woodgrain dashes

[Guest mhuffy]

I have noticed in more than one cars' pics, some have a wood grain dash and console instead of the black. Was this an option or is this an aftermarket thing. I do like the appearance that it gives. I was also wondering if it went all the way around, i.e., passenger side dash strip and on the doors?

Thanks,

Marc

[KDirk]

Marc,

The burled walnut pieces you have seen come from a Riviera dash/console. I believe that on the 88 & 89 the door panel trims (around the pull handle etc. and the seat control switches) were interchangeable in addition to the dash and console pieces. On the 90 and 91, only the dash can console trims could be swapped in, as the door panel pieces were shaped differently on the Riviera than the Reatta.

Hope this helps.

KDirk

[Guest F14CRAZY]

The Riviera had much of the same interior layout and offered it as an option. All pieces can be swapped over aside from one of them which I can't remember at the moment. I want to say that the door panels are different lengths

[Jim]

I have a set of the woodgrain panels available. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

[Guest steveskyhawk]

I have the woodgrain interchangeable Riviera parts for a 90 - 91 Reatta and a choice of woodgrain cubby box or CD bezel whichever you prefer. My driftwood car seems to look better with the woodgrain.

[Guest mhuffy]

Good information - Thanks. I think I need to add this to my after Christmas Wish List. I want to keep the 88 as original as I can, but the 90 is being used as a driver and some minor changes may be in order, i.e., sequential turn lights, wood trim, etc.

Happy Holidays.

Marc

[Guest kennyw]

It is quite a job to cut the piece that goes around the buttons for the glovebox, fog lights, etc on the 88 and 89. Once installed you will like the changes and be glad you made them. I would not keep the black unless my car was at least an 8. ken

[Guest mhuffy]

Kennyw: I am very new to this and sometimes ask stupid questions, but I hear people talk about a 3 and an 8 - is there some designation criteria for these grades? If so, where can I find it.

My 88 is freshly painted with pinstripe deleted; however, I have some detail work left to get rid of a little overspray. The rest is completely original and fully functional. What is left for improvement is a headliner that is just old and carpeting that was faded and stained. I ended up dying the carpets with an acid dye to a shade darker just to keep the same nap and style. I have the complete history of the car, the window sticker, and manuals along with the dealer brochure and promo car sealed in the box. It has 74,000 miles and albiet not perfect, it is just a nice car. I changed the rims, but I have kept the originals.

How do I rate my car?

[DAVES89]

With Pride

[padgett]

Actually it is 1-6 (used to be 1-5 but I added 6, just ask John G.)

1) Absolutely perfect. Not driven. Has baggies on the tires when pushed onto the show field. Has embossed plug wires, not silkscreened.

2) National show winner. Cannot be told on the street from a #1 except you won't see a #1 on the street.

3) Very nice but can be driven. Might have Michelins instead of Goodyears & SilverStars. Eminently presentable and will win local shows. Everything works.

4) Daily driver. 20-20 car. Paint may be tired but still presentable. Everything important works.

5) Still together but a lot of miles and shows it. Will be at the back of a car lot. Duct tape and baling wire present but can probably be driven. Repairs with WEH (whatever is handy). Had an oil change in the last century.

6) Worth more as parts than as a car. May be missing essential pieces (like a title or an engine). You would pay more to leave what you don't want.

In general it is reasonable for an amateur to be able to upgrade any car one class. Two is possible with large infusions of cash. Three is not unless you have access to a professional restoration shop and are willing to take years getting it right and you really Really, REALLY want to.

[Guest mhuffy]

Again, I learned something - My 88 I would classify as a 3 and my 90 as a 4. Great.

Thanks,

Marc

[Guest kennyw]

Yah:> what paddget said. I usually grade everything from 1 to 10. I am not into the judging contests. I don't need another trophy to dust even if my car was that nice. Mine can hardly be called a driver. I did do a lot of work on it in the day. Changed the dash to wood, etc. I have owned it so long that the 2nd headliner now needs replacing. The car needs paint and is not worth the cost. Still rare enough not to junk or give away. Years ago Padgett stopped by and we changed the crank sensor. I am now on the third one. Now that you know the judging numbers where do you rate your Reatta? ken

[Guest smith356]

I don't like the burled look. My preference would be a light walnut grain. Anyone have any ideas on how to turn the black panels into walnut - faux paint, contact paper, etc ????

[Guest Mc_Reatta]

I think they're all flat, so you could use contact adheasive and put your choice of formica on them. Think of it, a faux marble dash!

[KDirk]

I am not a big fan of the burled walnut look either. First, to me it looks dated, and not in a good way (but in a GM 1980's way) and second, the quality of the finish just looks cheap. If it were glossy it might look better, but then this is just my opinion. GM could have done much better on this, and if they had I likely woudln't be so critical.

That said, American Stitches (or now know as Craft Customs I believe) offers a service in which they vacuum form a laminate film over any existing metal or plastic interior piece. Options are available in a bunch of woodgrain patterns (Walnut, maple zebrano, burled, birdseye, etc.) and also carbon fiber look. Apparently they can also tint these "films" to color match existing pieces or any other sample you provide.

I checked into this for my car and it is not cheap. May be worth doing if your existing pieces have damaged finish and you really want something different, but for clean stock trim (which I have) I will probably pass at least until I have the money to burn; and that may be a long time given current economic realities. I'd rather put the $400+ towards other work on my car or even another Reatta than an interior trim dress up.

Anyway, you may want to check that out, the process they use looks really good - at least on screen - and would easily look better than the GM plastic walnut IMHO.

KDirk

[DAVES89]

I think it depends on your interior color. I have one car with a tan interior, that one looks good. The dark gray interior? Not so good.

[Guest mhuffy]

Mine is the tan. I think it would look good. Not something going to happen right now, but definitely a consideration for the future.

[wws944]

When we were reconstructing our house last year, our interior designer cautioned us against buying things that "looked like something else". In other words, various interior pieces should stand on their own natural beauty. While she was talking about things like flooring, tile, counter tops, and cabinetry, I think the same applies to car interiors. It is either wood or it isn't. It is carbon fiber or it isn't. It is leather or it isn't. And so on.

So I have a philosophical problem with plastic wood in general. It looks good from a distance, but it ain't the real thing. That said, plastics certainly have their place. They can be molded into just about any shape one can think of. And a good designer can do very beautiful things with plastics which allow them to stand on their own.

OTOH, as Kevin noted, plastic wood is pretty endemic to '80s and '90s Buicks...

[Guest steveskyhawk]

I like the woodgrain in my driftwood coupe but wouldn't think of it in the black/grey car or the convertibles. It can be switched back to original in 15 minutes if I hurry.

Kevin, what does American stiches do about the fake chrome around the edges if the give a bezel the woodgrain treatment?

[KDirk]

Steve,

I believe they have some type of masking process that can be used to work around the issue of the chrome edging on the pieces in the 90/91 interiors. I may not have understood the whole setup correctly, as I had a brief phone call with them about it about a year ago now. I do know they can do irregularly angled/curved pieces and ones with multiple openings (for handles, switches, etc.). Good for the IPC, cubby and console trims if you are so inclined.

For the 88/89 trim with the "chrome" outline in the surface of the trim panel, the process they offer would simply cover it up.

As wws944 aptly pointed out, there is nothing like the real thing. It bugs me that GM did not offer real wood trim at least as an option on the Reatta. It was a luxury car after all, and yet it almost unheard of for any GM product - even Cadillac - to have real wood interior trim offered optionally, much less standard until the mid 1990's.

My 95 Deville came with the sickliest looking light canyon wood plastic trim I'd ever seen (it was a Spring Special trim package). I found a wrecked 1995 Deville Concours [the uplevel model] with real zebrano wood trim, bought it all and put it in my car. The difference was stunning in how much more quality it brought to the interior appearance.

The Eldorado and Seville had real wood standard starting in 92 or 93 I believe. Prior to that, the only GM car I know of that had real wood was the FWD C-body Fleetwood/Sixty Special which were uplevel versions of the Sedan Deville. I think they offered American walnut (and possibly Cherry wood some years) from 86-93. No Buick I have ever seen prior to the latest image makeover (LaCrosse, Lucerne & Enclave) had real wood trim in it.

KDirk

[Guest Richard D]

My Mom bought a 1992 Pontiac Bonnivlle SSEI fully loaded after hurricane Andrew with heads- up display, zillion way seats that you could not find a comfortable position and fake wood dash that looked cheaper that an AMC mid 70's car. AMAZING