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Early 944/924/924S guys - NEW dash/door panel interest?

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Old 06-08-2015, 02:48 PM
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V2Rocket
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Default Early 944/924/924S guys - NEW dash/door panel interest?

Hi all,
I would like to put a feeler post out there to gauge potential interest in having NEW-production dashboards and door panels made for the 1976-1985 924, 1982-1985 944, and 1987-1988 924S cars.

The original dash/door panels are made of pressed fibreboard and are subject to water damage, warping, and just breaking over time.

I am talking with a plastic forming company about having reproduction pieces made out of ABS or other durable plastic.

For ease of production and for "universality" of fitment they would probably be fairly basic - i.e., no switch holes cut out, no center speaker hole. This would allow the end-user to put custom switches on the dash or move stuff around if desired, as well as cater to manual-window cars. Re-covering in vinyl might be doable by the factory here, or the parts can be left blank for your own upholstery/paint desires.

The question is, how much would you be willing to pay for such items? Consider that NOS parts are NLA and if they were still available would be $1000+. Having a standard dash recovered can be a $600-1000 job depending on original dash condition and material choice. Doors are a crapshoot but most I've seen have some sort of water damage on them.

Feel free to reply indicating potential interest, and what a repro dashboard and door panels are worth to you.
Old 06-08-2015, 03:10 PM
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konakat
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I think you'd have trouble selling many dashes at more than $300 or so, considering the effort and expense that would still be required to cover them. There might be a good market for them with racers though. Maybe $200 for a pair of door cards for similar reasons.
Old 06-08-2015, 03:54 PM
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snb13
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I like! No idea on prices.
Old 06-09-2015, 01:05 AM
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FRporscheman
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Will these be upholstered already? Which materials and colors?

I don't see many warped or damaged door panels. And the damage to the dashboards is almost always cracks from the sun. So I'm not worried about the material of the factory items.

And since there are some really nice re-upholstering kits on the market for the original dashboard, maybe we can get something available which is a little cheaper. It depends on the quality. My friend has a 1989 Civic which have plastic dashes, the texture isn't bad and it's lasted 26 years with no cracks. I really don't care about fine materials. A dash is supposed to hold instruments, vents, and switches while being a pleasant thing to look at since it's right in front of your face, so anything with no cracks will do it for me.
Old 06-09-2015, 10:39 AM
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V2Rocket
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Even down here in desert land most door panels I see have water damage on the backs. Not to mention they are flimsy as s*** and are likely to break or chip whenever removed.

Talking with the particular shop some more it wouldn't be economical unless production volume was huge, they actually said they could do it at my target price if I could get dealers to buy in...

So I think I'll just do this myself and see if there's interest then.
Old 06-09-2015, 02:34 PM
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redfogo
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I would love a dash that didn't cost crazy amounts of money 200-300 range seems decent if you ask me $200 feel would sell out fast but that's me
Old 06-09-2015, 06:06 PM
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tempest411
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Honestly, EXACT reproductions would be worth ~$400.00 for door panels, and between $800-1000.00 for a dash pad. If you consider the infrastructure involved in making a dashpad especially, that would be reasonable I think. That, and having cheap looking blow-molded parts in a car is just embarassing.
Old 06-09-2015, 06:24 PM
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redfogo
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Sure but if all the American car guys can get reproductions for decent price it can be done but I know it's smaller group. even a full dash cap would be nice.
Old 06-10-2015, 02:53 PM
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odonnell
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Every door panel I've seen (many TX cars and one NH car) has some green/black flecks of discoloration on the back presumably from water. The ones that were structurally warped all had rotted rubber window scraper seals.

For the repro dashes, how are the mounting points handled? Just out of curiosity.
Old 06-10-2015, 03:24 PM
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V2Rocket
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I'm going to try to make the dash myself since the shop's estimate was nuts.
I think it'd be doable to salvage the metal frame from an original dash to re-use those brackets, or new ones could be made up. They are not anything complicated on the early cars

First experiment will be door panels though.
Old 06-10-2015, 11:45 PM
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Butters944
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Every set of door panels I've had has torn to shreds. Ended up building my own out of hard board wood and some vinyl. I would be interested in plastic panels though and maybe even a dash depending on price. If dash+doors were offered to me for like $300 total I'd be in for sure, depending on the quality. (Considering the fact the new door panels I made costed me around $50 and a few hours of my time) Any more and I'd be on the fence.
Old 06-11-2015, 06:18 AM
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FRporscheman
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Wow, so my pair of extra 924 door panels, with "Porsche" embossed on the tops, should be worth some decent money since they're in great shape! I've always meant to pick up a clean 924 to use those in.

While we're reproducing interior bits, can we get a reproduction center console which is thicker (so it won't crack) and upholstered rather than raw plastic?
Old 06-11-2015, 07:58 AM
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Dear Spencer: I found that Kydex, used for aircraft interiors works very well for door cards, in a prior resto project on a Mercedes. You can stitch right through it with an upholstery sewing machine...and it takes glue very well. You can use a heat gun to form it and it has decent impact resistance. It's a 3m product, and is made from PVC...jus sayin...
Old 06-11-2015, 11:18 AM
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V2Rocket
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Originally Posted by FRporscheman
Wow, so my pair of extra 924 door panels, with "Porsche" embossed on the tops, should be worth some decent money since they're in great shape! I've always meant to pick up a clean 924 to use those in.

While we're reproducing interior bits, can we get a reproduction center console which is thicker (so it won't crack) and upholstered rather than raw plastic?
I guess that (console) could be done, but it's fairly complex shape so it'd be harder.
Let me try door panels first
Then dash
then console/quarter window panels

this will be a long summer...lol

I paid $100 for a pair of good-shape but slightly warped early door panels. I can't find door panels in any sort of good condition for less than that, and you are still stuck with fibreboard s***.
Old 06-11-2015, 12:08 PM
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odonnell
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Damn, I sold a couple pairs of nice script early panels for like $90 each about a year ago...they took a long time to sell.


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