Maybe mine is a repro or something, but the unstrippable finish, under magnification, is a soft-mottled reflective black with grey showing through fine scratches on the "peaks" of the mottles. Around ringed holes (e.g., ignition) and under a couple small chips the effect is more apparent. The shiny veneer looks a lot like that of bakelite, but with a different underlying surface than my steering cowls, which have many small fibers embedded in the underlying matrix, under a thinner veneer.
> I am pretty sure that the brown stuff is some form of an oxide, and not
> a finish per-se.
>
> Deep inside, it should be quite black.
I have read on the List and elsewhere some words about dashes being grey, originally. This one is grey underneath whatever the veneer is, and where the previous owner cut the left-most little hole wider (for my horn button).
If this is some sort of paint, I'd like to find some more.
--- J e r o m e Y u z y k | jerome(at)supernet.ab.ca - - BRIDGE Scientific Services | www.tgx.com/bridge - - Sunbeam Alpine Series II #9118636 | www.tgx.com/bridge/sunbeam -