Classic Restoration: Dashboard Modifications: 1938 Chevrolet Pepsi Truck Custom Build (Part 12)

This is part twelve of a series of posts of Classic Restoration on this highly custom 1938 Chevrolet Truck restoration, in post one we introduce you to the project and the custom features to be fabricated.  In post two, we look at the individual truck parts that make up the front end build.  In post three, we cover the chassis build and drip rail removal.  In post four, we show you the process of metal finishing the fenders. Post five takes us through the classic restoration of panels of the original inner grille housing panel and a custom touch of deleting the cowl vent panel.  Post six takes care of the lower cowl metal and left hand front fender.  Post seven covers classic restoration of the toe board panel, door lock upgrades, and mainly the upgrades to the inner fender support panel; this panel has to be heavily modified to take the new location of the hood side panels.  Post eight looks at how the custom hood was created to open by pulling forward instead of the original butterfly design.  Post nine covers the rest of the custom hood, which involves completion of the skin, and design and fabrication of the inner structure.  Post ten shows the firewall modifications.   Post eleven shows how the panel below the grille, ‘grille chin’ panel was fabricated from scratch due to bad damage.

The more subtle the customization, the less modification, the less the area stands out and the easier on the eye, resulting in a very tasteful result only noticed by the eagle eyed and not by the masses.
We had to fit our AC/heater instrument panel into the cockpit, somewhere within the driver’s reach.  The panel could go under the dash, but we don’t want to clutter up the cab and also want to keep the look of the interior as original as possible.
Our classic restoration solution involved a little work and customizing which meant moving the glove box and speedometer housing to the edges of the dashboard, creating extra room in the center, for us to make our raised platform to house the AC/heater instrument panel.  The raised step also mimics the steps in the glove box and speedometer housing to keep the flow of the original design, so it looks as though it was born from the factory.

Check out the build process below.

 

Original dash layout versus our placement of the control panel

 

 

Operation begins with cutting out the glove box door.

Set in new position, to the right of its original position.

Repeating the same operation only moving to the left of its original position.

Basic tooling made to create the step, to mimic original style openings .

Jig chasing.

Grafting into position.

 

End result of classic restoration looks as though it came that way from the factory….

Mocked up in the cab, with the glove box door.

This is part twelve of a series of classic restoration posts on this highly custom 1938 Chevrolet Truck restoration, in post one we introduce you to the project and the custom features to be fabricated.  In post two, we look at the individual truck parts that make up the front end build.  In post three, we cover the chassis build and drip rail removal.  In post four, we show you the process of metal finishing the fenders. Post five takes us through the panel restoration of the original inner grille housing panel and a custom touch of deleting the cowl vent panel.  Post six takes care of the lower cowl metal and left hand front fender.  Post seven covers the classic restoration of the toe board panel, door lock upgrades, and mainly the upgrades to the inner fender support panel; this panel has to be heavily modified to take the new location of the hood side panels.  Post eight looks at how the custom hood was created to open by pulling forward instead of the original butterfly design.  Post nine covers the rest of the custom hood, which involves completion of the skin, and design and fabrication of the inner structure.  Post ten shows the firewall modifications.   Post eleven shows how the panel below the grille, ‘grille chin’ panel was fabricated from scratch due to bad damage.