what type on wood on dash?

[mike alain]

Hi, going to replace the wood  veneer  on dash,  what type is it,  any hints , thanks Mike.

[NG5]

Although lotus in their ads always referred to it as a veneered dash, I've always thought it was just varnished birch ply (which strictly speaking is veneered, as its made up of veneered layers!)

Certainly it's not a high quality veneer. Many people when they redo the dash do it in Walnut or Teak, but they were never original.

[JeffS]

I think it might be Teak. I did mine recently. Bought from SJ sportscars. Very happy with it. Walnut ones are also available, but dont think they were ever fitted by Lotus.

[OliverEuropaTC]

Hi, here is a possibility : use the existing dashboard as a model, take some plywood, then glue a thin veneer and varnish  (here 5 times).

[Chillidoggy]

Looks like burr walnut to me.

[Elite 4.9]

Hi Mike,

 You didn't say what car you have. Elans used walnut and on the early Esprits, they used the same as I did a number of years earlier and that is Carpeatheum Elm burl which is more figurative than walnut burl ( all Jaguars and many Mercedes cars used walnut burl ) and a bit cheaper as well.

Check out my albums here to see what it looks like. I just glued a thin veneer over all my parts, (dash, door panels and counsel )  and used a Urethane automotive clear finish ( 4 coats sanding between each coat ) which has uv inhibitors helping it last longer in the sun. Don't use a lacquer finish as it will crack in time but almost any type of urethane clear finish will work much better and look great. Also another great finish is Waterlux which is a natural tung oil with synthetic driers which is now my go to finish on all my woodworking projects including gunstocks.  Can't be beat IMHO.

Bubinga is more beautiful and an option on Rolls Royce cars. My favorite wood for figure, color and beauty not to mention it is very dense and hard but in veneer form, easy to use.

Richard

[Jim Estall]

Lotus used a straight grain dashboard on the Europa all the way through production up until the very late Specials which had a burr walnut finished.  Elans also had a straight grain finish (never walnut).  The +2 had various versions of a burr walnut finish.

[NG5]

@Jim Estall

That was my understanding too. I've also never seen any lotus advert claiming the straight grain dashboards to be anything other than "wood"

I've thought for a long time that the straight grain dashboards were simply reasonable quality standard plywood, not any special veneer, just heavily varnished. Possibly Beech ply. But that is only an assumption from studying my original dash. Happy to be corrected. I currently have a burr walnut dash, because it looks nicer and my original had badly cracked, but it's definitely not original!

The aftermarket Teak and Walnut dashboards currently on sale don't look at all like the original ones which were quite a light coloured wood.

[pete]

On 19/03/2023 at 02:00, Elite 4.9 said:

Hi Mike,

 You didn't say what car you have. Elans used walnut and on the early Esprits, they used the same as I did a number of years earlier and that is Carpeatheum Elm burl which is more figurative than walnut burl ( all Jaguars and many Mercedes cars used walnut burl ) and a bit cheaper as well.

Check out my albums here to see what it looks like. I just glued a thin veneer over all my parts, (dash, door panels and counsel )  and used a Urethane automotive clear finish ( 4 coats sanding between each coat ) which has uv inhibitors helping it last longer in the sun. Don't use a lacquer finish as it will crack in time but almost any type of urethane clear finish will work much better and look great. Also another great finish is Waterlux which is a natural tung oil with synthetic driers which is now my go to finish on all my woodworking projects including gunstocks.  Can't be beat IMHO.

Bubinga is more beautiful and an option on Rolls Royce cars. My favorite wood for figure, color and beauty not to mention it is very dense and hard but in veneer form, easy to use.

Richard

over here it is carpathian burl elm which is the burl form of english elm

[NG5]

Decided to look back through my files of old articles and brochures to see if I could find any contemporary photos showing the dashboard. With modern photos, so many people have changed or restored their dashboards it's almost impossible to know what is and what is not original. Sadly as we are talking 1960's and early 70's almost all photos are in black and white and quite low quality, which doesn't help much. The few colour shots are almost all of the exterior.

I wasn't able to find any contemporary colour shots of the europa dashboard, but I did find this from a 1971 Motor Trend magazine showing the straight grain dash in the elan and the burr walnut in the elan +2. Most europas should be similar to the elan. Not sure of the accuracy of the colour though...