Speaker delete?

[franticfam]

1970 2800CS
I am inspecting my car prior to tear down and most of the pictures I see have a speaker grille in the center of the dash whereas mine does not. It is also clear that mine are not the first hands to touch this car so anything is possible. Thoughts?

 

[mark99]

Does the wood grain and finish look original?
Photo?
My guess is that it was redone

 

[jmackro]

My guess is that it was redone

Redone, yes. I don't think "speaker delete" was an option back in the day. Wood suppliers, like Madera Concepts, do offer the option of not cutting a speaker opening. Here's a photo from their website:

 

[autokunst]

Unrelated to the original posters question, just wanted to comment that this is a beautiful example of book matched, figured wood. Not original - but beautiful in its own right.

 

[franticfam]

Thanks guys. It looks like someone just glued some veneer over the existing. The dash pad also has some stitched leather covering which is clearly not original and probably done at the same time. I suspect it will be a year or two before I need a newdash considering the rust I am likely to find. Thanks again

 

[rsporsche]

it is totally possible to fill the opening of the speaker ... sand it smooth and veneer it. Gary (M5bb) did his that way ... you cannot tell there was a hole their previously. the highly figured wood from Madera is pretty and obviously well done. i would like to see a pic of it in a coupe ... almost looks too fancy for me. and this is coming from somebody who used a pretty highly figured wood.