Removing the pad on the dash ?

[p nobre]

Dear All, I really need help on this.
My 60 Impala is at the body shop for a complete paint job, everything till now went well but I am out of the country (and for a long time).
My instructions were to remove the pad (cracked) and paint the steel dash.
My friend now tells me, he's not too sure of what's under the pad and would like some advise before removing it. (read tearing it apart...)
Any idea if we will find a non-standard steel dash under ? then needing a major job to fill holes or voids ?:dunno
Thanks, Peter

[60 Nomad]

Hello Peter,
My 60 Nomad had a padded dash, which was beyond repair. It was over 25 years ago since we did this but I do know it did not have any holes in the dash. The only problem, which I remember, was the Radio Grill on top of the dash. I think it had four spacers under the grill, one on each screw, which had to be removed to get the grill to fit flush on top of the dash. The worst case would have been that we replaced the Radio grill with a non-padded dash grill. This is the only problem that I recall. Here is a photograph of the old padded dash now painted.

[p nobre]

Very encouraging to look at the picture,
I've also just received a similar comment from a supplier.
Many thanks, Nomad.