63-66 dash pad

Seriously, the pad is perfect given the fact that it is 50 years old. Is the original color gold? I have a 66 Dart with a black plastic shell cover at this time. How did you remove this? My original cracked gold pad is still in place since I was afraid brute strength was not the solution to removing it. Some direction on how to remove and replace the pad and I am interested in this part.