I am getting ready to do my interior and Im looking for dash Ideas. Im looking for something custom looking that will look like it was done in the early 60s. It doesn't even have to have guages in it. I was thinking about molding a dash and using a chrome grill bar off of something like a 50s buick and put a speedo in the center but I dont know how well that would look. I also thought about making one like it use to have in it in the 60s. Here is what use to be in it and what I started building for it last year.
Just off the top of my head, the grille from a '57 Buick has roughly the same shape as the dash you show. You could set your gauges into it, say one round 5" speedo and one round 5" 4-way gauge (with battery, temp., oil, and fuel). Then you could fit some metal in behind it painted the body or interior color. It might sound gruesome a t first, but imagine your gauges set into it with all those chrome teeth, and color behind it. If you want it to look like it was done in the 60's, you have to think like they did then. The whole idea was to build it on a limited budget using parts that were readily available. Most important, the idea was to be different. Do something wild using parts from the right vintage, and you'll be right on.
Man, there's so many great-looking clusters from that period you could adapt or splice in a whole dash - from mild to wild. '57 Buick cluster is a plain rectangle... '61 Rambler, cheap and an oval shape that looks pretty crazy... big chrome rounded rectangle '60 Pontiac... round chrome pods, 58 or 59 Pontiac, 57-59 Chrysler... Single round unit, mid-50s Olds.. '58 Dodge would make a good transplant, put the lower section on the side instead of below the speedo and see if anyone figures it out... how about the '60-'62 Chrysler "astra-dome" - about the wildest one around. There was a wild custom '40 coupe that used one of these in the center, I can't think of it's name now (will come to me later when I am trying to remember some chick's name 10 minutes after I met her...)
i wanted to put a mid 50's olds dash in my a but could not find one complete and ended up with a 1957 fairlane dash. Only had to narrow it 12 inches and was able to keep the stock heater controls , clock and glovebox
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