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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Naff or neat

I have noted an offer for the walnut effect dashboards on a well known web site recently. Note these are not true veneers, rather they are some epoxy based resin with 3M backing. Various pics look reasonably OK - especially with similar matched steering wheel - which I have.

As per the thread title - thoughts welcome. Is this a bling too far?

Purists views already understood!

Cheers

Mark

Mark O

On a midget with lovely cream leather seats with contrasting piping and deep carpets perhaps, but I think that it's overkill on our cars, which I see more as Terriers rather than Poodles. Spitfires had wooden dashboards. Need I say more?
G Lazarus

If its done well ... then its about personal choice

Personally... im not infavor because ive seen an actual wooden dash in a sprite and it looked amazing and was cheaper then the veinner kit

So id go that direction of making my own real solid wooden dash

But id go all out and do the dash, steering wheel, and shifter knob and door caps out of purple heart wood or tiger wood...that would be epic
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

It needs to be Formica (carefully researched to ensure it is of the correct period) and ought to incorporate cupholders to prevent coffee being spilled on the shag pile (again, correct mid-seventies pattern)
Graeme W

Don't do it, Mark.

You'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

The proper mid 70s color for shag carpet is an even mix of golden harvest yellow and avocado green and spits of lite baby blue sewn thur out
I think it will tie in nicely with the 8 track

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Try it out first using some 'blue peter ' spec sticky backed plastic with wood grain effect. :)

But I prefer a painted dash to match the car , there were a few nice examples on Nicks recent post
Andy Phillips (frankenfrog)

Graeme,
I don't remember any cars from the 70's having cup holders. Didn't everyone use a thermos flask with a red tartan design in those days ?
Andy Phillips (frankenfrog)

Personally, I don't like them.

It seems to be a 'selling point' on lots of MGBs on ebay, but it puts me right off.
Dave O'Neill 2

might be a bit better than screwed-in bits of wood veneer but not a lot

always makes me think the owner is very elderly in mind or body or both
Nigel Atkins

Andy,
some of the even small BL cars had drop down picnic tables and inset chrome cup/glass coasters on them - and interior of glove box door (IIRC)

have look for photos of the interior of Vanden Plas 1100 or 1300
Nigel Atkins

You cant go.wrong with a plastic wicker basket with the picnic stuff inside

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Naff!

It's the same with extra chrome trims and other bling. My dad's MX5 had some stick on 'wood' trim on the dash when he got it new, it looked naff then and now it looks old, tatty, scratched and naff!!

When I re did mine I decided to just do it satin black which I think looks pretty good if you want something different to the wrinkle finish. Not much in the way of bling in my car though!


john payne

I personally think that even real wood applied to a stamped metal dash looks daft; from the shape of the Midget dash one can tell immediately it's not made of wood, or would ever be, so the 'form and function' relationship is immediately broken; much like stone cladding on a brick-build terraced house, it looks naff as far as I'm concerned.

Secondly, the feel and look of those stick-on panels is really horrible. I bought my Midget with it applied by a previous owner and it was like thick polythene and completely unconvincing and nasty to touch.

Here's a picture of how it looked 12 months ago:


Nick Nakorn

Here's a pic of how it's looking now. It's not finished yet by the way and it will be stripped down and properly prepared and painted at some point, but you get the idea.


Nick Nakorn

I don't think I would have the stick on panels that are available but mine has a veneered dash that a previous owner must have taken hours on as its completely covered and I don't think I could part with it as it is one of a kind.




Mark Whitmore

All personal taste of course...but to my mind the Spridget is not and never has been either a proper GT or the like. It's a small, agile sports car and the wood just looks wrong. It's just not that sort of place to sit. It has no place alongside plush carpet in the Spridget cabin.

(And before anyone gets all bbs-style pedantic I'm well aware that many people do "grand tours" very well in their spridgets. I personally do a 1000mile round trip to LM most years. That doesn't make it a GT in the general sense)
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

mine's a GT - it's got a map reading lamp and footwell shelf

used to have four mud flaps too

but even on a MG BGT I'd never add wood, wood veneer or wood effect plastic as I'm at least one if not two generations too young for it still

good luck to those that like it, as always each to their own

Nigel Atkins

Just down to preference, looks like most dislike them but being involved in wood coatings for many years and now wheel coatings I love a good veneered dash.


Tim Lynam

I'd strap or tuck that 'tin' up that's hanging
Nigel Atkins

Dean,

I like that, the best veneer ive ever seen. Definatly a keeper

Like everyone says, its a personal choice..not a fetus

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

k.i.s.s
wood is for boats
black every time - willy
William Revit

Mark Whitmore,

Typically I think the wood looks out of place on a Spridget, but I'll make an exception for yours. (I even expect that Prop meant you when he said Dean)

Charley
C R Huff

I prefer crowns to veneers. Although more expensive, they last longer, and I speak from experience. ;).
Lawrence Slater

Different car, but a friend with a B says the biggest mistake he ever made with his car was to fit a wooden dash kit! It looks tacky and the fit is rubbish with big black gaps between everything.

That said, it remains on the car to cover up the holes he had to drill to fit it and the fact the dash paint underneath is a state!

Hope you are well Mark?

Malc.
M Le Chevalier

I completely agree - it looks appalling. If the dash were made of wood, that's fine. Applied "wooden" trims YUKKK!
Dominic Excell

I am suitably chastised and will place a bag over my head in shame. Just hope I get outbid!

My thinking was it may have been a good match for the steering wheel, leather seats and gearknob, but agreed, perhaps a bling too far...

Mark O

Mark,

Don't forget to take the bag off before driving it.

Charley
C R Huff

Thanks charley...

Yes I meant mark, sorry about that.

Mark I also love those wooden door caps in wood.

The more I read this thread, the more I start thinking about doing a steering wheel in purple heart wood,

Im going to St louis for the all british car classic, sept 19-21 im thinking I may go earlier and stop by the wood crafters store and see what several board feet of purple heart lumber would cost, ... I still got the old orginal wheel I can practice on as its pretty beat up, just have to melt off or beat and break off the old black plastic

If that turns out well id do another on a new tourist trophy wheel ive got in the closet, but then id be very tempted to make a usa version of a sprite dash in purple heart as well as the gear shift and door caps... then convert all my dash lights into purple as well...

That just sounds like a great project to take me well into winter

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Prop

You have convinced me that it was the wrong way to go entirely....

Mark O

Mark,

Go for it! I've got one from the auction site you mention and think it looks great. Takes a bit of fiddling to get it to fit well but I'm a fan - you pays your money, you takes your choice.

Jeremy
Jeremy Tickle

If you don't like wood what about leather?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YELLOW-STITCH-DASH-DASHBOARD-LEATHER-SKIN-COVER-FITS-AUSTIN-HEALEY-MK5-IV-66-71-/390818063438?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5afe92644e

Rob
Rob aka MG Moneypit

This thread was discussed between 18/08/2014 and 23/08/2014

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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