My wife is a craftsman (craftsperson??) in the truest sense of the word.
Her particular passion is needlework, from 17th century samplers on 40
count/inch linen to British Isle sweaters to quilts to something called
tatting which involves tying billions of knots in microscopic thread.
It was a beautiful weekend so I took my Bugeye dash out to the patio
table to finish the covering with vinyl I had started last summer (things
go slowly on this car). In the meantime the Moss supplied vinyl adhesive
had dried up so I finally found some 3M "Vinyl Trim Adhesive" in a quart
can (recommended, part # 51135-08064). Anyway, I get all my supplies and
get settled to work. Out comes Sandi with her latest Dutch Sampler to
keep me company. The dash was covered with no holes cut but the
underside needed some final work.
Sandi look one glance at it and gave me the "you are not really done with
that yet" look. "Um" I say. "Here, let me try", she says. She
proceeded to undo my mess (which closely approximated the original
covering) and put a couple of hours into crafting the vinyl aroung the
corners so It layed perfectly flat on the surface.
I cut out the holes last evening and installed the instruments and
switches to see how it looked (and what hardware I needed and didn't
have). The instruments have been captive in zip lock bags forever but
everything nice and clean meant I could assemble the panel on the living
room carpet.
I put the panel into the car to check the fit and it really looks nice.
Everything is original, down to the screen washer pump (anyone know where
to get a replacement for that??).
Sandi looked at the dash in the car and decided that the underneath curve
needed to be smoothed out so she "volunteered" to fix it. Looked really
good to me but her standards are different. I do love her...
Pete Andrews 1959 AH Sprite Mk1 AN5L/18575
andrews_pf@salem.ge.com 1961 AH Sprite MK1 AN5L/44591
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