Noahs944

Have you ever noticed the guys with the cheapest Porsches seem to have the most Porsche decals?

Noahs944

I'm betting more then half the people how go through the hassles & expense to get Classic 9 to do this.

joeystanker

Oh that looks so nice Mike.

V2Rocket

If Porsche logos are inversely proportional to money sunk into the car, that must be why i only have the hatch spoiler left

AlphaOmegaPower

Thought the sarcasm was obvious.

mrgreenjeans

I have a few thoughts about the look and would LOVE to see this close up and personal.

Areas of concern:

-the way the stitched areas sort of bulge a bit, not lying flat. ( walk into any new car Porsche dealership and look at a 991.2 with stitched dash; they look nothing at all like this. They are PERFECT as they should be, cost involved not a consideration.... we are comparing work quality in a Porsche, which is what this replacement dash is going into.
-the fit of vinyl around the glove box lock { ARE there actually open areas not covered by vinyl ? }
-the note you made on tight fit of plastic switch gear going back together
-the piece which goes over the vent area
-Is there a warranty on cracking or distorting ?

For this kind of money, am thinking everything should be perfect including the color match, stitching, fit up near the door posts and door cards, and graining match.

Before making any further judgments , as I say, I really want to make an effort to see this in person. Photo images are one thing, reality another.

Remember when the first dash toppers (plastic caps) came out and everyone had to have them ? ( NOT me )
Well, despite all the oohs and ahhs, they fit like crap and in the aftermath of several years exposure to U/V, looked like your aunt's poorly fitting wig after sleeping on it several days. The dog not her.

As for the center grille delete, many folks DO prefer an original look ; it's part of the character of the 924 lineage which came before and carried thru into the 924S of '88. It's loss here, even tho non functional, has a way of drawing the eye to this long flat expanse of vinyl. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I may adjust to the look with time, but when I go out in my garage and see 'original' Porsche material, ( even a few containing hairline cracks ), I am OK with that. Even that 'questionable' center grille which serves no purpose other than a reminder of which once was.

Modification has it's merits as well......they just need to be acceptable to the owner and person paying the bill. To each their own.

V2Rocket

$900 is not a large enough sum of money to expect perfection.
What is offered here is a very high quality piece of work at a reasonable price. Not cheap, but not outlandish. It's still less expensive than buying a new dash from Porsche would be, if they were still available (a few years ago there was still stock and it was over $1000 for a brown early dash).

If you want perfection, go to a high-end hotrod shop and leave a blank check to the shriveled white-haired guy who started doing upholstery shortly after the War.

Upholstery is like paint...there are good jobs for a good price, or you can go all-out for perfection. Search around here for paint threads and people are insistent that a paint job is no less than $5000...I got my car painted for $1500 including dent repair and am happy with the job, but I didn't expect perfection...

odonnell

In my opinion, this looks better than the original dash. The defroster trim, the quality and pattern of the vinyl, the texture...it exceeded my expectations for how good an early dash could look. I'm not really concerned with originality - you should see my engine bay It's better than the original Porsche setup as well

mrgreenjeans

---- some of us set our sights perhaps too high. Some too low.

If I spend a paltry 89 cents on a Snickers candy bar, I expect; No, DEMAND perfection. If the candy bar tasted like it came from the south end of a north bound burro and looked as if the same as it came out of the wrapper, I would call it what it was: ****

perhaps we should be honest and call a spade a spade. A bad candy bar .... bad. Less than acceptable Porsche parts just that. Less than acceptable. ( don't get me started on buying Uro branded items......)

Or if spending close to a grand on something we have to stare at all the time demands us lower our standards of acceptance, perhaps we need to adjust thinking. I could just as easily spend that amount of money on something else and get more satisfaction, and most likely will. BUT, I need to see one in person before making that call. The photo images give me enough to chew on for the moment

V2Rocket

The small area of "loose" material may shrink tighter with a few heat cycles.

This dash is the nicest I've ever seen, for an early car.

And really...would you rather stare at your 100% original, grand-canyon special dash than this?

odonnell

MGJ (or anyone), if there are any other angles you'd like to see let me know and I'll try and capture it. It really does look better in person, my crappy smartphone photos don't do it justice.

kcoyle

I had mine redone a few years back by a local guy. We used plain old vinyl with a thin layer of foam underneath. I didn't pay very much at all (WELL under 900) and the quality of the work was on par for the price. MUCH better than cracked old dash despite some weaknesses in the work.
Full writeup from 924board.org.
http://www.924board.org/viewtopic.ph...3c2ab37f5999a3

mrgreenjeans

80,000 original mile '84. With everything seen here , factory supplied from Porsche as of build date: Feb. '84

mrgreenjeans

This is all it takes. And a garage to park it in when not being driven.....

and this M456 Weissach prep has been driven. Hard and fast; tracked. Shown. All original patina, including the o.e. leather shift gaiter and steering wheel.
How ? Always use leather driving gloves.

mrgreenjeans

well,

I for one.
And have tried to keep my original cars looking that way.

If you come into ownership with something less than a perfect 944, there ARE other ways to deal with it. A dash mat made of carpet which many new and vintage cars owners in the southern states use; some from day one. You can buy them for under 50 bucks and are certainly better than staring at deep cracks or shelling out a thousand bucks--- give or take. MUCH better than the plastic cap which also warps and twists with heat and U/V exposure.

It's all about choices. Personal choices and money.
The dash in several of my early cars as well as those series 2 models, 951, 914 and 911, etc., all had great caring previous owners who used the above products ( Vinylex and Lexol leather care ) and covered the dash with a long white beach towel when it sat out in the sun, so as to keep the dash cool and reflecting U/V back out the glass. Not absorbing it into a dark vinyl covering. Which would dry out the plasticizers and release a milky fog against the window interior.