Billy Shears

If you've checked around with the usual parts vendors and come up empty, then I'd imagine you'll probably have to wait and see if one comes available on ebay. Those things are pretty rare, and accordingly pricey when they do turn up.

No, it's not the carpet pad that covers the dash and conceals cracked vinyl -- my car had that sort of dash cover when I bought it; no doubt purchased because the dash was sun-damaged and cracked all to hell. No, this is a new dash cover -- vinyl-covered foam -- that's glued on after you tear off the old, original vinyl and foam dash pad. When the installation is done, your dash should like like it did when it came from the factory. It's not cheap, but it costs about the same as sending it out to Just Dashes and having them recover the dashboard (which is really your only other alternative), As I said, I bought the new dash pad from Dan and installed it myself, per his instructions, and it looks great.

I am in the process of redoing my Avanti's interior -- almost all of it myself -- and I got a new dash pad from Dan Booth (the repros he's making on the old tooling; I'm very happy with it and it looks fantastic), and I got the interior kit from Rene Harger. I'm about 2/3rds done now, but one thing neither Messrs. Booth nor Harger have is a headliner. I don't really want to use the solid fiberglass pieces that Studebaker International sells. Does anyone know of a decent facsimile of the checkerboard pattern headliner material they put on these cars from the factory? The closest I can find is a diamond pattern, which I don't really like the looks of. BTW: I am never restoring another old car again as long as I live!