Interiors are like underwear - you should change it after 50 years! 😂

Not you!

I expect another major project!

Here is what I decided… American muscle car  vinyl of the  period  is  out…. and so  is -all black-

the car has an American 🇺🇸 heart ❤️ but the styling is Italian…. And that theme should be continued…. I will show what I came up with as I get my pieces back and here it is…

peekaboo

@rocky posted:

Not you!

I expect another major project!

I know… 😔. I don’t do the upholstery myself… But I still had to think about it and come up with a design..

You are eyeballing my engine- right?!!

And…

Closing holes… I love working with fiberglass…

Did the same thing on my dash. Now there is plenty of room to put everything and don't listen to the radio anyway.

Nice… it’s the way to go and move stuff around!

I also rebuilt the 8mm thin strip over the top of the heater control panel rebate so there was no visible gap above the control panel  when fitted into the dash .

I convinced myself this had been cut out or broken out by others sometime in the past and was in fact missing. Now I have seen yours I am not so sure ! Mine looked the same as your photo but rougher.

Once the thin strip bridged the top the dash panel was allot stiffer. You can still maneuver  the assembled control facia and linkages in and the panel sits on four continuous edges not three.

In hindsight I would still do this.

50 years is a pretty nice longevity all things considered. Vinyl will outlast anything but I thought that the species it derives from went extinct?

I have found personally that the adhesives available to use in combination with the upholstery foams is only good for about 20 years.

There are some surprisingly difficult decisions to make. I don't aim at 50 years now. 20 years is even doubtful as well?

Good quality leathers will last 20 years or more. The stitching done on the original dash covers is close to being impossible now to duplicate. Even the thread quality and composition enters into the picture now as well.

The seamstresses used back then are beyond just plain high quality talent. It is almost "Godlike" if you ask me.

You can find leather workers that can do wallets but those are only a stitch run of a few inches at a time. Nothing like a dash as complex as a Pantera type 1 dash.

@Percy Funny… I was wondering the same thing… broken or original….

but it seems it’s a continuous cut on the right side so I go with original!

@panteradoug doing this kind of work is art … and doing it in two tone like I decided to have in my car makes it twice as unforgiving! My upholstery guy did pretty good I think! Fun fact: the leather is from Italy… coincidence???

@LeMans850i posted:

@panteradoug doing this kind of work is art … and doing it in two tone like I decided to have in my car makes it twice as unforgiving! My upholstery guy did pretty good I think! Fun fact: the leather is from Italy… coincidence???

European leather is the best. North American leather is generally scared. We used what was labeled at the time as Mercedes Benz leather. Others here use "furniture grade" leather which is generally not as soft and pliable.

Best of luck on the outcome.

Furniture Leather is like “human repelling” to me…

it’s like a new towel that is water repellent!

regarding the outcome… I hope it looks as good as it looks good in my head!

you guys gonna tell me….. I know it…

Does anybody know where that single orange wire goes?

The later cars had the short harnesses coming off the backs of the speedo and tach like that. Making individual wire connections from behind after the instruments are installed in the dash is not as much fun as connecting one multipin socket

That orange wire should be the backlight for the tach which goes into the remaining bulb holder hole there on the back.

Good place for one of the Jon Haas LEDs. really brightens it up. Speedo too.

@larryw posted:

The later cars had the short harnesses coming off the backs of the speedo and tach like that. Making individual wire connections from behind after the instruments are installed in the dash is not as much fun as connecting one multipin socket

That orange wire should be the backlight for the tach which goes into the remaining bulb holder hole there on the back.

Good place for one of the Jon Haas LEDs. really brightens it up. Speedo too.

Thank you very much… grasshopper is still learning…‼️

Installed heater outlets for windshield and sealed !

mounted clock permanently

Here it is…

When installing those bulb holders into the sockets be careful the little copper grounding tab goes inside the socket. It is not difficult to have it wind up outside and compromise your bulb grounding. Easy to do when fumbling around behind after the gauges when installed in the dash.

Good reminder Larry.

In addition be careful with those replacement bayonet LED strips.

They tend to be fairly loose in the mounting socket - I think the LED mounts are slightly skinner than the bayonet bulb they replace. They can therefore subsequently fall out and rattle around inside the instrument. 

Try to get them as tight as possible by closing up the mount.  Make sure they are firm.

Here is a part that I’m sooooo threatening!
Taking all the gauges and switches out of the panel to recover it…. Dragging my feet 🦶

Challenge for everybody… What’s it gonna be?
Should be quite easy

Nothing??

Welded frame (1/4”)  and center (1/8”) on the back together..

Center is going to be black just the polished frame !

Seat preview

nothing crazy… No major side bolsters.. Still easy to get in and out…  daily driver  recipe..

Nice looking seats.  Who did the work?

@panterapatt posted:

Nice looking seats.  Who did the work?

Jose….
Now that is sad 😔. I have to get back to you with more information! He already did the dash too

Is that leather or pleather?

Fuel pressure, Parking brake light , push start,  ignition lock.

above is going to be the fan switch and the switch for the water heater valve.

@panterapatt posted:

Is that leather or pleather?

Italian leather.. sticking with the theme

well done!

@panterapatt posted:

well done!

He did a good job! Lots of drawings on my part to explain what I want…

@LeMans850i posted:

Fuel pressure, Parking brake light , push start,  ignition lock.

above is going to be the fan switch and the switch for the water heater valve.

...I am Highly Impressed with Your Metal Work...along with Your Drawing, all is Outstanding!

I went with RED LED's in the Dash, RED appears 'Fuzzy', But doe's Not ruin one's 'Night Vision'. All Aircraft Cockpit Gauges are Lighted in RED. Also did the Push to Start and Full Manual control of all Rad Fans.

MJ

@marlinjack posted:

...I am Highly Impressed with Your Metal Work...along with Your Drawing, all is Outstanding!

I went with RED LED's in the Dash, RED appears 'Fuzzy', But doe's Not ruin one's 'Night Vision'. All Aircraft Cockpit Gauges are Lighted in RED. Also did the Push to Start and Full Manual control of all Rad Fans.

MJ

I was working in Aviation for the last 30 years and built an airplane (as taildragger and later on amphibious floats all aluminum) and I’m still here to tell about…

thank you for the compliment… it’s a biggie coming from you!!

Looks great, Roland!  Keep the pictures coming!