MGB: recovering a dashboard

The replacement vinyl for a late model dashboard from Moss is $289.95 - if you add another $24.45 for shipping, that comes to $314.40.

Even if you can get 20% off from Chris Roop or another reseller, you're still looking at $256.41 plus whatever your time may be worth to tear the old cover off and install the thing, and you're still taking the chance that you could botch it up. Plus - you can get it any color you want, as long as it's black.

Has anyone out there had the dash recovered by a local upholstery shop WITHOUT using a Moss kit? I'm wondering how much it costs and how it looks.

Anyone who has used the Moss kit - I've never seen one, so do they press-fit the vinyl over a mold or something, so that it fits the contours perfectly? I'm wondering how you turn $5 worth of vinyl into $289.95.

Thanks!

Bob, I just used the Moss kit to recover a pillow dash...1971.

If you follow directions, its a very satisfying project....results look good as factory new.

It does take a bit of time to get everything done, but no special tools or high level skills needed.

Good luck.

Bob, I agree with Bruce that the Moss pads do look nice even though it is a price upgrade.

$5 of vinyl becomes $290 when you mold it with a foam backing so that it matches the contours of the original dash perfectly. I'm sure most of the $'s are to recover the tooling for the molding process, very little is for materials.

The new covers are moulded just like the originals with the correct grain and everything. That is not cheap to re-produce.

Click on my profile - put the new dash in last year. Great deal when you compare the price with the end result.

I did the new dash when finishing my restoration and all I can say is that is worth every penny. The dash is something you see all the time, it's in your face.

I've done three of these dash projects. The results are well-worth it. Keep in mind, the longer you keep your car, the cheaper your yearly costs get. You won't have to do this again for a number of years.

Here's a photo of the last one I did during the rebuild:

I recovered my center console a few years ago using some black leather that I purchased from a local leather shop. They told me that by wetting the leather it would become very malleable and would conform nicely to the contours of the padding. I tried it and it worked very well. It was very surprising how well the leather conformed without puckering or bunching. I wonder if this might work on a dashboard too although I might worry about it drying out too much in the sun and cracking. Just a thought.

[quote="EW Chapman"]
I recovered my center console a few years ago using some black leather that I purchased from a local leather shop. They told me that by wetting the leather it would become very malleable and would conform nicely to the contours of the padding. I tried it and it worked very well. It was very surprising how well the leather conformed without puckering or bunching. I wonder if this might work on a dashboard too although I might worry about it drying out too much in the sun and cracking. Just a thought.[/quote]

Neat idea. Once the leather dries, how do you attach it in back?

As for cracking and drying, saddle soap and Lexol will keep it looking good almost forever.

[quote=RSS]
[quote="EW Chapman"]
I recovered my center console a few years ago using some black leather that I purchased from a local leather shop. They told me that by wetting the leather it would become very malleable and would conform nicely to the contours of the padding. I tried it and it worked very well. It was very surprising how well the leather conformed without puckering or bunching. I wonder if this might work on a dashboard too although I might worry about it drying out too much in the sun and cracking. Just a thought.[/quote]

Neat idea. Once the leather dries, how do you attach it in back?

As for cracking and drying, saddle soap and Lexol will keep it looking good almost forever.[/quote]


The leather gets glued using contact cement. When covering the center console, I was able to brush the cement onto the console and then wet the leather from the front so it all went down at the same time and dried in its proper position. I don't know how it would work if you were to wet it and mold it to the shape and then glue it after it had dried. Might be worth a small experiment.

Leather that's wet will shrink when it dries if not held in place.

I would love to hear the result of your experiment