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Re: Dashboard construction

To: Spitfire List <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Dashboard construction
From: Andrew Mace <amace@unix2.nysed.gov>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 14:00:42 -0500 ()
On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, Jeff McNeal wrote:

> > I was surprised today to learn that Spitfire dash assemblies are made of
> > wood (plywood presumably) with a laminate over the surface.  Is this
> > correct?

Simmons, Reid W replied:
> > On my '79 there is some metal behind the wood, and there are cutouts in
> > the metal for gauges that "never were", which makes it somewhat easier to 
>add
> > gauges now.

Jeff McNeal responded:

> I should have been more specific.  I was referring to Mk3's up to '69 or
> '70.  Interesting to note your comments though...  How many cutouts did you
> find?

Jeff (and Reid and others), the 1969 "Federal" Spitfire dashboard (the one
with the layout that foreshadowed the later Mk.IV/1500 car dashboards) 
was indeed plywood-based, with a vinyl covering similar to that on the
door cappings or the inside of the windshield surround. Sometime in the
1970 model year, but still during the Mk.3 series, the dash changed to
molded plastic pieces and continued as such on the Mk.IV through the 1972
model year. With the introduction of the 1973 models (1500 in the US), the
dash became a veneer-faced plywood. 

--Andy

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* Andrew Mace, President and                *
*   10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant *
* Vintage Triumph Register <www.vtr.org>    *
* amace@unix2.nysed.gov                     *
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