dash panels in a 69 Beetle

[johnnyvw164]

I recently made a local purchase of a set of VDO gauges already mounted in dash panels (for either side of the speedo). Small tach in the right side, oil temp & pressure and voltmeter on the left side. When I went to mount them into the car, I found the panels were slightly bigger than the originals, especially in the vertical dimension (probably 8 mm or so). Does anyone know about different size panels? I was always in the assumption they were the same for just about every year.

[diamondblue1969]

I think the ones for padded dashes are slightly smaller

[gorbur]

I have a similar setup with VDO gauges on left and right panels Could only get a couple of tabs on the panel to line up. Panels were bigger too. Its a 75 with padded dash any high spots i smoothed down with a heat gun (delicately). Depending on how you cut the metal of the dash the anchoring rings on each gauge seem to be more than enough to hold the panels down.
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73 - Ghia Cabriolet, currently under resto
76 - Type1, 1776, full restomod

[johnnyvw164]

It would make sense that the panels for the padded dash would be a little smaller. Guess I will be doing some cutting and fitting of the original panels. Already did the right side since it was one gauge...we like the look of the "louvers" anyway. It's just a real PIA.