Has anyone had experience with the padded dash on 56 Ford passenger cars? I bought another 56 Ford on eBay last night which is identical to the Ford I was driving when I dated my wife over 40 years ago except that it has a padded dash that appears to have seen better days due to Oregon high desert heat. Can the padding merely be removed and the dash painted or was the dash different sheet metal to accept the padding? I am having the car shipped from Bend OR to central Texas and probably won't actually see it for a month or so. I have 3 other 56 Fords and a half a dozen parts cars and none of them came with a padded dash.

Kenneth

Fredricksburg, Texas

Hi, The sheet metal of the dash is the same.  Yes, you can remove the padding and sand and paint the dash.  A replacement pad kit may be available from some of the T-Bird suppliers, since the '56 Ford dash and the '57 T-Bird dash are very similar.  But they are expensive, around $400 at most places.  Good luck, Nick Brann - K.C., MO

Thanks for the info. I would have been hesitant to rip the padding off and find the sheet metal different. My wife and I are trying to recreate a car like we dated in and used for a family car the first 8 years of our marriage.

Kenneth

Fredricksburg, Texas

My 56 also came with the padded dash.  It was sanded and repainted years ago and you would never know.  Also, I believe if it has the padded dash it also came with padded sun visors and seat belts.

Later,

Timbo

There is an outfit that is reproducing the padded dashes for the 1956 Fords. I believe that it's Dearborn Classics. It would need to be painted to the appropriate color for your vehicle. I believe the dashes are all the same but with a padded dash there is piece of trim on either end to hold down the covering. So there are probably some holes that would need to be filled if you decided not to run the pad.



Jeff

Jeff Petersen

As the others have said the dash is the same under the pad.You can strip it off and maybe not even have to paint it.I removed mine and put the chrome strips back on that go all the way across the dash.Looks pretty good.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

I'm looking for one of the short pieces to complete my dash if anyone has one. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

The ash tray is different on a padded dash car in being longer to cover the padding. The glue that the factory used to hold the padding in place can be a real bear to remove sometimes and takes some elbow grease.

Just Dashes reproduces the dash for the 56 and it is very nice but expensive.



http://justdashes.com/



marv

I removed my pad on my 56 and as I remember it I had to bondo the holes that the stainless trim clips went thru at the gauge cluster(it is aluminum so you cannot weld them up), the holes on the top side are at the defroster area and I just left them alone and they cannot be seen unless you look down thru the windsheld. I had no problem with the ashtray. Painted the dash top blue metalic BC/CC the only problem I have is the BC/CC has to much shine and the refelctions of streetlights off it are sometimes distracting.

If you remove your padded dash you won't have a problem installing the ash tray.

What I was referring to is the ash tray on a padded dash car is longer in length than an ash tray for a non padded dash car, so when you remove the dash padding the ash tray now will not push in far enough to be covered. It will look like it it partially open as about 1/2 inch will be exposed.

marv