I read a post a little bit ago about a guy whining that somebody (PO) had cut a hole in his dash to mount a radio, what the heck could he do about it, and how dare that guy do such a terrible thing.

This started me thinking. I read in the magazines advertisements that scream, "DON'T CUT THAT DASH" (i.e. use our products). And wonder what the big picture view is...

Read just about any other page in the magazines (except the one with THAT ad) and guys are:

1. shaving stuff
2. filling stuff
3. notching stuff
4. removing stuff
5. creating custom metalwork
6. grinding stuff
7. reshaping stuff
8. replacing stuff

For example, a guy gets praise for putting, say, a 58 dash into a 48 truck, or custom metalworking some instrument pods into his dash. Or filling the stake pockets or removing the ash tray and glove box. Or completly reworking the frame, removing, relocating, notching, boxing, etc., great chunks of metal. Or cutting large amounts of metal out of the bed to mount extra wide tires in new 'tubs'.

Yet these same guys will start RANTING about how it is a great EVIL to put a radio in the dash. Even though an hour with a el cheapo MIG will replace that metal. In far less time and effort than what it takes replace the entire suspension, wheel to wheel, bumper to bumper, modifying the frame in the meantime, replacing motor mounts with other mounts, to mount a non-period engine and/or transmission and/or axle, but THAT is OK (for some reason).

I want to whack them upside the head and scream, "It's a fricking RADIO, you lunatic. Get over it."

Whew. I feel better.

Bob

 

I feel better now too, Bob.

 

Maybe I'd feel even better if those little pointy headed guys took their sharp little pencils and their case of CHEESEWHIZ somewhere else to FIND A LIFE.

Bob

 

There was an old truck at work that I drove and I wanted to install a CB. The PTO switch, various controls for PTO functions and a couple business radios filled up the dash. (There's even a spotlight control, overhead on the headliner.)

I didn't know where I was going to mount the darn thing without it being in the way.

Up on the middle of the dash board there used to be a speaker, long gone, and the grill was cracked and brittle - as was the rest of the dash. I mounted the CB right at the speaker hole and ran the coax and power straight down the speaker grill. It was a very sanitary install and it worked great.

People at work looked at it and you would of thought I'd commited some sin! Two people said that I can't do that, and I told them I did. I ended up just asking what harm it does and why do they feel that way - nobody could really answer.

I don't know where that mindset comes from Bob. It's there though.

 

Ahhh..this thread reminds me of the "good old days". I remember back in the '50s how hotrodders and customizers actually had to use their own skills and brains to make their vehicle unique. I can't begin to list all the things done manually and not ordered from a catalog and bolted/riveted on. There was virtually no area of the vehicle that was safe from being changed. And now I am seeing a lot of the old styles and methods starting to come back into the hot rodding scene, albeit with some modern upgrades to the old tricks. Perhaps ( rather, hopefully ) the "bolt on" generation will return to the skills that fathered several generations of hot rodding.

 

I can see the argument of not cutting the dash if you have a completely original car, with NO other mods, but other than that, its your car, do what you want. You can always fix the dash later if thats what you desire.

 

Er. don't cut the dash, but... DO make a custom piece of sheet metal to hold the radio somewhere else, DO cut holes somewhere OTHER than the dash for the speakers, DO upgrade the electrical system to support big-**** speakers and amplifiers.

Just blows me away. These guys are operating on one neuron.

Bob

 

Hey, I have a proton or two.

Perhaps we could get together and have a party.

We could have a BLAST!!

 

Bad day to quit caffeine………..huh Bob

 

good thing the significant other who must be obeyed (or noticed with great fondness daily) left me a couple of cold beverages in the fridge. my alma mater is playing for the DII national championship on espn. things could be a lot worse.

Bob

 

i get the same kinda crap for using my truck on the trail and bending body work up. i tell them it my freaking truck! i also put a new cd player in and this one guy was telling me that i just ruined the feeling of the truck. so i said your right and cut out bigger holes in the doors for bigger speakers to help me "feel" the truck. some people cry about these things and i don't know why. i like to make my truck mine. next summer when he comes back around i will show his how i need to cut some of the bodywork to fit bigger tires! i would like to see him pass out!

 

I also feel much better now.

 

My Gremlin has plenty of tweaks--the most visible being the rollcage. However, I absolutely refuse to hack up the dash for a DIN stereo. Clowns who ruin otherwise-perfect dashboards by doing so raise my blood pressure. I saw an absolutely perfect 1979 Trans Am last summer--the car was loaded: A/C, 400 Pontiac with a 4-speed, 4-wheel disc brakes, shaker hood, Snowflake wheels, T-tops, "machine-turned" dash, buckets & a full console--someone probably dropped as much coin on this car in 1979 as the original buyer of my 1979 Coupe de Ville. The car was beautiful...except for the obviously tacked-on DIN head unit hacked into what had been a PERFECT dash panel. Whoever did that should be flogged. The owner said he'd been looking for a good dash for over a year.

 

Man, we won't have to worry about YOUR opinion if you let something like that bother you. Arteries get clogged, anuerisms make surprise appearances, parents or spouses or children disappoint. Life is too [expletive-deleted] short.

You worry about YOUR dash, I'll worry about mine. Deal?

Bob

 

Try digging up an uncut dash for most musclecars--it's not easy, and VERY emphatically not cheap. That's like the zero-brain I saw who demo derbied a LEGIT, rust-free 1970 Monte Carlo SS454.

As far as I can tell, cobbling a DIN stereo into an older car's dash tastefully is simply not possible. Without exception, they look out of place (because, well, they are).