‘69 Dash Restoration - “Is there anybody out there”

[nvr2mny]

I’ve done a bit of a search here regarding dash restorers and the aftermarket options. This came out of my ‘69 912. As you can see, it’s split. I know some of you guys (JP) have used justdashes.com previously and I ordered a Lakewell dash for our ‘69E (which btw is very nice and fit very well). With the ‘69 dash (and lots of other ‘69 items) being one year only, is there anybody out there that can do this justice? Does Tony repair and recover dashes? I know it’ll be impossible to match the grain. Thought I’d ask before I make (another) mistake

[mfitton]

Just dashes is the only one I think that can eliminate using a seam, pretty sure Tony uses a seam. Nobody has the original grain. I am sure John will chime in, he has seen them all.

[LiveFromNY]

Ha! I really need to get a life...

69 is tough. I was in a similar situation and it took me a couple years to find an original 69 uncracked dash and speaker grill.

I know of nobody reputable who does these without a seam besides JustDashes. I've seen a couple dashes wrapped by no-name restorers over the years that were done without a seam but I never thoight the quality was very good and word on the street is that the vinyl ends up lifting on all of them where the others have a seam.

So, Lakewell or JustDashes (unless you have unlimited time to search for an uncrecked original). I'd be very tempted to use a Lakewell dash. As you know, they're pretty good. That said, while I'd previously seen LWB dashes from JustDashes that didn't impress me, I saw another one last year that I thought looked amazing. If it's a special car and worth saving its "69-ness", I'd start by calling John at JustDashes. He's a nice enough guy and I've had the best luck with those guys when I make a point to call, talk about how special my car is, tell them how much I love their work, basically do a little ass kissing. Just enough to get on John's radar and make sure he knows that I'll be paying attention to the details.

Not sure if you've seen this:

http://www.justdashes.com/2015/02/po...d-restoration/

I'm not in love with the speaker grill but it's not terrible and my guess is they could make it much better if someone helped them and explained the importance of the holes and pattern. John knows we're crazy about the details in Porsche world.

BTW, I have one of the new/improved Lakewell dashes en route from Europe. I'm being told they're cosmetically the same but they've made changes to address some of the quality control issues. I'll update when it arrives. Hope this helps.

[steve shea]

I at one time owned a '72S with a factory leather interior. It was a documented executive car so it did have special attention. The leather dash had the seam. I don't know about '69 dashes or if leather was even an option. But if you switched to leather maybe you'd be OK with the seam for correctness but then leather dash is not on your build sheet. Maybe an option.

[nvr2mny]

Thanks gents for the feedback. JP, your reputation proceeds you! I’ll check with John at justdashes and decide how I’d like to proceed. JP, once the Lakewell dash you’re expecting arrives, if you could remember to post your thoughts of their latest version/revision I, along with many others I’m sure, would appreciate it.