Just Dashes.....beware!

[rich roush]

Just a note to let the members know of my experience with "Just Dashes". I recieved a quote of $350 to do my 70 911 dash. When it arrived there, (I had to call to verify it got there), the price became north of $750. I told them to return the dash. There excuse was " we will charge what the Market will warrant" ... I told them "my market won't tolerate that type of business, particularly after I recieved a quote and paid a lot to ship it carefully between pieces of "redwood". (remember that). I decided to have Tony at Autobaun redo it as he quoted me $350 and he stuck to his quote. And it turned out quite nicely, thank you. This is of particular interest because........when the dash was forwarded it was in 3 pieces. My dash was very nice with only 1 crack at the usual place. Understand, it was brittle, and the vinyl may crack, but it was well packaged.

I cannot say for sure what happened, but my packageing was not reused, even though I paid for the return shipping big time, and it arrived in 3 seperate pieces. Thank you Tony for Helping me!

[mike walker]

Tony should be our dash restorer of choice no doubt! I'm sending him my old dash and ebaying the OEM one that does'nt fit well.

[J-P]

Rich, could you please post some pics of your recovered dash. I'm debating sending mine, but would like to see the results. I'll PM/e-mail also. TIA.

[kenikh]

Just Dashes is going to screw itself. They had a good rep here until the recent price gouging. Will the market support $750? Short term, maybe, but not when Tony offers better quality at less cost. A market rapidly corrects when an unforeseen force enters the market. Here's to Tony, the unforeseen force that sends Just Dashes home with their tail between their legs.

[john rice]

Please... I may have been lucky enought to fall into the R Gruppe before it was anything but some guys that met in Cris' garage... [for a neat story sometime ask Howard how HE met Cris and RG]... BUT I am out of touch on a lot of stuff that gets discussed here. Can you fill me in on Tony and how we contact him? And...thanks for the warning on uppity Just Dashes.
Godspeed
John Rice

[gruen911]

FWIW,
I had a dash restored by Just Dashes 2 1/2 years ago for a 73E. They quoted me a price of around $600 (can'tremember the exact amount). They also told me that turnaround would be around 4 weeks. A week later after JD received my dash, they called to let me know that because my dash had the speaker cut-out, they would need to charge me an extra $100 just to redo the speaker cut-out. After calculating how much it cost me to ship to them in Norcal, and how much it would cost to ship back (not to mention having no other ready alternative for restoring my dash), I reluctantly agreed.
Well, 6 weeks later I received the dash, and it was BEAUTIFUL. In fact, it was the nicest early 911 dash I had ever seen and easily could have passed for concourse. Rick2 on this board also saw the dash and we both agreed it was perfect.
Bottom line. They are jerks, but they do good work.

I don't know what to say about Tony at Autobahn other than there are a few people on this board who worship his work. I have not had the priviledge tp send him any seats yet, but at some point I will. However, I recall seeing a thread announcing that he also restored dashboards, and from what I saw in the pic's posted, he appeared to be using vinyl to restore the dashes. Moreover, he also was offering them with stitching?!
Having owned my share of 65-73 cars, the only dashes that came in vinyl are the 65-68 years, and I have never seen one with stitching. However, the 69-73 dash is a completely different material. The correct surface of a 69-73 dash seems to be sprayed on like a foam particle (or rolled on). Perhaps someone here can offer additional insight.

Tony, if you are reading this, perhaps you can explain how exactly you restore the 69-73 dashes. If you restore them to exact stock specification (i.e. no vinyl or stitching), I will gladly send you a dash in the next 2 weeks.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[lisa_spyder]

I visited Just Dashes last year with a friend on our way to Ventura.

The guys were very helpful and answered our many questions which was much appreciated especially as we dropped in unannounced on a Friday morning.

I brought home with me a vinyl sample and some literature which I have sinced passed on.

A couple of things that stuck - Just Dashes will repair almost any break. They showed us a couple of dashes off 60s "Yank-Tanks" which were in pieces with bits missing and they were confident they could restore them.

The vinyl they use to recover 911 dashes is almost identical. And it is vinyl - I had a piece. The grain is slightly different, but the identical product is just not available. Also, the sharpness of the 'edges' is not as acute. Where the instrument mound is etc. But I can understand that as they are recovering/restoring the piece not pouring a new one in a mould.

Just Dashes freely admitted that they could not replicate the speaker grille hole spacing. The tooling they had made some years ago was not correct, they had no desire to make another tool as it was expensive, so near enough is what you get.

Now at $750 or so with a reasoning that they will charge according "to market" and given that there is a premium of $100 plus included to redo the speaker grille I would want the speaker grille hole spacing exact. I think it's time Just Dashes invest in the correct tooling to replicate the hole spacing at that sort of money.

I too am very keen to see some detail pics of dashes that Tony has done. I also recall that there was mention of stitching etc and 911 dashes don't have stitching. Given that Tony has such a great reputation I am eager to see his work. I have a couple of dashes that need doing; one for a client. I need to know where to send them with confidence. The charge; however steep is not the issue - the quality of the end result is.

Cheers,
Lisa

[BOYER73S]

Tony has stitching all along the edge area, someone posted a pic of one he had done not that long ago.

I have paid the Just Dashes asking price for my 69 dash and grill and to date it has been 14 weeks, they charged my credit card 3 weeks ago ( I was advised that this would happen when it went into production) and I plan to ring in a day or two to check on the progress. I was quoted 9 weeks to complete so thay are a bit behind for sure

Getting it back home in one piece will be another issue I suspect.

Let you all know whats its like when its safely back home

[rick2]

I haven't sent anything to Just Dashes but I did see Gruen911's 73E dash and it was perfect. From what I have heard it is hit or miss with them. I have seen some pics posted and the edge around the instrument hump were not crisp. I hope Tony can help! I have a SWB dash needing some help.
Rick

[rich roush]

Here you go!