Q about padded dash condition

N

NoahVail

Member
Question about the padded dashboard in our 1961 Sunliner.

During our first in-person look at the car, we noticed some brown debris on the radio buttons that looked like it might have come from the dashboard padding.

Am I looking at padding rot? How should I check?

Assuming the car originally shipped w/ a padded dash, if I want get rid of the padding, is there anything I need to know?

Thanks.


edit: Link to full sized image
https://i.postimg.cc/c4qLQDTq/IMG-20190509-145136.jpg


Car History: Sunliner w/ bad top. Sat for 5 years. At some point, tarps blew off and it sat uncovered during 1+ rains.
 

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It looks to be a padded dash. I can see a seam line right on the peak of the dash. The way they were formed, the padding and cover were likely joined together during fabrication. A person could remove the pad and clean off all the old foam padding but it won't be an easy job. A new dense foam pad would have to be formed to fit the old cover. The cover is likely getting brittle too so any work on it may damage it. If no company reproduces them, an experienced trim shop can fabricate a new one.

I'm rather surprised to see one in that good of condition. The car must have been better kept for a long time before the tarps were used. Most of them would be rotted out by this day and age.
 
rotorwrench said:
The way they were formed, the padding and cover were likely joined together during fabrication. A person could remove the pad and clean off all the old foam padding but it won't be an easy job.
Click to expand...
Ugh. Not what I wanted to hear but good to know. Thanks.
rotorwrench said:
I'm rather surprised to see one in that good of condition. The car must have been better kept for a long time before the tarps were used. Most of them would be rotted out by this day and age.
Click to expand...
The car's interior was restored sometime prior to parking. I assume the dashboard was done then along with the carpeting, seats and door panels. The carpeting didn't fare too well w/ the rain but the seats & door panels look pretty good.
 
If it was redone, they may have used a more modern poly foam and it might not be as dense as the OEM was. The dense stuff lasts longer as a general rule and dash pads don't get set on to they will usually last a fair bit unless it sets in direct sun light for a long time. The heat and UV will kill foam a lot quicker.

If it was redone, they likely used an adheasive like contact cement to hold the foam & vinyl together. It may be easier to peel away if it was a more recent replacement.
 
rotorwrench said:
If it was redone, they likely used an adheasive like contact cement to hold the foam & vinyl together. It may be easier to peel away if it was a more recent replacement.
Click to expand...

Okay. That's pretty hopeful.

We're figuring out which issues need priority. If the dash isn't rusting under the padding, then we should be able to set it aside in favor of more pressing repairs.
 
I've seen some weird stuff happen with soft parts in old cars. I was getting into my old 29 Model A coupe one day and saw what looked like black crumbs on the driver side door garnish molding. I opened things up there and found that ants had gotten inside of the structure and started destroying some hard rubber reinforcement pieces in the door B pilar. This hard rubber is like the old hair combs used to be made from so it's a lot like plastic. For some reason, these particular ants liked the stuff. I was already used to mice tearing into cotton and foam padding & insulation but that was a new one to me.
 
In 1967 I had a '60 Galaxie and the padded dash was cracked and nasty. I eliminated it by pulling off the entire thing, in pieces, the metal underneath was gloss black. Once I got it cleaned up it looked great. I had to do a little work on the underside of the speaker grill to get it to drop down into the opening, but other than that it was simple
 
Don't quote me but if it has a seam in it I don't think it is original. I have never had a 60, but did have 56 58 63 64 65 still have 67 and 72 78. None have seams. A friend has a Mk III and Mk V Lincoln. The 70 MkIII has a seam molded to look like leather but no actual seam, the MkV is diamond jubilee and does have a seam but it's leather. The 58 foam disintegrated so I removed it and was a mess like a foam backed headliner, the dash below was painted but I could never get the adhesive marks off. Speaker grill just had spacer under front edge that I removed. Think I read something once that suggested the early 60's had a different speaker grill between padded and none padded but never checked. Usually in the 50's Ford combined padded dash with padded sun visors, Life guard option. Maybe others can confirm or deny.
 
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