Well, like I said, I wasn't arguing about the looks, or in favor of swapping
out dashes in general. I was merely pointing out that in the period
1962-1967, the classic sports car dashboard consisted of a flat panel of
metal or wood, with multiple gauges and switches, possibly with some sort of
cowl around the main instruments. You can call it anachronistic if you like,
but the fact remains that that is what they ALL looked like -- not plastic,
not padded. You seem to be looking at it from the perspective of being more
familiar or comfortable with plastic, padded dashboards, but that is 20/20
hindsight -- in 1968 the pillow was a shocking innovation by all accounts --
it wasn't just "catching up" to contemporary trends, as you seem to think.
MG was no more conservative in this than the other British marques, or FIAT,
Mercedes-Benz, Datsun, or others.
It's fine that you like it, I'm not contesting your opinion. I'm contesting
your characterization of the original dash as being somehow old-fashioned,
when in fact it was completely in sync with contemporary practice. It is
only from the perspective of decades that it appears quaint. Saying the
pillow dash is more appropriate to the design of the MGB strikes me like
saying a small diameter, thick rimmed, black spoke steering wheel is more
appropriate to the style of the MGB -- it's fine if you like the look, but
the statement has no historical validity... unless you believe the body
styling of the MGB was years ahead of its time.
on 5/23/03 9:24 AM, David Breneman at idcb@airborne.com wrote:
> Max Heim SEZ -
>> Well, everyone is entitled to an opinion <g>, but I guess you weren't around
>> in the 60s when metal dashes were the norm. I would have to describe your
>> statement as essentially inaccurate.
>
> Oh, I was around in the 60s alright. Even though I wasn't old enough
> to drive.
>
>> Certainly in 1962 "sheet metal punched
>> full of holes" was standard in sports cars that didn't rate the full wood
>> treatment, and there wasn't any third option (outside of Detroit plastic
>> fantasies). And in 1968 I had certainly never seen anything that remotely
>> resembled the "Abingdon pillow", and I didn't see anything like it again
>> until air bags became mandatory.
>
> Certainly aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder, and I didn't
> write what I did to try to convince anybody to change his mind, but
> I will maintain that the early MGB dash looked anachronistic and
> the later dash was refreshingly modernistic in comparison.
>
>> But industrial design history (and
>> esthetics) aside, a major objection to that dash style is the absence of a
>> lockable storage compartment, necessary in an open car.
>
> It's called the trunk! :-) It would have been possible to make a
> drop-down glove compartment under the dash but it would have taken
> space away from the radio speaker. Personally, I don't think any
> glove compartment would be much of a deterrent to a thief with the
> desire to ransack your car. They are all pretty easy to pop open
> with a big enough screw driver, and the fact that it was locked
> would probably only encourage them. But I *still* like the look of
> that interior. My first car was a 1968 MGB and if I was to buy
> another B I'd be looking for a 68-70 model, one that hadn't had the
> interior butchered. I'm a preservationist at heart so I'd be
> looking for a car that's as stock as possible anyway.
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires
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