72 Dashboard Restoration
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 231
From: Carlsbad, California
72 Dashboard Restoration
Hello everyone,
I have a question regarding the restoration of my cutlass dashboard. I attached a picture of another members car and illustrated where and what kind of damage has been done to my car. I would have uploaded pictures of my interior but my camera wasn't agreeing with me. In a nutshell there is a minor dent and 5 or so drilled holes in the lower part of my dash. The holes were most likely from an aftermarket gauge set or stereo and the dent on the passenger side is most likely from a Giant Human passenger with knees made of steel as far as I could tell
I attached a picture because I was thinking maybe different parts of the car would have different solutions.
I am new to the hobby so please be patient and detailed answers would be appreciated. For many of you the answer will be obvious but a little explaination would really help me as this is my first classic car.
I have a question regarding the restoration of my cutlass dashboard. I attached a picture of another members car and illustrated where and what kind of damage has been done to my car. I would have uploaded pictures of my interior but my camera wasn't agreeing with me. In a nutshell there is a minor dent and 5 or so drilled holes in the lower part of my dash. The holes were most likely from an aftermarket gauge set or stereo and the dent on the passenger side is most likely from a Giant Human passenger with knees made of steel as far as I could tell
I attached a picture because I was thinking maybe different parts of the car would have different solutions.
I am new to the hobby so please be patient and detailed answers would be appreciated. For many of you the answer will be obvious but a little explaination would really help me as this is my first classic car.
Registered User
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 3,634
From: Austin, Texas
The "lower holes" (you mention 5 holes or so)...that piece is ABS plastic. You can pull that panel or leave it in place to repair it....just depends on how thorough you want to be or how flexible you feel. Those can be filled with an epoxy like JB Weld, ordinary polyester body filler (ie "bondo") or any other number of materials. You'll end up wanting to repaint the whole piece once you are done and may need to repaint all of that lower plastic vent piece to get everything to match if that's a concern.
The repair can be easy and quick or a bit more time consuming depending on how "perfect" you want it to look in the end.
On the "dent from a Big Person"...yes, that's metal. Again, you have options....who knows?? Maybe you could find a good "Paintless Dent Removal" person in your area and they POSSIBLY could get a good angle on it (they typically have to be able to create leverage off of adjacent panels, etc to work their tools) and push the thing out easily....you'd just have to find someone good and let them take a look at it.
That's the least "intensive" option. After that it's like regular outer body metal work...pull the glovebox liner, get in there, try to ding it out and work it with a hammer and dolly or slap file, etc. Then it's a matter of how "clean" the work is....that'll determine if you need filler, which likely means priming and block sanding (if you want it to be unnoticeable), etc.
A "quicker and dirtier" method would be forget the dent removal, fill the dent with bondo and work up from there. With the likely ease of access to the backside of that dent just slapping bondo on it should be your last choice.
Then you'll need to repaint the whole lower dash metal piece if you want it to look consistent across the whole panel.
The repair can be easy and quick or a bit more time consuming depending on how "perfect" you want it to look in the end.
On the "dent from a Big Person"...yes, that's metal. Again, you have options....who knows?? Maybe you could find a good "Paintless Dent Removal" person in your area and they POSSIBLY could get a good angle on it (they typically have to be able to create leverage off of adjacent panels, etc to work their tools) and push the thing out easily....you'd just have to find someone good and let them take a look at it.
That's the least "intensive" option. After that it's like regular outer body metal work...pull the glovebox liner, get in there, try to ding it out and work it with a hammer and dolly or slap file, etc. Then it's a matter of how "clean" the work is....that'll determine if you need filler, which likely means priming and block sanding (if you want it to be unnoticeable), etc.
A "quicker and dirtier" method would be forget the dent removal, fill the dent with bondo and work up from there. With the likely ease of access to the backside of that dent just slapping bondo on it should be your last choice.
Then you'll need to repaint the whole lower dash metal piece if you want it to look consistent across the whole panel.
Kickin' It Oldschool
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 422
From: Champaign-Urbana, Illinois
Fill the holes with epoxy/resin then sand and paint, as for the dent you can use bondo to fill it and sand it to the correct height to match the contour of the rest of the piece. That is if pulling it with a dent popper isn't working. I just fixed a fiberglass/polymer bumper on a minivan today, I used a huge cork screw (a dog "corkscrew" tie down stake) after drilling holes in some strategic locations and pulled the the crushed bumper back to shape, I then got the kitty hair out (fiberglass) and finished it up for paint, this would work on a smaller scale with your dash if need be.
Last edited by bdub217; Aug 7, 2012 at 10:35 PM.
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