Red dasher

Test fitted the dash and the carpet. Even though both will have to be pulled out again - the dash because the airvents have to be installed from the rear of the dash and the carpet because of the electric system.

I love the look of the red interior with the light color, sort of like having your high impact color on the inside of the car. Colorful interiors were characteristic of the cars of that era with a variety of hues to choose from. I think the red interior conveys that spirit very well.

The instrument cluster was redone perfectly by Doc Stinger, new dial faces installed , indicators freshly painted, everything cleaned and checked.

I decided to go for aftermarket speakers under the stock speaker shroud instead of the original piece. I cut a piece of plastic to cover the remaining space between the speakers so none of the under-dash cable massacre will be visible though the shroud.

Have a brake

Put the new power brake booster in the engine bay. The brakelines aren't installed yet.

Dash

I'm making more progress on the dash. This board holds the indirect lighting for the gauges, I put in three of those cute tiny lightbulbs and gave it a new coat of flat black paint after masking of the transparent areas.

Dashknobs

Not a very sexy part but I put some work into the dashknobs. There are little arrows recessed into the front of the knobs and the paint was faded and partly missing, specially in the yellow arrow. With some enamel paint from the modelling shop and a very fine brush I redid the paint on both knobs.

Here is the result I have almost all of the paint left over, as it didn't take much at all.

Wipe out

I restored the wiper rods. They were originally bare metal and had aquired a little surface rusthere and there over the years. I cleaned, sanded and painted them silver and connected everything back together. A new set of seals should keep the water out of the car.

The plastic covers are the original ones, cleaned of a little overspray paint and screwed back in place. You can see the wiper rods through the gutter.

Moving home

Time to bring the 'Cuda home for the first time. Since there is no heating in the shop, and temperatures have been below freezing for quite some time, I've decided to continue the build at home.

Thanks to Ernst and his schlepp-mich truck the 'Cuda was able to ride in style!

Home in the garage. Countless bits and pieces are waiting to be built into the car...