Thanks all for the kind words;

The base wood is cabinet grade fine
5/8? oak plywood. I used many different cardboard templates to get
the overall size I wanted, then made cutouts of the gauges so I
could do layouts with the templates on the car. The plywood was cut
out close to final size then carefully sanded down to final
dimensions with an oscillating sander. The glove box door size was
modeled similar to a real TD, with allowance for stereo access. (See
below re: box size) Once I had the size close to what I wanted on the
cardboard template and checked it for fit under the dash, I cut the
door opening out and very slowly and carefully used an oscillating
sander to get the final size of the opening, going as much by
calibrated eyeball as any thing else.

Once I was happy with the opening size
and shape of the glove box I cut out the door using the finished
opening as my template. I made sure to include the hinges (simple
leaf hinges from Lowes) while checking this so the gap would be a
universal dimension all around. Then I used the oscillating sander to
very slowly and carefully cut the door down to a universal gap that
matched the opening. There is really no way to cut out a door and use
it as the door since each mistake on one will tranfer to the other
and multiple the mis-fit. I got it just right with the second one I
tried, but I had four other blank doors ready to work on just in
case. Then I temporarily glued the door and the dash into
position on a back ground piece of scrap plywood so I could apply the
veneer as one piece and cut and trim later after doing the finishing.

Finished with Danish Oil, keeping the
surface wet for 30 minutes, wiped off excess oil, rubbed out with
heel of hand, repeated each day for 3 weeks. Then waxed with paste
wax. Then the hard part…..cutting out the gauge holes in the by
now beautiful unit. (Most gauges are of a size that requires special
order hole saws, the hole saws at hardware stores would not work. Use
your scrap mock up piece to check.) Then I carefully cut out the
veneer holding the door, trimmed off the extra veneer, smoothed the
edges and mounted the hinges. I first mounted hinges in one of my
mockup pieces to find how much to inlay the hinges to keep my gap the
same all around..

The box for the stereo is just that, a
box of 3/8 plywood mounted with angle brackets with the side
dimension just inside the dash opening so it would make the door stop
flush with the dash. Finished off with vinyl, magnet catch, and stop
strap. I mocked this box up in cardboard at the beginning of my first
templates to make sure I wouldn’t run into problems. The first box
was too big and hit the dashtop, so before you commit to a glove box
size I would make sure to check this ?hidden? dimension You
might be tempted to make a ?big?, functional glove box but
there’s not all that much room under there.

Used a router table to rabbet the edges
to fit against the fiberglass dash rim and to allow room for some of
the switches and warning lights to mount in the 5/8 wood.

A winter well spent! I have some
photos around if anyone needs more input.

Hope this helps.

Ringo

Yup, the wheel is original.  I refinished the wood when I did the dash, it was much darker due to the years of grime and I bleached the wood a little to get closer to the dash finish.

James

I think nothing says high performance like turned metal!  Love it and think it would look great in your car, esp with the black gauges like the Allard.  Go for it!

The indicator lights were my old ones that I re-used.  I’m glad they were still good since I really like the large round mount on them.  I looked for replacements to use but couldn’t find anything other than the hex shaped bases.  I used a hex shape for the high beam, but its in the middle of the dash away from the others so it looks okay.  I found this site that has a good choice of colors in the hex base.

http://www.watsons-streetworks.com/lighting_equipment.html

Ringo

James

Maybe one of these would work. At least it looks more period correct than some of the others I found.

http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/modelaparts/dashdomelight

or this one that may be too big

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product .do?pid=12761&familyName=Perko+Adjustable+Utility+Lights

Ringo

Ringo40072.7902314815