1938 - 1939 - 1940 Dash board differences, are they interchangable.

[Bob Parmenter]

Width shouldn't be an issue, bolt hole alignment might be, but not a deal killer. There were two gauge cluster styles for '40, the Standard being a simpler design, all the gauges behind a single pane of glass (the most common style one that Classic Inst used for inspiration if you're meaning the one with the speedo and tach in the center portion). The Deluxe had a plastic cluster face with individual squareish openings for each gauge.

On stock dashes the '38/9 were effectively a flat panel all the way across with the two large round gauges as you mentioned. The '40 was a much more "complicated" style, being rounded top to bottom, protruding toward the front seat riders with more texture in it's design.

[mjeds]

Width shouldn't be an issue, bolt hole alignment might be, but not a deal killer. There were two gauge cluster styles for '40, the Standard being a simpler design, all the gauges behind a single pane of glass (the most common style one that Classic Inst used for inspiration if you're meaning the one with the speedo and tach in the center portion). The Deluxe had a plastic cluster face with individual squareish openings for each gauge.

On stock dashes the '38/9 were effectively a flat panel all the way across with the two large round gauges as you mentioned. The '40 was a much more "complicated" style, being rounded top to bottom, protruding toward the front seat riders with more texture in it's design.

thanks for the information.

this is what I have in the car now:

abs dash.png

This is what I am looking at from Speedway or Bob Drake.. However I also found an Original on fleabay, so I might go that route, but they all appear to have the essentially the same mounting tabs/locations:

speedway dash.jpg



The only thing I haven't decided on is if I go with the speedway/drake version if I want the center "speaker" grille hole or buy the solid filled one to custom cut for the Vintage Air controls and/or a radio.

I've seen a few pictures online where there is no under dash for the AC vents, they are all in the upper dash and to me it looks cleaner and less busy than bolting up a piece under the dash for all the misc. vents and controls.

[53 Chevy5]

Both have goods and bads to me. A flat one made to work with different gauges, radio and such always looks like that to me, something kinda put together and hard to get it to flow. On the other hand I have vintage air in my 53 and I can never figure out why V/A vents looks as modern as ever with no flow. You would think they could at least put round vents in. He is a pic of mine in an earlier stage. Probably didn't help at all and just confused you more.