1964 Barracuda Dashboard Switch Bezels without transmission pushbuttons

[briansb71]

Greetings all,

Work and planning is underway to bring back my recently rescued ‘64 Barracuda. The car was originally a 273 and a pushbutton AT but now has a couple of wide open spaces where they use to live. The plan is to run a newer (post 1967) 225 and 904 as cheap replacements. Obviously, a newer 904 mean goodbye pushbuttons and hello floor shifter. I know they are (were) cables being made to adapt the buttons to the newer 904s, but that is just not in the budget. My concern is I have not been able to locate the switch bezel (to the left of the steering wheel; on the dash) that is blank (where the shifter pushbuttons would have lived) for the manual transmission models. I see reproductions and good used bezel WITH pushbuttons all over the place, but I have been on the lookout for a “blank” bezel for a few months now and found zip. I can just grind down the areas on the raised areas around the buttons and park lever on the pushbutton bezel I have now with a dremel tool then cut out a thin piece of ABS plastic sheeting with a pebble textured surface, glue it over the pushbutton area, and paint the whole thing with chrome paint if I have to, but I would like to run down the correct cover if they are still reasonably priced. Now, back in the late 1980-early 1990s when I was a dumb teenager and ‘64 Valiants were not an uncommon discovery in junkyards, I used to see 3 speed ‘64 Valiants with these bezels regularly. Nobody had any use for them back then and I am sure I could have grabbed all I could find back then for somewhere between free and a few dollars! But, those days are long past and so now, are these bezels a rare item or am I just out of luck in searching so far? How much is reasonable to pay for a decent used one; probably with bad chrome plate on the plastic, since that’s just the way the used dash covers are these days?

 

[Syleng1]

Just find a junk yard piece form a 64 with manual shift. Also, you do not have to do floor shift for the auto- you can go column shift if you find a car 65 or 66.

 

[toolmanmike]

Greetings all,

Work and planning is underway to bring back my recently rescued ‘64 Barracuda. The car was originally a 273 and a pushbutton AT but now has a couple of wide open spaces where they use to live. The plan is to run a newer (post 1967) 225 and 904 as cheap replacements. Obviously, a newer 904 mean goodbye pushbuttons and hello floor shifter. I know they are (were) cables being made to adapt the buttons to the newer 904s, but that is just not in the budget. My concern is I have not been able to locate the switch bezel (to the left of the steering wheel; on the dash) that is blank (where the shifter pushbuttons would have lived) for the manual transmission models. I see reproductions and good used bezel WITH pushbuttons all over the place, but I have been on the lookout for a “blank” bezel for a few months now and found zip. I can just grind down the areas on the raised areas around the buttons and park lever on the pushbutton bezel I have now with a dremel tool then cut out a thin piece of ABS plastic sheeting with a pebble textured surface, glue it over the pushbutton area, and paint the whole thing with chrome paint if I have to, but I would like to run down the correct cover if they are still reasonably priced. Now, back in the late 1980-early 1990s when I was a dumb teenager and ‘64 Valiants were not an uncommon discovery in junkyards, I used to see 3 speed ‘64 Valiants with these bezels regularly. Nobody had any use for them back then and I am sure I could have grabbed all I could find back then for somewhere between free and a few dollars! But, those days are long past and so now, are these bezels a rare item or am I just out of luck in searching so far? How much is reasonable to pay for a decent used one; probably with bad chrome plate on the plastic, since that’s just the way the used dash covers are these days?

View attachment 1716279048

Have you tried a parts wanted thread here on the site?

 

[briansb71]

Just find a junk yard piece form a 64 with manual shift. Also, you do not have to do floor shift for the auto- you can go column shift if you find a car 65 or 66.

Yeah, that was my point; I have not been able to locate either a junkyard or parts car that had the bezel nor have I been successfully in just finding the part on eBay, Marketplace, on here, etc. thus I am here asking if this has become a difficult part to find?

I think I have located a used 904 that will include a good aftermarket cable floor shifter, so that would be perfect. I really prefer a floor shift to a column shift, even aftermarket. The ‘65s still had cables with a column shift automatic anyway.

Unfortunately, I live in an area with a fairly soft “car culture” (I’d move but my wife likes it here and won’t leave) so my parts are typically found outside my area. Maybe someone will wonder onto this thread that has a few of these bezels in their hoard with no plans to use?

 

[bcschief]

Interesting side note in 63 valiant the dash is different for pushbutton verses 3 on the tree. I would suspect that the Dart is the same. They corrected that for 64 with that left cover plate.

 

[toolmanmike]

Yeah, that was my point; I have not been able to locate either a junkyard or parts car that had the bezel nor have I been successfully in just finding the part on eBay, Marketplace, on here, etc. thus I am here asking if this has become a difficult part to find?

I think I have located a used 904 that will include a good aftermarket cable floor shifter, so that would be perfect. I really prefer a floor shift to a column shift, even aftermarket. The ‘65s still had cables with a column shift automatic anyway.

Unfortunately, I live in an area with a fairly soft “car culture” (I’d move but my wife likes it here and won’t leave) so my parts are typically found outside my area. Maybe someone will wonder onto this thread that has a few of these bezels in their hoard with no plans to use?

You didn't read post #3. We ask for parts in a Parts Wanted thread and not in general forum threads.

 

[briansb71]

Interesting side note in 63 valiant the dash is different for pushbutton verses 3 on the tree. I would suspect that the Dart is the same. They corrected that for 64 with that left cover plate.

Unfortunately, the ‘64 Dart and Barracuda used a different instrument panel and the bezels do not interchange.

 

[briansb71]

You didn't read post #3. We ask for parts in a Parts Wanted thread and not in general forum threads.

I thought this was a fairly general question concerning if a part was hard to find or not, but if you want to move this elsewhere then go for it. If you don’t want me on here, or you don’t like where I ask questions, then delete my account. I’d prefer any of it to being slapped by the rule keeper over silly technicalities.