Restoring a toasted Avanti dash pad the cheap way

[Nelson]

Well I’ve been playing around with a 63 Avanti I bought out of Phoenix Arizona and yesterday I decided to try to resurrect a really shot dash pad. The pad had actually fallen down far enough to hide the instrument. The Arizona heat had pretty much cooked the dash. The car really deserves a new dash pad but trying to recoup a $2000 plus plus investment can be difficult to do with a run of the mill 63 Avanti. So yesterday I decided to try to repair the dash to bring it to something presentable. I didn’t get a picture prior to starting on the project but the dash pad was really BAD! My first picture is after I heated the underside of the pad by the instruments using a heat gun. I was able to raise it back up to its original location with a 4 1/2 inch by 12 inch piece of plywood and a wood prop from the underside of the plywood to the steering column. I left that prop there through the entire process and removed it prior to paint. I then sanded the top of the pad with 80 grit paper. I also completely cleaned the entire dash with “Prep All” prior to doing any work. All cracks were reinforced with fiberglass mesh to keep the crack from returning. After those repairs were made I started with the bondo. Shaping the bondo a cheese grader was used to rough in the shape followed by 36 grit sand paper to 150 grit to 400 grit. I found a close match to the original elk dash color in a Rustolium spray paint called French Beige.

I have about $25 wrapped up in the project and a good day to day and a half worth of work. It looks pretty decent. Not a new pad for sure but beats what was there and looks better than a carpet covering the pad.

Edited Monday at 12:54 AM by Nelson

[Adam DeRosa]

Wow that looks really good!

[bob caser]

Impressive results, but even more so by not having removed the dash from the car !

[AG-R3]

.....and this is all Bondo???

[Stacey]

WOW, not perfect but sure looks passable to me. Nice job you did.

[Nelson]

Thanks for the compliments. Yes it’s pretty much all bondo. I did use fiberglass mesh on the large cracks in an effort to keep them from returning. I also did the crack areas with the better bondo with glass fiber already in it. That stuff is a lot harder to sand so all the major applications were done using light weight stuff as it sands easily. There is no grain in the bondoed areas. I bought some spray bed liner thinking it might look like grain but it just looked like paint. I was thinking you might be able to shrink wrap a grained skin on the whole dash? Actually it looks good enough. I doubt there will be many people that notice the different textures

Edited Tuesday at 02:02 PM by Nelson

[Dwight FitzSimons]

Nice job, Nels.

There is a paint on the market to restore the texture of vinyl.  And, for those of us who are less creative in the use of materials, there are materials for repairing vinyl on the market.  It would not surprise me if the vinyl repair filler (below) is just re-packaged Bondo (like you used).

I, too, have a '63 Avanti that I am trying to resurrect, including the dash.

--Dwight

 

[Nelson]

That texture paint is interesting. It mentions dashes but also bumpers. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a textured bumper which leaves me wondering if the product allows a textured finish to me added using texture stamps often used in vinyl repair.

[mfg]

That’s a remarkable job… Kudos to you Nelson!

Also, the rest of the interior looks real nice… I have a hunch it’s an early serial number car, having what appears to be an Avanti Gold exterior with the fawn/orange interior?

[Nelson]

It’s not real early. 6R3544. I also have a white with orange which is 48##. I think there were two or three with a little later number but less than 4892.

 

[regnalbob]

17 hours ago, Nelson said:

It’s not real early. 6R3544. I also have a white with orange which is 48##. I think there were two or three with a little later number but less than 4892.

 

Nelson, 

Can you verify the serial number?

R 3544 is listed as an R2, 4-speed, white with Fawn & Red interior.

South Bend body # 5082.

Thanks,

Bob

[George Rohrbach]

 >> I decided to try to resurrect a really shot dash pad>>

Just amazing work!

George Rohrbach

[Nelson]

3 hours ago, regnalbob said:

Nelson, 

Can you verify the serial number?

R 3544 is listed as an R2, 4-speed, white with Fawn & Red interior.

South Bend body # 5082.

Thanks,

Bob

Bob.  Just went out and checked it. Serial # is 63R3544. Body # 63RQ5082 engine # R2497. Where did your info originate? This car is all original. Never repainted with exception of spot work paint is still shot. Body tag is as you would expect mostly gold. Serial number on plate on frame with correct rivets. 140 speed not 160. I had checked the PO prior to purchase and all was correct.

[regnalbob]

Nelson,

The info is from Bob Johnstone's site and the Avanti Registry site.

It was registered on the Avanti Registry site on January 20, 2007.

R2 RQ-5082
R2 R-3544 - (Body Tag RQ-5082) - Larry A. Crapo, Reno, NV - AOAI 2011

Former Owners/Locales;
Nov 2001 - Carnegie Lane - Redondo Beach, CA

4-speed. White with original red and white interior. I bought this car in Nashville, Tennesse in 1973 and put a new short block from Newman-Altman in it in 74 with SS heads. It has 3.73 TT. I bought this car when I was in high school and have many fond memories leaving the "detroit specials" behind in the 1/4 mile. Car has been stored for the last 13 years and I am now beginning a complete restoration.Modified R2 (ported standard 289 heads), 4 speed, White w/ red & white interior

It is also listed in AOAI Rosters from 2011 - 2021 as an R2.

The 2024-2025 Roster shows Larry Crapo owning R 4560.

Bob

[Nelson]

Now that is strange. I thought maybe it was a typo but body and serial # match. Here are some photos of mine. The edge color on the body tag is silver metal not white.

[Nelson]

This is the PO info:

Here's 3544:

 

Engine #R-2497, body 5082, destination Chicago, built 2-28-63. Avanti Gold, Orange vinyl, Powershift, tinted glass all around, power steering, TT, white 500s, washers, radio, front belts.

 

Shipped 3/13.

 

[Nelson]

Maybe a counterfeit out there?#

[Dwight FitzSimons]

On 9/2/2025 at 10:22 AM, Nelson said:

That texture paint is interesting. It mentions dashes but also bumpers. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a textured bumper which leaves me wondering if the product allows a textured finish to me added using texture stamps often used in vinyl repair.

I have seen a textured finish on the very bottom of some late model cars.  I assume the intent is to prevent or hide chips.  Or, maybe it is to hide rust bubbles on Northern cars.

 There are rattle-can spray paints that produce a "pebbled' finish so I assume this stuff does that too.

--Dwight

[regnalbob]

South Bend Body production records only show that R-3544 was built with body #5082.

It was ordered on 2-8-63 and built on 2-28-63. 

Very interesting.

 

[Nelson]

8 hours ago, regnalbob said:

South Bend Body production records only show that R-3544 was built with body #5082.

It was ordered on 2-8-63 and built on 2-28-63. 

Very interesting.

 

So how is there two of them?

[Nelson]

11 hours ago, Dwight FitzSimons said:

I have seen a textured finish on the very bottom of some late model cars.  I assume the intent is to prevent or hide chips.  Or, maybe it is to hide rust bubbles on Northern cars.

 There are rattle-can spray paints that produce a "pebbled' finish so I assume this stuff does that too.

--Dwight

There use to be a splatter paint but I couldn’t find one. I thought with something like that I could figure out how to spray it to get close to the right texture then sand it to bring the level way down to make it look more like grain. Maybe next time.

[mfg]

14 hours ago, Nelson said:

Maybe a counterfeit out there?#

My two cents… The Avanti Registry is a great source for finding  information concerning surviving Studebaker & later Avantis, and ‘hats off’ to Mr. Johnstone for putting all this info together, however, as with any other source, there can be an occasional error.

There was serial / I D # confusion concerning my own 1985 Avanti in the Avanti Registry (AAV-RQB prefix)…Certainly no big deal, but still………

[regnalbob]

3 hours ago, Nelson said:

So how is there two of them?

Maybe Larry Crapo could help with the confusion.

His contact information is in the 2025 Avanti Roster if you want to get in touch with him.

[regnalbob]

2 hours ago, mfg said:

My two cents… The Avanti Registry is a great source for finding  information concerning surviving Studebaker & later Avantis, and ‘hats off’ to Mr. Johnstone for putting all this info together, however, as with any other source, there can be an occasional error.

There was serial / I D # confusion concerning my own 1985 Avanti in the Avanti Registry (AAV-RQB prefix)…Certainly no big deal, but still………

The Avanti Registry (part of the AOAI) and Bob Johnstone's Studebaker - Info.org are separate sites.

If you read my post you will see it was posted on the Avanti Registry first and then posted on Bob's site.

Your problem is with the Avanti Registry and not Bob Johnstone.

[mfg]

1 hour ago, regnalbob said:

Maybe Larry Crapo could help with the confusion.

His contact information is in the 2025 Avanti Roster if you want to get in touch with him.

Once again….clerical mistakes sometimes happen…….

Some kind of deliberate misrepresentation?… I doubt that very much.