Scott Suhring remarked on the subject of dashboards:
>From: scott suhring <suhring@lancnews.infi.net>
>
>I spoke to a vendor at Hershey's Antique Auto show who specializes in
>dashes for British cars and he indicated that the French no longer
>allow the export of their walnut. I told him that I special ordered
>from TRF a teak dash and he felt this would be a much closer match to
>the original dash on my '70 TR6. As usual, the dash is back ordered
>with their (TRF) regular dash order, but was recently told/ guessed
>that it should be in any time now!
Hmmm - that's interesting about the French gov't, as I took delivery
of a selection of French walnut just last week for my other politically
incorrect hobby, restocking fine shotguns. While this may have been
wood that had been in a warehouse, my dealer didn't mention any
possiblity of a change in availability - and believe me, if he could
find a way to jack up prices, he would.
>Word of caution regarding TRF and Moss TR6 dashes. Their dealer, which
>is the same, uses American walnut as the veneer. The original dashes
>used French Walnut. The difference is in the color. The American is a
>much darker color and looks nothing like the original French, which is
>a much lighter, almost orangish look.
Yep, you'll find that English walnut is also a different color.
One nice by-product of Hurricane Fran's destructive passage through
the Carolinas is the number of walnut trunks that came on the market
shortly thereafter. In fact, I acquired several trunks for free - they
were given away by surburbanites who just wanted the downed tree
out of their yards. Walnut in the Southeast has fallen as low
as .80 per board foot. Keep this in mind the next time some dealer
wants to charge out the wazoo for domestic walnut.
As for that orange color that Scott mentions, it can be closely
approximated by using an easily-worked wood (poplar, spruce, etc)
and the MinWax color "Fruitwood". You'll find this makes a nice
dash, especially if covered by spar urethane to protect it from
the weather.
Best of luck -
Ken Strayhorn
'72 Spitfire IV
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