Best '70's domestic instrument panel

in General
Here's the best IMHO:
http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/hppp_0607_1973_pontiac_grand_prix- /photo_01.html
First seen on the '73 Grand Prix, and also Grand Am.
I love the exterior of the '69-72 Grand Prixs, but I think the dash disappoints a little--other than the 'wrap around' feature. But to me, this '73 dash brings back some of the 'wow' factor of the '65 Grand Prix dash.
Monte Carlo dashes of the same period are bleak in comparison I think.
Your opinions?
http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/hppp_0607_1973_pontiac_grand_prix- /photo_01.html
First seen on the '73 Grand Prix, and also Grand Am.
I love the exterior of the '69-72 Grand Prixs, but I think the dash disappoints a little--other than the 'wrap around' feature. But to me, this '73 dash brings back some of the 'wow' factor of the '65 Grand Prix dash.
Monte Carlo dashes of the same period are bleak in comparison I think.
Your opinions?
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I'm too lazy to look up a pic to link right now, but I think the dash that Ford used in their midsize cars, starting with the '72 Torino/Montego and culminating with the '79 LTD-II/Cougar/T-bird was also pretty attractive, and informative.
Another one I like is the '77-81 Catalina/Bonneville, and also the '79-81 full-sized Mopars.
For the most part, I like any dash from that era that at least gave you the option for full gauges...something that was becoming increasingly rare.
I have to say though, that I think it was originally designed with a console in mind.
I can't recall..when it didn't have a console, was the quadrant set inside the gauges, or was it attached to the top of the steering column?
Those Ford and Mopar panels you mention, I seem to recall had lots of circles for instruments and A/C vents, etc.--I like that look too.
Not a panel design per se, but I liked the smoked black trim panel outlined in gold pinstripe, used on the '77-79 Caprice Classic, above the glove box. I always thought if you took it off, it probably had "Impala" pressed into the hard plastic beneath, like the lower Impala had.
In addition to the '73-75 Grand Am, Pontiac also used the Grand Prix dash in the '75-77 Grand LeMans, which took over for the '73-74 Luxury LeMans. And they used it in the 1977.5 Can Am. In fact, when the molding used to make the spoiler on the Can Am broke, one deciding factor in canceling the car was the dashboard. The Grand Prix was more profitable, and every Can Am that sold meant one less Grand Prix dashboard. So, they decided to not bother making a new mold for the spoiler, and canned the Can Am.
Kind of a shame, IMO. The Can Am was a cool car. Heck, they should've just kept making them without the spoiler! Or simply revert back to the base LeMans dashboard.
Mopar's '77+ M-body Diplomat/LeBaron (and later Gran Fury and New Yorker/5th Ave) also had a nice dash design. It had sort of a driver-oriented cockpit shape, reminscent of the '73-87 GM pickups, and came standard with a temp and amp gauge. I don't know if you could get a factory oil pressure gauge, but the '89 Gran Fury copcar I had had an aftermarket one mounted low on the driver's side, away from the normal gauge cluster.
One down side to the M-body dash though, was that if you got a clock, it actually took away a chunk of the glovebox space! In later years, with digital radios that had the clock built in, that was no longer a problem.
(gigantor 72-76 T-Bird). I still remember that frowny steering wheel shape. I bet the silver things on the hubs are cruise control actuators, too, I remember those vividly, they were like rocker switches.
When my dad had a 60 Ford, he put a 9" rear end in it out of a 70-71 Ford that was being parted, I remember that car had the wraparound style dash too.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1970-1979-cadillac1.htm
1965 Pontiac Grand Prix:
http://www.pictures.musclecarjungle.com/pontiac/grand-prix/1965-pontiac-grand-pr- ix-interior.jpg.html
1964 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk:
http://photos.aaca.org/files/4/3/7/9/9/gt_hawk_dash.jpg
I also liked that silver trim insert on the door panels. The '71 was pretty classy...for the 70's. So naturally, they couldn't leave well enough alone, and had to pimp it up in later years.
Going back another decade into the 50's, I think the mid decade had some good looking interiors. In particular, I liked the 56 Ford, 54-56 DeSoto and the 55/56 Buick and Olds IP's. Toward the end of the 50's, I liked most everything about the 58 Pontiac for some reason that I can't put my finger on. And the 59 Chevy dash was kind of interesting for its time.
I wish there was more material out there on interiors really.
I like the '62 (I think) Chrysler dash that had the clear dome you mentioned. I like the '67 full-size Chevrolet panel too..huge round dials behind a clear cover.
Back to the '60's...I like the '61 Chevy dash (really, same as the '62), with the center glovebox. I hated on the '61's how the radio pushbuttons spelled out "Chevy" though. I love '61 Impalas but would have to find one with a non-pushbutton radio!
One thing I didn't like GM doing around that time and later, is their using the 'casket handle' style pull on the doors.
However. By 1985, the fake woodgrain had taken on a somewhat radioactive look that just didn't seem that pleasing to me. And, I always thought there was a lot of wasted space on the passenger side. They should have put the glovebox up higher in the dash, so it could have been larger. As it was, the glovebox was really tiny for a car this size.
Another beef I have with this dashboard is that, as far as I know at least, you could not get extra gauges with it, like you could on a Chevy, Pontiac, or Olds.
But, all that aside, it wouldn't keep me from bringing a nice LeSabre or Electra into my flock!
**Edit: one other thing I remember about my grandmother's LeSabre, is that the dash padding was a high quality stuff that had almost a leathery look to it. It never cracked, either. I've noticed that most cars that used this kind of stuff never did crack...the Mopar R-bodies used it as well. However, another variable might have been that the padding didn't go all the way to the windshield. there was a metal panel between the padding and the dashboard that you could pop off to get to the speakers, and possibly other things. So, that might have had something to do with it. On cars I've had where the padding went all the way to the windshield, like my '80 Malibu, '86 Monte Carlo, and '85 Silverado, they all cracked.
I think I know what you mean about the later 'woodgrain' on Buicks. If I'm remembering correctly, it resembled what Chevy used in '80-82 on Caprices and especially, Malibu Classics and Monte Carlos. A friend said it looked like 'brown paint when not stirred enough'. I agreed. In '83 on the Malibu and Montes, they started using a dark woodgrain that was rather flat in gloss, and used this on later Caprices too. I liked it much better than the earlier, shiny stuff.
You're right about cracked dashes...it's odd to not see a full-size Chevy, or Malibu or Monte Carlo, of the late '70's and early '80's without cracks on the top of the dash. Our '77 red dash never cracked in the 3+ years we owned it, but I knew a guy in college (I graduated in '80) with a '77 Caprice with black interior and it had a cracked dash at that point.