I have been thinking about this for awhile I found a dash in a salvage yard , its out of a 65ish chevy pickup but was thinking about putting it in my 51 chevy coupe has anyone ever done this . The 65s dash is about 2-3 inch wider so I would need to narrow it but I think it would look good and clean , any ideas would be nice , the dash was cut out of my car when I got it so I am thinking oputside the box.The picture is not the one in the salvage yard its out of another projectI am working on . So what do you guys think?
Sounds like a cool idea. I took a '54 Chevy car dash and narrowed it to fit my 46 Chevy truck. Took 4" out of the center and trimmed the ends to fit between the door jams/a-pillars. If you do it, be creative on the area(s) you remove. I removed the heater controls opening to keep the radio opening. You may need to take half out of each side between the radio/heater openings and the instruments and the glove box to keep symetry.
I was looking at narrowing it where the heater controls are it seems to be symetrical all the way across but on the dash I found its a standard shift and all thats there is a panel with the shift pattern .
I dunno, if I was going to all the work of swapping a dash, I'd want to end up with something wilder than a Chev pickup dash. Something like a '59 Chev panel, or a Corvette unit. Pickups are, well, pedestrian.
I don't think the truck dash would fit very well. Not enough meat in the top of it to make it work with the curve of the windshield of the '51 body. Additionally, the stock dash in your '51 is welded in and would have to be cut out. I found when I looked at doing this in my '50 that I would have to trim at least the left side of the dash before I narrowed anything because the dash I wanted to use has a lower cover over the column and you really can't move where the column fits - so the left edge has to be trimmed back. By then to keep it symmetrical I may as well narrow both sides and be done with it.
I put a 56 chevy car dash in a 46 chevy truck major work but well worth it. Look at a 59-60 Impala dash There cool . Good luck
Yea my dash was cut out when I bought the car and I found a nice pickup dash but would trade it for a impala dash
I put a 56 Chevy car dash ( with 55 trim) in my 52 Chevy truck. As was mentioned, lots of work, but well worth it in the end. It's my favorite part of the truck. My personal thoughts on what you mentioned, i'm not sure i would use the truck dash either. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just with the amount of work involved, i'd pick something a little more stylish. Again, thats just my 2 cents.. Best of luck. Tony
I have looked around just most things I find in my area are pretty rough but I am still looking its just the one I have found in my budget and the car has no dash now.
I don't think that truck dash is very attractive. one thought on narrowing a dash to fit, you may have to slice it in a few places to keep all the details of the original in the right spots.
Here's a few. Sphynx, i understand..Just keep on looking. I'm sure you will find one that will fill the hole the original one left, and be worth the work to install. I cut the ends off the dash and welded then to the doors so it would still have the wrap around look when closed up. Tony
Thanks. Yours looks real nice as well. And gloss black too. I think after all the cutting etc painting them gloss black is a gutsy move, but almost a must if it will work with the overall car. Sphynx, quick question. What era do you think your car will best fit in when you are finished? Just wondering. I've been thinking all day about what would look good, but without knowing the overall look your after it's tough. Meaning, i wouldn't suggest an early 60's style dash if your car is going to be pure 50's dig? Tony
Don't dp the '59 Chev dash, talk about overdone. Look at the 60-63 Chev truck dash, it has a little bit more style with the dual hoods. I took one out to put in my later truck as well. It'll be a neat swap.
I'm a dash swapin fool, but I like the dash in a 50 Chev car. 51 is cool too. This one is 54 Chev belair in my 50 Chev truck. I also put a 59 Impala dash dead center in my 49 truck. I think round goes with round... why not alter your stock dash?
For what it's worth, I shipped a '59 Chevy dash to a guy a while back and it cost about $60 by the time I wrapped it up in a couple layers of a refrigerator box with the speedo taken out and tucked under to make it a little smaller square and protect that. I think with care you can make your new dash unboltable by leaving a lip of the stock dash for it to screw into on the top and adding some brackets underneath. Which you want to keep the original defroster vents, I'm thinking.
A guy in the local Hudson club took a '65 Chevy pickup dash and put it in a '46 Hudson pickup. Quite honestly, it looks like shit! Looks way out of place in the Hudson pickup, which had a MUCH cooler dash in it from stock. My vote would be to find a better-looking dash than the Chevy unit.
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