Hi, first of all I have to say that I love this project. My first car was a 61 Mercury Monterey convertible that I totally restored, and I also restored a Monterey 2d ht many years ago in the same color as yours. So I think I can say I know these cars pretty good. One thing I wonder about is the clear coat on the gold dash parts, the factory used a semi gloss paint, or almost flat. It is not easy to see in the pictures, but it looks like you have used a clear coat on your dash with more shine to it or is it just that the pictures were shot before the clear had time to cure?