Re: Vacation Car - 56 Patrician

Posted by HH56 On 2020/4/27 12:40:20

I believe the dash screens are anodized aluminum and if so, using a polish with solvents or abrasives may do some damage to the anodizing. I have no idea what kind of polish product is out there today but if you do elect for a polish try to find one safe for anodized surfaces. A downside to any polish is it will be almost impossible to keep the stuff out of the the tiny perforations and removal will be an even bigger headache unless the screen is completely off the dash. If the polish is not thoroughly removed. that in itself may cause a worse look that what is there now.

My 56 senior dash was very faded -- almost silver in spots -- but otherwise in decent shape so I wanted to do something with the color. After removing the bezels and edge chrome to free the screen (no small project), there was enough of the original rich gold color under various items that I could match an amber transparent glass stain to the original color and recoat the screen. I did spend a fair amount of time with a detergent degreaser before doing the job so that plus a thorough rinse is imperative. After it was clean the worst of the silver areas only were sprayed. After a reasonable covering to those spots was made the entire screen was sprayed to blend it all to a decent color. It has been almost thirty years since this was done and although the car has not seen a lot of sunlight or been subject to harsh conditions to hasten degradation, it still looks good and there is no sign of the stain coming off.