With all the failing that has been going on since I dismantled the dash, I felt it was high time for some easy wins.

When ordering the new padded dash, I added a few other parts as well.

My ash tray face doesn’t have the shift pattern printed on it, as I have seen in lots of pictures online and in the original owner’s manual. It’s also missing one of the press nut/washers that holds the plastic face to the actual ash tray. Someone had smeared RTV or something in there to glue the old one on.

The black paint is all chipping away off the spring mechanism and that’s certainly something I can rectify.

Or at least I could if I wasn’t still making silly string from yet another can of Dupli-Color 1634 engine black…

OK, maybe not an actual win, but it will look better once mounted in the car with the ash tray closed.

It’s not dead, just sleeping.

Anyway, next up we have a new, more Beetle-y looking gas cap.

This has a nice rubber gasket. The one that was in there originally had a paper gasket that looks like it has seen better days.

Last on the list for this wasted afternoon is the dome light.

The one that’s in there looks melted. Also, when trying to pull it out in the past to check the bulb and wiring, it felt like it was going to crumble into pieces in my hand, so I left it alone.

Now that I have the replacement part in hand, that is exactly what happened when I pulled the old one out.

The bulb is burned out and will need to be replaced, but at least the new one fit without issue and looks nicer. Edit: I didn’t bother trying to turn it on at the time, since the glass in the bulb was blackened, but it actually does work. Not with the door switch, but it does turn on with the switch on the light itself.