Dash Panels Flocking Embossing etc

[scenario]

I am working on re doing the flocking on my dash panels. I have done a ton of research and I believe the correct stuff to use is called "Embossing Powder" and not flocking.

I did an experiment and the embossing powder is damn near close to what the original panels look like "texture-wise". I am trying to get the color correct though.

I have 3 SVOs and 2 of them are low mile original cars that have been garaged their whole lives. When I look at the color of the original panels which are gray BUT I see a hint of green on them as well.

I mixed up some embossing powder and made a charcoal gray that you would think is right but when I compare to my original cars they dont match too well and I am thinking like some olive green might need to be mixed in...

Anyone have any thoughts and what color do you see your original panels as???

[svono50]

IMHO, your original car's panels are starting to age color shift and are no longer the original color. I say this, because the dash pad and dash panels in my 86, along with my wife's former 86 GT dash pad all had moments of shifting to a greenish/blackish gray. I didn't notice any particular condition that caused them to color shift, other than likely environmental interaction over the years, as none of the color shifts happened at a single point in time. My own personal memory has the charcoal gray in our interiors as a pretty solid gray w/o greenish undertones. What is interesting is that I have yet to see any color shifting in any of the 'hard' dash/console plastics, so those are always my 'go to' references. I have used Dupli-Color interior paint for both my pad and dash panels and it has held up very well over the years, FWIW.

[scenario]

Ted, I agree

I do believe that some of these 1980s plastics and paint did not have the ability to hold up over time. Kind of like that run of Spats from 1986 that just disintegrate for NO reason unless the car was kept in some climate controlled museum...

My 2R has significant color degradation on the Map Light housing... go figure. The interior otherwise is a 10 out of 10 and perfect... (the flocking is perfect but color is very slightly like mentioned above...but never touched and even near the climate controls is flawless)

Anyway, I have used the embossing powder and then lightly sanded it and then hit it with some SVO Gray paint and it looks pretty good...I will get some pics up soon.

This set will go in my 86 !D which is in final stages of restoration

[svono50]

I know what you mean about plastics not holding up over time. My wife's GT dash pad held out ~4 years longer than mine and had a lot more sun exposure due to being a convertible and more years sitting outside of a garage. My spats held up better than most, but finally mother nature took control and they started flaking apart a couple of years ago. I had to purchase some packaging tape to hold one of them on up at the Fall Ford Fest up in Wisconsin, as one flap had separated and was hanging down. Only thing holding them together was the PPF that was applied by my body shop that repainted them back in 1998. I have more hope for my fiberglass replicas on there now...very solid.

[gbeaird]

<SNIP>
Kind of like that run of Spats from 1986 that just disintegrate for NO reason unless the car was kept in some climate controlled museum...

<SNIP>

THAT won't even help!! But I digress.

Yes, I've seen color shifts on parts of old cars. Heck, our 1995 Impala SS has the common 'purple door panel syndrome'. Don't discount that some manufacturers can add some odd tints to their paint/coatings that make the color a subtle difference between just 'red' or 'black', etc. I've watched a couple of YuuToobers who do automotive restorations and a couple have noted, and shown evidence of, such tinting. One recent one was a restorer working on a '90's Civic CRX. She cleaned an interior panel and shined a light used by painters to verify proper color and you could see a slight brown tint in the black interior panel paint. She used that evidence to show what panels had been re-shot and what hadn't. She'll be mixing a custom 'black' color to use to enamel coat parts so that they match the other interior panels.

Not saying a color shift hasn't happened here with age, but not saying Ford couldn't have added some tint to the gray interior flocking to make it 'interesting'. :-)