Covan dash panels ?

[Tim Baillie]

Has anyone actually used one of these ?

I just got in the black 6 hole with no gauges panel in today for this 69 Camaro we are building..................WOW.............

$249 for that flimsy piece of junk ABS ? I mean I could live with it if it was smooth like the silver or carbon fiber one but that cheap ABS grain on it........not even a OEM looking grain or a grain like the Autometer a-pillar pods...........

The customer took one look at it and was pissed, said there was no way he wanted that in his car.......

SO.....now I either buy another one in silver and paint it black or I have to go another route........

Not impressed...........

$79 or $99 I would have been ok, but not $249.......

[trapin]

I'm using the carbon fiber gauge pod panel for use where the radio and climate controls normally would go. You got me worried now, I hope it looks nice. I've seen the carbon fiber one for the speedo and tach and thought it looked great. But that was for the '68 Camaro.

[67ragtp]

Tim,

Check out DSE, they have a 69 Dash insert, you cut the holes for the size guages of your choice.

I spoke with one of the development engineers from Autometer while attending SEMA. He just happened to have a prototype guage cluster with him and showed it to me. It was for a 67-68 and it was nice quality. I believe he said he had a 69, although I dont know when there scheduled for release.

Rich

[Vegas69]

I really didn't want to spend the money on the DSE piece but the spread between Covans and DSE just wasn't enough to weasel out of the money.

[dhutton]

I think the part cost is high because the tooling to make them costs tens of thousands of dollars. The cost of the actual part is low but you have to pay for the tooling and the volume of parts sold is low. There is no way around it. A lot of parts need to be sold before you can even break even on the cost of the tooling. The more complex the part, the more expensive the tooling will be.

Don

[BC69]

I like mine! And I thought at the time the price was a steal compared to other options.

[Tim Baillie]

Originally Posted by dhutton

I think the part cost is high because the tooling to make them costs tens of thousands of dollars. The cost of the actual part is low but you have to pay for the tooling and the volume of parts sold is low. There is no way around it. A lot of parts need to be sold before you can even break even on the cost of the tooling. The more complex the part, the more expensive the tooling will be.

Don

True, except that it's just vacum molded over a modified OEM piece, it doesn't take much.

I live the red one, I'm just mad about the ABS texture on it.....the silver and the carbon fiber have a vacum formed vinyl overlay on them and it's the same price as the none finished ones....