By Jim McGowan

Just Dashes is always happy when magazine editors drop by to talk restoration projects and bench race about their favorite cars. Recently, Dick DeLoach, senior technical editor of Lowrider Magazine and Ron Aguirre, a well-known southern California car builder and customizer, visited us. The project involved restoring a dash pad for Ron's exquisite '72 Ranchero GT and Dick covering the process for an upcoming issue of Lowrider. Working with these two professionals was a real treat. Ron has built cars that have appeared in Car Craft and Hot Rod, and is one of the first radical customizers from the So Cal area. He built the original bubble top X-SONIC 1957 Corvette and many other outstanding customs. The Ranchero GT is his latest creation and will appear in a Lowrider vehicle feature sometime this year, with our dash pad of course! Dick has been around the automotive publishing business for many years and followed along shooting pictures as the procedure unfolded. He echoed the sentiments of most people, as they watch the Thermo Vacuuming Process, with an emphatic..Wow! Now that's cool! The Ranchero pad was stripped of the old vinyl and recovered with a layer of high density, closed-cell foam and then re-skinned with a new layer of state-of-the-art vinyl in the correct Sierra grain. Since the Ranchero GT is having a custom interior stitched, Just Dashes dyed the pad a hue of tan to match Ron's color sample. We enjoyed meeting both Dick and Ron, and as it turned out they were so impressed with the procedure and results, we will be working with them in the future on some other exciting projects.

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After the dash pad restoration was completed, the trio (from L to R- Dick DeLoach, Irwin Tessler, Ron Aguirre) visited the eclectic Just Dashes automotive collection.

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During the visit Dick, seen here questioning Irwin, took many photos and notes on how the restoration process was invented and perfected. Most visitors are surprised at how labor intensive the procedure really is.

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Irwin (at left), owner of Just Dashes, explains the way the Thermo Vacuum Forming machine works. Major rolls of vinyl are consumed each month turning out concours quality restorations.

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Here is the Ranchero GT dash just as the heated vinyl is being applied. Once the vacuum has done its work, the material is cooled with wet sponges and removed for the hand finishing process.

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Ron was very pleased with the finished product shown here in the Just Dashes showroom. We are looking forward to working with Ron on future interior restoration projects.

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