A few restoration questions...

I'm in the process of restoring my '71 2-door and I was wondering if any of you know where to get chrome trim. I need wheelwell trim, hood trim, rear window trim, etc. I see some of them on ebay every now and then but they're either beat up or obscenely expensive, or both. Is there anyone who makes reproduction trim? What do you guys recommend? I've been to every junkyard in like a 50 mile radius and nobody has any mavericks and never seem to get any either, so that route is out of the question.

Also I was wondering where you guys got your replacement carpet. Do upholstery shops do this or do most of you do this yourself?

One last thing. My dash is in shambles and I'm thinking about just buying a platic dash cap for it for like 60 bucks. Do any of you know how they look, and woudl you recommend it for a restoration? Have any pics of one installed?

 

Hey mavman427, I hear you on the trim pieces. Mine look okay now, but I am concerned about what they'll look like when I get a fresh coat of paint on the Mav in a few months. They are hard to find in good shape. As far as the cap goes, I have heard from other users here that they are very nice, and it is hard to tell them from the original dash and that they are even on there. The carpet is pretty easy. Just order it from an automotive carpet company, and it will come to you preformed to the Maverick floorpans. In the box it gets crumpled, so before installing it let it sit in the sun and get warm and flexible. This will help it form to your floor even better when you install it. I put the carpet in myself, and this is how I did it, and it turned out nice. Another thing you need with the carpet is a little patience. I hope this helps.
-Corbin

 

i've seen those dashpads....they look great!

 

yea

If memory serves me right, Dennis has one and it looks really sharp. I think the only difference is that the corners are as pointy but it is barely noticable at all. 60 sure does sound better that 100+.

 

I bougt one of those dash covers off of ebay and it looks great....and you have to look real hard to see it.

 

Dash Cap

I just installed a dash cap on my 74 Maverick and I will agree with what the others said. It is nice. I can't even tell it is a shell.

Here is a photo of the dash cap from the passenger side:

 

Dash Cap

Here is a photo from the drivers side:

 

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Jeez that is nice. Looks like it even has the texture to it that a normal dash would.

 

rap43 - that looks great. Where did you get it?

 

Mine is not a cap but I highly recommend them cause if applied correctly, they do look great. As far as carpet, I can recommend Auto Custom Carpets. http://www.accmats.com/ Trim is not reproduced. Used stuff is your only option. It cost money to look good. If you think our stuff is expensive, try restoring a Mopar product.

 

I got my carpet from AutoKrafters and have no problems with it. As for chrome parts, I got almost all mine from the junk yard. I taught myself how to work out the smaller dings and then sanded the mouldings with ultra fine wet sandpaper. That took out most of the finer scratches and then I polished them using a bench grinder and a polishing pad. I got the polishing compounds from Eastwood. My mouldings look as good as new now. That only seemed to work on stainless steel. I don't try it with aluminum mouldings yet.

 

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Oops mybad. Must have been somebody else.

 

Could someone post some sources for those dash covers. Thanks for the carpeting info Mavaholic.

JRM

 

I got my dash cap at www.dashcaps.com and it came to $80.50 including shipping.

 

I have a quantity of used, but good body chrome. E-mail me if you're interested and I'll check what exactly I have. The dash pads aren't plentiful. Keep your eyes open here and on eBay. There's quite a few places to get carpet like JC Whitney and elsewhere. I've seen new several times on eBay.