Project Engine Turned Roadster Auburn Dash

Ah! After spending the last month in my garage making my dream car come true... And im still have shitloads od stuff left to do. Anyhow..

When I started this roadster project 12 years ago I dreamt of having a real Auburn 1930-33 dash and it was way out of my leage. An then I mean WAY out of my leage. I had just finnished my school and didnt have that much money even if I was working in norway at the time I spent most of my money on drinking beer.


During this winther I decided to rebuild my roadster as I really wanted it to be from the beginning but never had the time and money to do.

So you can see in january I took the  perfect patina frame from my 1932 roadster and straighten it up and and reriveted it to make it fit under my 1928 roadster.

With a new chassies I am rebuilding the driveline with a early Culver city quickchange in the rear and a 25 tooth tranny infront of a 4 1/8 stroker flathead V8.

But as I was thinking of the Auburn dash from my dreams way back....I went mad...I needed to get one.
And where the hell do you find a dash insert thats been popular for decades  adn priced way to high for what most men would pay for an gauge insert.

I spent 48 hours straight without sleep searching my contact net in USA and the second day I got a phone number to a guy who had a couple of them... I think he had 4 or 5 of them in his collection!

I sent a photo of my roadster project and told my story. I got a email back with some pics of a complete dash with all correct M&M gauges! 
It was a 1931 or early 1932 dash that has been in a hotrod at some point. Someone had welded soem holes shut in the bottom I suppose to have 7 holes. Mine only had 3! perfect fit for me.

I called the gentleman up about his gourgeous dash and after a loong phonecall we made a deal and he sent me the dash!

Now I had to figure out how to make this dash fit in my patina car..

I hade a small piece of plywood and I took my sad drawing skills  and tryed as best as I could to make a pattern for the dash.

Next step was to figure out what material..a steel dash or why not an aluminum?...or not an aluminum engine turned dash!

I didnt have a clue how to make the engine turned dash but I got some aluminum from a friend and I made a tool for the engine turning procedure. and the fucker worked perfectly for my plan.

It took me 4 nights after work to make a the 3000 engine turning rings.

Then I had to  make a wooden piece to make the bottom part of the dash  with all its curves.

Now it starts to look like a dash!

But its still alot to do here.
Next step was to make the dash insert fit...And I really didnt want to make any mistakes during this.
I spent way to mush time makeing that part of aluminum.
Alot of messuring and thinking before teh final cut!

Then I had to figure out where to put the Early Stewart Warner 8000 rpm tachometer and the hand fuel pump.

Now the sad part... loose my old dash..

this dash had an unusual 8000 SW tachometer aswell and a SW NOS 2 3/8 temp gauge in company of an early Scintilla airplane ignitionlock from the 30´s.

Now I could try out the new dash for the first time

Now it looks like a hotrod!
the steel dash rail above the new panel had the corners cut for the Halloc windshield so it was time to fix them to!

Next I had to get the 2 holes beside teh ignitionlock filled with something..I had an idea!

I used a Throttle and choke rods from a 1932 Ford. and both are now working..I got cruisecontroll on my hotrod now!

So today I took her out for the first time. let her feel the sun warm her up and let the new dash that took me a month to make sparkle!

Just enjoy the last pics of the art of a classic Auburn dash in a shitty old Ford!

Here is my new

view of the dash when im in the car.