Got this Friday. The color and workmanship look good. I am hoping the Original Ford Tooling sticker will mean a good fit and not a whole lot of headaches. The old one is a little warped on the ends and cracked in the middle. The biggest problem was that after 46 years it had darkened to almost black. Anything tricky about a dashpad on a 65? Seems like a pretty straightforward job, which of course, it won't be.

 

Since you got the original tooling pad it should be easy. It's pretty straightforward. I think I used some cement on the bottom of it, but it's been a while so I don't remember real clearly. But it went on pretty easily.

The 'non-original tooling' version, from the same company no less, doesn't fit worth a #$@(. (I never could figure out why the same company would make one that fits and one that doesn't.)

 

I did not realize how discolored the old one was until I got it out and compared it. Most of the wrinkling and tears are from removing it. It was stuck down from age in some places. The bolts on either end were not there. No indication they ever were.

 

I replaced the dash pad on my 65 over the weekend with one of Dashes Direct's Original Ford Tooling pads. I had some warping in my old pad (not quite as bad as yours) but I finally got tired of looking a it. After reading many posts on several forums on fittment issues using the cheaper pads I decided, like you, to spend the extra cash on the OFT pad. I have to say that the the pad is a very nice fit and I had absolutely no trouble at all with the installation. Even the pre-cut holes on the lower part of the dash were spot on! I hope your installation goes as well.

 

Most of the wrinkling you see here is from pulling the pad out. The only real warping was the "eybrow" parts over the glove box and the instrument cluster. It had a little wrinkling at the passenger side and cracks at the speaker area. Mostly it was just super brittle and way discolored.