Re: 76 Laguna parked in 2002

by jpowen49 Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:09 pm

My 76 Laguna S3 was about 10 years old when the dash pad cracked through the speaker grill and center ac vents. The summers in Alabama can be real hot. Even back then Laguna parts were hard to find. With no internet you had to look mostly at local gunk yards. One day I was looking in a gunk yard about 15 miles away , I found a good dash pad in a 4 door Malibu. I asked at the office what would it cost if I took it out. They laughed and said
" you take it out and you can have it for 10 dollars, if you mass it up you still got to buy it." Hell yea !

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3411

I have had it ever since waiting for the time to put it in the car. Hopefully it won`t be to much longer.

by 77camino Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:05 pm

Wow! What an amazing score for $10. My dad’s 77 El Camino’s dash cracked around 1980. He went to Chevy to inquire about a new dash. At that time they told him a couple hundred to put in a new dash but he would be back in a couple of years for another new one because the replacement would crack also. He decided that it was a waste of money to replace it and have it happen again. Although my El Camino rarely leaves the garage, I’m always as careful as possible to keep it out of the extreme heat. I will even put a reflective sunshade up at some car shows to repel the heat.

by Mitchell Murphy Mon Apr 17, 2023 5:49 pm

Looking at the dash pad, is it a 73 one with the three holes on the passenger side? The 1974 thru 1977 had the insert square on the passenger side, This one doesnt have one, is this a coverlay cap? Never seen one without the emblem insert. Thank You

by jpowen49 Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:00 pm

Mitchell Murphy wrote:Looking at the dash pad, is it a 73 one with the three holes on the passenger side? The 1974 thru 1977 had the insert square on the passenger side, This one doesnt have one, is this a coverlay cap? Never seen one without the emblem insert. Thank You

This is the upper dash . I just bought the top didn`t need the lower. Took about three hours to get it out. Had to go slow since I didn`t know what I was doing. The emblem on the right was (Malibu) the best I remember. I cut a small peace of walnut and cut an inlay on the back, epoxied the malibu emblem in. I then epoxied a type S3 emblem to the front. I found the S3 emblem on a door panel someone had pipped off a door and threw it in the back seat.

Dash pad attached to my original lower dash and redyed

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3510

Pictures of the dash emblem I made.

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 Dash_p11

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 Dash_p10

My original emblem

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 Thumbn72

by jpowen49 Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:14 pm

A few more pictures of the dash

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3511

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3512

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3513

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3514

by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Tue Apr 18, 2023 11:09 am

Dash is looking good Jerry! What paint did you use to dye it?

by jpowen49 Tue Apr 18, 2023 5:25 pm

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3516

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3515

Dupli-color- medium blue

I painted everything, dash, console , door panels ,trim, everything plastic.

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3518

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 100_3517

by crice63 Thu Apr 20, 2023 10:15 pm

Great work on the dash paint and on the emblem. To answer Mitchell's question, this is a one-year style of emblem. It attaches through the holes and sits a little above the level of the surface. It's a plastic frame with a thin embossed aluminum insert glued in it. I have been wanting to make my own as well, since the dash I got was out of a laguna and going in an el camino. I kept thinking I would try to print something that would fit in the frame but your idea is great!

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 Laguna10

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 Laguna11

by jpowen49 Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:34 am

Thank you crice63, I wish I had paid more attention to the year and model of the Malibu the dash came out of. The day I found it (1986) was about 98 degrees and all I had on my mind was a dash with no cracks.
Good luck with your El camino .

by jpowen49 Fri Jun 02, 2023 4:13 pm

Painted my bolt on parts and tail panel the other day. Wife sad that blue paint with white stripes sure is going to stand out and draw a lot of attention going down the road. I said, and the loud mufflers gona make it worse.

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 Thumbn75

76 Laguna parked in 2002 - Page 6 Thumbn74

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