had been kicking around something like this but I'm not convinced yet. The jacket design is related to that a little.



You guys may not realize it (although it won't suprise some of you either) that I am huge into WWII aircraft and especially P-51s. I have more diecast airplanes than cars around the house. In my living room I have a 7' wooden prop. I'm going to my first air show as a reenactor at Willow Run in August. I can't wait.

 

I'm with Ryan to a point here...

If I was going for the 40's custom/hot rod look, I wouldn't scrap the dash if it's already nice and grained. I don't think the early hot rodders would have kept it that way though...

But there is no way I'd have it woodgrained for a hot rod. 30's and 40's hot rods were built to be simple and fast. Woodgraining would have cost more than the engine rebuild in some cases.

Not for a Hot Rod.

As for the flames... Lame.

Not for the car you're building. You should have painted the wheels to match one of the flame colors if you were going to do that. It'll just look like an afterthought otherwise. Save the time and effort and Paint it. Since you've already gone black on the rims, then it should be black. ...and SHINEY.

Billy Gibbons didn't paint flames on "Kopperhead"...
...and HE'S in a band.

 

Here's the dash on my 37 Packard dash and the motor while this isn't a rat
it is a hot rod
The tach where the clock ustta be is an Packard Export item

 

Hypothetically,
Lets say it is 1948, or 1958, or even 1968, and a hotrodder bought the 1936 Ford Deluxe five window coupe old widow Larsen has been storing in her garage ever since she got "the letter" about Lt. Larsen back in '44.
It's probably going to have a wood grained dash in it because most of the Deluxe models came with them.
Ok, I put gas and a new battery in it and drive it home and decide every penny I spend on the car is going to be spent hotrodding it.
If it doesn't make it go faster or handle better I'm not going to touch it.
SO, if it's '48 it gets a week old 49 Mercury engine and brakes, wheels WWWs and hub caps off the first Mercury the local dealer got in stock and the dealer's son proceeded to roll in a ditch the next night.
Or in '58 it gets a Y block out of a Squarebird and the set of accessory chrome wire wheels on the '56 Ford truck brakes and hubs that were the latest hotrod norm.
Or in '68 it gets a 289 out of a Galaxie but maybe with the COBRA dressup stuff that the Galaxie owner added with a set of either Chrysler or Buick Skylark style wire wheels and some of them new gold letter Eagle indy tires showing off the Wilwood or Airhart disc set up.
In any case, the body and interior remain the same, If it's only hotrodded, and not "customized" then the wood grain that was on the dash would remain on the dash.


I may be wrong but I doubt any sedan deliveries came with wood grain dashes, but they unbolt so it's concievable that one could be rescued from a deluxe fordor sedan and installed, along with the mohair seats instead of the leatherette

Now we get into the "recreations" or "restocreations" or "restorods?" or whatever you think a so-called "hotrod" built only with obsolete, antiquated speed equipment from a specific era gone by should be called.
If the rod is built to look like nothing was done to the original stock car except hotrod it, it doesn't seem unreasonable to recreate the Deluxe interior's wood grain dash and garnish trim that would have been in a 10-15 year old hotrodded Deluxe Ford in the 40s.

It should have 1948 license plates on it too, the year it represents hotrodded. Not 1936 or whatever year it was new. That year of manufactur plates is restorer stuff. Yes I know states won't register them like that....

The dash is the part of the car the driver looks at the most, if he actually drives the thing, (and doesn't just roll it out of the covered trailer and look at it and put it back,) so the dash board should be hotrod-creature comfortable to use and to look at or you ain't gonna like driving it!

And Von Dutch didn't scroll any stripes on any dashes in the 40's either!

 

Having been a kid in the 50's with Uncles and all into hot rods, you could not have said it better.

 

Django,
I love your car! Love the stance and the wheel and tire choice too.
Don't you dare rip a fender off that thing!
Do something different as explained. I'm with Ryan on the 40's looks.
Original looking, with classic well thought out differences that immediately set it apart from the crowd. It's gives the vehicle that bad, rich look but simple and classic. Yes, My thoughts, you can get away with pinstriping on the forties look. Keep us posted on your plans and bounce it off us.

 

Checkout some of the African wood's. Or possibly South American.

 

I woodgrained a 36 dash for a guy that also wanted the "hot rod" look so what I did was grained it, cleared it , whacked it with a pick hammer to chip it once, put a scratch on it, then cleared it with SEMI-GLOSS clear, then added pinstriping. It looked awesome, just like the original dash gone flat but the added "hot rod" striping !!