Replies

1. 
   Steve_Schefer | Jan 31, 2002 12:44am | #1

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   Terry, I used Marine Spar Varnish. It seemed to hold up very well. Whatever the finish is that your looking for, it has to be able to handle a multitude of environmental changes. Marine Spar does that well.

   Steve

1. 
   Danford_C._Jennings | Jan 31, 2002 12:50am | #2

   *Terry,My question would be; are you doing a restoration of a vintage car? If so, I would check with a vintage car club or mag. They used any thing from shellac, to lacquer to varnish in those days. Any car maker that uses real wood in their interiors these days more than likely use some sort of poly. Rolls, I'm sure, still uses lacquer. What kind of car are you working on?Dano

1. 
   Scott_Frankland | Jan 31, 2002 01:24am | #3

   *There is a guy here in town that has a car total built out wood. I don't know who he is but I will ask around to see if anyone knows. I have seen it around for the last ten years now. It seems to look as good now as it did when he built it.Scott

1. 
   Terry | Feb 01, 2002 02:09am | #4

   *Dano,Am trying to find dash patterns for a 1999 Toyota Camry and want to make the wood Carpathean Elm Burl. I also want that formula, process because there might be a few other cars or heavily used wood areas that the finish used, lets say in a Rolls would be a perfect finish for these areas. I have looked on the internet and have found wood dash board kits but they all have wood that is not what I am looking for. Plus I would like to know the process for doing these woods for restoration and for first time finishing. Just part of learning finishing as I go along.I appreciate your sending me an answer.Beat Regards,Terry

1. 
   Danford_C._Jennings | Feb 01, 2002 02:56am | #5

   *Terry,I now understand since I see you have a couple discussion going on this. I will keep my comments posted here. I've done or helped do a number of car restorations over the years so maybe I might be of help.Coach work was a tremendous source of pride back Teens, 20s, and 30s and the wood work and finishes varied considerably. Roadsters such as the Adburn, Mercedes 540K, Bently and others used a spar varnish that would better withstand the rigors of an open dash. Rolls as I mentioned used and still does to my knowledge a lacquer regardless of whether the car was a cabriolet, saloon, or phaeton. Others used a shellac. I had a '64 Mercedes 220 SE where all the Burled Walnut had a shellac finish.Any who, the grand marque auto makers and coach builders were very secretive about their finish formulations and I've found it impossible to obtain a specific formulation or reciepe for a given car.Back in the 70s I was involved with a restoration of a '56 Silver Wraith and Rolls refused to give us their formula and politely asked us to take the car to an authorized Rolls dealer. Seems that for every car they have built, they serial number all of the wood that is used for that car and keep it inventoried for ever. Gotta love those Brits.Any who, I would suspect that you could simply get the patterns off your Toyota by taking out the dash. As for finish that would be a personal choice, IMO.Dano

2. 
   Terry | Feb 01, 2002 08:43pm | #6

   *Dano,Okay Thank you I appreciate the help.Best Regards,Terry

3. 
   Danford_C._Jennings | Feb 02, 2002 12:45am | #7

   *Terry,You are most welcome and I do hope that I was helpful. Being that I've had a pretty intense love affair with automobiles going since I was just a squirt I can kinda empathize with you.As a sort of trivia thing; that Rolls I mentioned was completely original and I was very surprised when it first came in and put her up on the hoist for inspection, the transmission was the GM Hydra-Matic and the serial number was a perfect match to the one on the block. So, it was a piece of cake to circumvent the chaps at Rolls on that score.b :)Any who, have fun with your project.Dano