If you are anything like us, you'd rather be spending time behind the wheel of your beloved Chevy than just about anywhere else. Therefore, it only makes sense to make that experience as pleasurable as possible. Our primary focus while we're driving is directed at what we are coming up on in the road and what the others on the road are doing. But our secondary focus is most often directed towards the dash, whether to monitor the gauges to keep track of the engine's vitals, tune the stereo, or adjust the climate controls. The dash is the part of our car we look at the most and should be in as good, if not better, shape than the rest of the car.
We see a lot of behind-the-wheel time in our Monte Carlo as we drive it to work nearly everyday, sitting in the SoCal traffic, and it was getting quite evident that the dash was showing its age. Although the dash pad was in good shape, 30 years of use had worn through most of the factory chrome highlights, and the A/C vents no longer pointed in the same direction.
A restoration was in order, and we knew just where to turn for the pieces we needed. We grabbed our Year One catalog and found everything required to return our dash to better-than-new status.They were able to supply us with new A/C vents and ducts, a blower switch, dash knobs, and a control panel bezel.
While we were at it, we knew we couldn't slap the original cracked and wrapped steering wheel back on, so we ordered a new one from LeCarra that would fit the theme we wanted and would be in style for years to come.
The job took about a week with one person working a few hours a day after work and shouldn't be beyond the skills of any do-it-yourselfer.