Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

My 56 Pat has a vinyl covered dash that has some wrinkles in it and is not smooth or tight fiiting around the windshield area. I am guessing the dash had some foam padding that has shrunk and will require replacing. I'm sure someone has had to do this and am wondering about what type foam and thickness of the padding is required, and any pointers or problems encountered.
Thanks in advance!

Bowman--the 1955-56 Packard dash pads were produced in a mold by the US rubber company for Packard. Yous, like mine and all the rest has suffered from the deterioration of the foam padding. I don't know of an inexpensive "magic in a can" fix for those, I have seen people try to take the pad off, scoop out the remaining foam and restuff it, it it looks bad. THe work of getting the pad off and on is something you only want to do once. Just Dashes in California makes the real deal--but it ain't cheap.

If the vinyl skin is still intact and flexible, you can do a credible job if you have a lot of patience by warming it with a hot air gun, pulling it back from the windshield, removing all the old foam and cleaning the metal, and then layering with closed cell polyurethane foam. I choose to use foam that was adhesive-backed on one side, and used several different thicknesses with extra pieces here and there until I got a nice fit. You certainly won't get a job like a new Just-Dashes unit, but with a lot of patience you can do pretty well. But if the vinyl skin has become stiff and brittle, your chances of success drop off rapidly.

Attach file:

---

  (42.57 KB)

Mrpushbutton & Owen,
Thanks for the quick reply and info.
I pretty much figured the dash wrinkles were more common than not. The vinyl seems to be in pretty good shape and not really stiff, so maybe I can do something with it. The original foam padding must have been fairly thin.
Owen, where were you able to find the foam you used. Did you have to slice it with an electric knife to the thickness you needed.

It was about 10 years ago that I did this job and the details are pretty dim. I bought the closed cell polyurethane from MSC in Harrisburg; they had a huge assortment of thicknesses and cell size/firmness to pick from and I picked rather arbitrarily. As I remember I used 1/2 or 3/4 inch to cover the entire surface, used a second layer in some places, pulling the vinyl back into place for a number of try-fits and then adding/subtracting layers here and there until I was satisfied. Forget about trying to slit thin sheets, just buy several different thicknesses and build up with them where you need it. Good luck with it and your Packard.

Mr PB. I've seen Just Dashes version of the pad but they don't have it right either. If viewed from the side the dash should have approxiamtely the same profile as the front fenders looking at the headlights. I was driving a '56 400 from 61 thru 64 and the dash wasn't wrinkled or screwed up. It was not soft at all and as I said had the headlight profile which I think was deliberate.