I just got around to looking at their website, and it looks like the bread and butter benz Dash is not handled by justdashes.com. Perhaps if everyone who considered a silly cap would have inquired, they would have tooled up to reskinn the 123 dashes.

Smells like a business opportunity. Any takers?

__________________
1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)

I've got a dash cap in my 300TD. It was there when I bought the car, so I don't know who made it. It looks fine to me.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

I see what you mean. They only have caps for three Mercedes models. That's hard to believe. Did you inquire as to whether they might offer caps for other popular models? It seems like anybody who would bother to make caps would certainly have ones for 123s, 124s, and 126s.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Can anyone tell me what this post is about?

Wow, how did I miss this thread so long ago?

I'm already well ahead of you, though I doubt it would be a worthwhile business opportunity. Just Dashes will, in fact, take a W123 dash in and cover it. Grain patterns would not match the original, but hey, does that really matter, since the glove box door could be refinished at the same time? As long as the two match, the difference between original and recovered would be trivial.

The problem, as I see it, is that no one want's to pay close to $1,000 after shipping just to have a crack-free dash, when most W123 owners are A) unwilling to spend that kind of money on the motor, much less a dashboard, and B) are content with buying crack-free originals.

Me? I despise dash cracks, so I want them gone! Will I pay Just Dashes more than my car is worth to have one restored to non-original finish? No way. Besides, it violates my DIY spirit! I also don't see the logic in buying an original, but crack-free dash, because after 25 or 30 years, they are brittle, whether they have cracks or not! So...

I have in the past built one-of vacuum tables and used heatable vinyl and plastic to re-cover small items, like door panel inserts and armrests. Never have I attempted anything so large as a W123 dash, but, that won't stop me from trying. The project isn't exactly on the front burner, but it is in the works. Should my efforts prove successful, I figured I would offer the service to a small number of forum members for right around cost, as a sort of hobby/service to the community. I've estimated that the material costs for an actual finished product would be similar to the shoddy dash caps that are available.

The problem I am having is longevity... I can't say how long a fresh vacuum-formed vinyl skin would last. No one that manufactures the stuff deems it worthy of receiving any sort of rated service life.

__________________
- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

Pull your head out and look into it! the post is about everyone who needs a real dash resto to forget about the caps and make the effort --CONTACT-- Just Dashes to realise what a HUGE product possibility they are leaving unfilled.. Just Dashes does NOT do Cap Covers , THEY REDO THEM LIKE FACTORY, by making a vacuum tool that molds on a new skin just like a origonal.

Yes, myself also-A tool maker. So just Dashes charges approx $1000.00?
well even i would have to go with a cap with that kind of expense.--But i think they- JD- DO try to have the same grain pattern, I was thinking today of doing the wood trim refinishing on a exchange turnaround side thing, because my other line has always been the auto body/ resto side and this is simple, anyway tween shopforum/benzworld and/w123world -or what ever it's called, once you got the process flaws worked , you could have a steady line of customers

Well, I just hit up their site again, and they make it seem as if they only do certain dashboards now. Hmm. When last I investigated, they could do just about anything if you contacted them and discussed it. Perhaps they still do, but now seem to market directly to the owners of only certain models.

And yes, the last time I checked, a rough estimate for covering our dash panels would have been around $800 for one done up in basic black. That was one quick phone call I made well over a year ago that took all of five minutes. The glove box door was not discussed. Add in shipping each way on an over-sized package with insurance, and things get even more prohibitively expensive.

I can guess the reasons why our beloved W123's aren't a listed option on their site. Predominately, they are beaters. Until a car reaches collectible status, they aren't going to make an effort to make a factory original match available, because until that time, most folks simply won't want to spend the money on one. You gotta face the fact that most W123 owners will junk one if it needs a tranny.

I just want a fresh dash. if I can accomplish that and then offset the setup costs for the equipment I will have to build to do it, well, I'm happy with that.

__________________
- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

Me too, and a clean rustfree later CD isnt becoming more disposable--exactly the opposite. The mint 12500.00--15000.00 ones on ebay in So Cal all have flawwless interiors and that's why I'm supprised JD does some of the oddball cars they do and not the Benz main one for the "Land of the Benz".

Still not too surprising, since I know I could find at least hundred, if not more, cherry W123 dashes for each, oh, cherry '69 Ford Mustang dash in existence. It doesn't take much imagination to see why they have put the effort in to duplicating a concourse quality Mustang dash, but not for our W123's. Just how many old car shows have old Mustangs? I don't think I've been to one that didn't. I can say, however, that I never see W123's at the shows. Popularity creates demand.

You may just have to be satisfied with my solution.

__________________
- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

PanZZer - I get it now. My brain would not focus. I kept seeing ------ (dashes) and could not figure out what a dashcap (capital dash?) could be.

I need to know where you can find a hundred cherry dashes-- a certain dismantler somewhere?

Okay, I don't exactly know where to find that many of them, but they do exist, since I have seen them in person, as well as in salvage yards. I've passed up several of them in local yards over the past year. I admit to having been tempted to pull a few of them, but it generally isn't worth it to me... Well, there was that blue one I found not long ago in the Euro car that I pulled the headlamps from. It had an absolutely perfect looking blue dash. By the time I made it back to the car the next day, it had been ripped to shreds by someone after the heater core. Mind you, it wasn't as much of a shame as it seems. When I pressed what had been an undamaged spot of what had been a perfect looking blue dash with my finger, the vinyl was so brittle that it cracked easily.

Anyway, I was just trying to say that visually perfect dashboards do exist, and so the demand for them combined with the overall beater status of W123's makes them less than suitable for mass marketing as an expensive restoration item as compared to a desirable car.

__________________
- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

Sorry, didn't realize that's what you were talking about.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles