VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Were all 1940 dashboards woodgrained?

My 1940 Master Deluxe dash is not woodgrained. Instead it has a two tone paint job (beige and chocolate color) that looks to be original. I'm just curious if my dash paint could be original or not.

The Master 85 was painted.
Master Deluxe and Special Deluxe had wood grain.

Thanks Chevgene. My dash must have been repainted at some point.

And in 1940, Master Deluxe and Special Deluxe all have 2 different colors of woodgraining. The main dashboard is much darker than the glove box door, instrument panel and the radio cover panel.

dtm

I have a 1940 Business Coupe.
What color would the dash be painted?
Would the glovebox etc be painted the same?
Would all the interior trim be painted the same?

Thanks,

Mike

For your 1940 Master 85 all the window garnish mouldings were a tan wood grain finish.
The glove box door and matching area around the instruments was a tan solid color. The main part of the inst. panel, steering wheel and column and shaft lever was a medium brown solid color.

Thanks, now, how/where do I find samples or pictures of these colors?

Thanks again,

Mike

I can help you there. THe dealer show room album doesn't even show pictures of the M 85 dash.
For the lighter color the back of the glove box door may help and for the darker brown the steering wheel or shift lever could help. They would provide good samples for an automotive paint shop to mix.

The previous owner apparently took great pains to remove any reference to the original colors and did a poor job of wood graining so I'm out of luck there...

Thanks,

Mike

Not a very good example, but isn't this a Master 85 dash?

http://oldcarbrochures.org/var/albu...ure/1940%20Chevrolet-11.jpg?m=1482076036

All things considered that is an excellant picture.
Just that th wood grain On the garnish mouldings does not show up well.

My Dash

This is the Dash out of my 40 that I have woodgrained.

That is really impressive! I have looked for years to find a way to wood grain but have not been able to do any better than a finger painting 3 year old. My next step was to use hydro dipping to apply the wood grain. In my opinion, the original was wood grained through a printing technique, then the metal formed to the frame shape.

Is your technique repeatable and something I could do?

Brian

Hello Brian.

I woodgrained my 40 using a woodgraining kit purchased from this company:

www.woodgraining.com

They are very helpful and the website is easy to use.
They also have excellent training videos and instructions.
My woodgraining project was a success and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

Curt