DrVincennes

Found a LH and RH lower dash pad for my '72. The guy said they were off a '74 and were original to the car. How can one tell the difference between original equipment and after market?
Thanks

0Willcox Corvette

Easy...

Early reproduction dash pads were made with original GM sub-straights... so these are very hard to detect... But around 1993 these sub-straights dried up. This sub-straight (the backing) was a light color almost almond in appearance.

Then the second generation of reproduction dash pads had a black ABS plastic sub-straight, the fit was horrible and they required a ton of tweaking.

About 5 years ago CA re-tooled the sub-straight and the lower dash pads and made it in a two part mold. While they are white (not almond) in appearance, they are close the the original subs, but if you look you can see a parting seam where the two halves were put together. If you got these pads you'd get a perfect fit too, they are the best lower pads to ever be produced.

If you really want to know, snap a picture of the backside of the pads and I assure you I can tell you if they are reproduction or originals. But fair warning.. stay away from the black ABS subs, they fit horribly.

Willcox

Alan 71

Hi DrV,
Here's the original backing as Willcox describes.
It's a 71.
Regards,
Alan

68/BB

Substrate..

0Willcox Corvette

Substrate is the plastic backing to the dash pad... if I spelled it wrong it's because I'm old and don't care... lol...

Willcox

68/BB

I was answering the OP question. He asked how you could tell the difference and I was saying the substrate. Meaning that is the part that is most different.

DrVincennes

Thanks all for the input. Alan, your photo really shows the contract between the originals and the black plastic substrate aftermarket stuff . Are your pads original to your car? The pads I found are about 120 miles away and are not originals after all. I saved myself 3 hours of windshield time.

68/BB

I think I have a passenger side OEM that is in decent shape. Not sure of the year but I know it has the map pocket which is not correct for my '68. I will try and get to the storage shed and check it out. Will have to wait and see if Irma has anything to say about that first. Also, not sure what color it is.

0Willcox Corvette

The pads are the same from 1971-1976 if that helps.

carriljc

Will the 71-76 pads fit the 69-70s?

haha...I was actually confused by the misspelled "sub-straight" until I saw the correction.... I was wondering what I was missing??? I'm like "what the heck are we discussing?".....

RJ1AZ

Mine looks to have the original lowers (cream colored substrate).

Question: the four screws that secure the sides of the gauge bezel to the sides of the dash pads...what are they supposed to "bite" into?

Are there supposed to be some kind of threaded inserts or something? The holes on mine seem to be hogged out and the screws don't hold very well.

0Willcox Corvette

Nope, no insert..... The original pads were tapped and the screws just screwed into them. If the holes are stripped out (common), get yourself some plastic fusion or plastic weld epoxy... push it into the hole, drill a 1/8" pilot after cured and then screw the bezel to the pad... It's a cheap fix and it works.

Willcox