Pure car restoration porn! I made door and dash inserts using 1.0mm aluminium and regular walnut veneer. I had some burr walnut but IMHO a P6 isn't a luxury car and the regular veneer looked more appropriate.
It's more difficult than you might think. Firstly, you need a lot more glue to secure different materials together, otherwise the veneer will lift locally. You need to get the dash piece bent to the right curvature before you laquer it or it'll crack. This makes polishing for a gloss finish very difficult. The door pieces also must have complete coverage, otherwise and water through the window will ruin it.
Ultimately, I put the Formica strips back. They are part of the forward-thinking ethos of the car. Formica or other laminates were not seen as "cheap" at the time, they were seen as modern, durable and easy to maintain. Whereas wood was old school. Remember at the time you had wood, metal, leather or painted, the market was not yet familiar with a lump of plastic.
Bit of rebuttle for you Peter.
Im not a purist when it comes to classic cars. I also like to personalise in a subtle way. Im not into racing stripes or loads of chrome.
From the day I bought my P6 , and that was in 1972, Ive never liked the "Plasticised" interior.
I ummed and erred for months over purchasing a Mercedes Benz or the Rover. All the P6 plastic was giving me nightmares. Long story short -P6 won. The P6 looked like nothing else on the road except for maybe the triumph 2000
The "porn" has been in place around 8 years now. No delaminating from the metal backing or cracking has occurred .
If I had water getting between the metal and walnut veneer , I would be asking WTF was happening somewhere else.
The glue I used was bog standard PVA wood glue. Sticks like shit to a blanket . Doesnt shrink or bubble.
The gloss top coat was a two pot , pour on proprietry lacquer as used in the furnature industry. No need to polish it after drying as it came out of the bottle in its high gloss finish.
Yes the dash piece was difficult. I shaped and bent the metal to fit the dash before I PVA glued the veneer using abundant small wood working clamps.
Lacquering the dash piece was quite demanding. During the drying process I had to move the piece to a different angle to avoid pooling. Im not 100% happy with the dash. But one day when Im bored shitless , I redo it.
Ive still got all the formica pieces I can use as templates should an accident occur.
I tried doing the tunnel console in walnut veneer , but was a failure due to all the different angles. Thats why I was deighted when I saw "Oldboys" NADA upholstery matched one.
Otherwise I feel cossetted while Im driving.