Whaddya think of this mod?

[tclaemont]

I did not like the fact that the car had bucket seats and a column shift, so I went this route. The wood is actually Pergo flooring, cut down to fit the opening perfectly. The S emblem is because there was already a hole in the console door.

You cant tell from this angle, but it is still easy to read the gauges hanging down from the dash.

I have the matching vacuum gague that I will mount in front of the tach, and the factory clock will go in the gauge cluster opening.

All of the changes are completely reversible, and allow me to keep tabs on everything. And even though the Pergo is not correct, everything else is all Olds!

[Oldsguy]

I didn't see any pictures.

[54olds]

I had to copy and paste the link for the picture into my browser. After that, it showed up OK.

[Oldsguy]

I don't see a link either. What am I missing? Am I blind.

[tclaemont]

[Dapapadon]

That looks pretty good!

Don

[joe_padavano]

Some of the late-60s Buicks had a console that was used with the column shifter also.

[Olds64]

That is very sharp!

[The_Jeremiah]

The only problem I have with it, is the plastic doesnt match the dash color, which would make it look way better, other then that, I think thats genius, the flooring was a great idea !

[z11375ss]

That looks alot like my interior. Look at the small block section in Edelbrock heads in way of pump. I think your mod looks awsome. That's what Hot Rodding is all about!

[Oldsguy]

Good creativity and I can tell you put some time into it. I personally would not have used that combination of materials/colors but that isn't worth a plug nickel anyway since it isn't my car. Good work!

[tclaemont]

I dont have any intentions of keeping these colors. I just knew that with the fabrication I was going to scuff and scratch stuff up, so there was no point in painting while I still had drilling to do! The wood is that color because that is the color I had, and the thickness is perfect.

The console will be the interior color if I can find it, and the wood will be covered in black textured vinyl, similar to the dash face.

The big challenge in this project is the fact that the factory chrome insert tray that the wood now sits in has slight curves and also a beveled edge all the way around. Woodworking is far from my strong suit so I was taking TINY amounts of wood off with a grinder and test fitting about fourteen billion times before it fit the way I wanted it to. A good woodworker probably would have finished in minutes but it took me seemingly forever.

The next issue was one of how to attach the wood to the console without exposed fasteners. That was easy once I thought it through. I just ran screws from the bottom of the console tray up though the wood and into the factory holes in the base of the tachometer. The console tray then just attaches to the console like it always did.

I still have to drill the Pergo for the vacuum gauge, and I need a glovebox lock, too. The console hinge is in the rock tumbler right now. When I am done it will look as close to correct as possible, even though Olds guys will know the real truth.

I am a big fan of "stock looking", even though I can't resist the urge to modify.