Yes, I'm got myself involved with another job that didn't really need doing. The varnish and veneer on the dashboard was flaking off and it looked terrible, particularly on the passenger side. So, having laughed at the prices charged by the TSSC (£185 to you, sir!) I set about reveneering the dash myself.
I've always thought Spitfires just look plain wrong with burr walnut dashes (its a sports car for gods sake, not an Rolls Royce!) so I set out to find something that looked similar to the original. The closest match was some Brazilian mahogany from Vale Veneers (www.valeveneers.co.uk) so I ordered enough to do the whole dash for a £7.20. After buggering up a number of times and spending another £7.20 the dash was looking good but required sanding that seemed to go on forever!
I've always thought Spitfires just look plain wrong with burr walnut dashes (its a sports car for gods sake, not an Rolls Royce!) so I set out to find something that looked similar to the original. The closest match was some Brazilian mahogany from Vale Veneers (www.valeveneers.co.uk) so I ordered enough to do the whole dash for a £7.20. After buggering up a number of times and spending another £7.20 the dash was looking good but required sanding that seemed to go on forever!
I was planning to include a T pull for a fire extinguisher system (to be added at a later date) where the cigar lighter is on later Spitfires. I didn't have the balls to drill into the newly finished dashboard though, so I made up an aluminium bracket to mount it under the dash on the passenger side (where it will be out of the way!) although I haven't fitted it yet.
This last photo shows the dash up close. I went to a lot of effort to make sure the grain flowed perfectly through all of the panels and it seems to have paid off!
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