1968 steel dashboard - can anyone confirm?

[AHS]

This is one for the historians. I still have this dashboard, which I pulled from a car I stripped for parts a long time ago that I know was a 1968 on the title. I also know the engine number was 12CD-D-H1980, which is an early 1968 code, but long after the first weeks of production. I have no record of the car's serial number. All the 1968's I've seen since have the padded dashboard. Can anyone confirm if early 1968's were made with steel dashboards?

A few interesting things to note are the 6000RPM redline tachometer, which is not the same item as a 1967. Also the switch near where the oil pressure/temperature gauge goes has a Lucas style bat but is not a Lucas switch. The hole is not recessed like the other switch holes. Is this the 4-way flasher as required in 1968 USA cars? There is also a metal panel on the lower right containing a large red light and a rotary switch. That panel also has the fake wood grain stickers you see between the speedometer & tachometer. Could this be the 4-way flasher?

I'm just curious as I've been told all 1968 US cars had padded dashes. Thanks.

 

[Gerard]

Not likely a US import car if it was built in '68. The padded dash was a change made in November '67, but it's not unusual for a '67 model to be registered as a '68 since these cars were dated by year registered, not year made. The 12CD engine number is low enough to have possibly been installed in a '67 built car. You'd really need the chassis number to flesh that out with any certainty.

 

[AHS]

Thanks Gerard. Do you have any reference that shows the 12CD engine used in 1967? I've been digging and I can't find much to correlate the engine change to a chassis number. Perhaps it will remain a mystery, unless there are any early 1968 owners out there that can say which dash they have.

 

[Gerard]

Thanks Gerard. Do you have any reference that shows the 12CD engine used in 1967? I've been digging and I can't find much to correlate the engine change to a chassis number. Perhaps it will remain a mystery, unless there are any early 1968 owners out there that can say which dash they have.

Yes, all can be found in Original Sprite and Midget, by Terry Horler.

Horler states on page 100 "From November 1967, North American engines were equipped with emission controlled engines which were prefixed 12CD. Again, the engine numbering sequence began at 101 for both 12CE and 12CD.

The 12CE and 12CD engines were painted in lighter shade of green with a hammer finish"


Pg. 95: The basic dashboard and instrument layout continued unchanged for all right hand drive HAN9/GAN4 models and early left hand drive ones, although the instruments were subject to revisions.

Pg 115 "PRODUCTION CHANGES

CHANGES BY CHASSIS NUMBER

HAN9-72034, GAN4-60441 (Nov 67)

First special North American specification versions with emission control engine. Padded fascia with revised instrumentation and controls..."


What color is the paint on your engine? What are you door tag numbers (inside A pillar)?