Slick 60's

Mine has no evidence of ever having one installed, original paint on dash is in great shape. Also interesting that the speaker grill is not flush with the dash surface.

The dash pads were an option
Rich

Ours never had them down here...

I agree with Rich.. an option.. I had a pad on the white truck that had my running gear under it and the green donor truck didn't...

Like seat belts, I believe dash padding was required for face protection, but uncertain on when or if.

Rich

They seemed to be a pretty rare option as far as farm trucks are concerned.. I don't think I had ever seen one until after the club had started.

It seems like all had them around here but will have to look tomorrow when i go to my local old junkyard and see how many have padded dashes.

My truck had one on when I bought it, but was terribly cracked. I removed it. With the price of a new one, I doubt if it will ever have one reinstalled.

i have never seen a 66 without a dash pad. broken cracked or o/w destroyed but it was there. i found a 65 with a dash pad and it was original to the truck. in my opinion after the mid 65 model year all the ford pickups had dash pads. i have never seen a 67 w/o a dash pad. probably an osha thing or the precursor to that govt agency.

jim

I have not seen it mentioned in recent years on the site, but these can be recovered . I have removed several of these pads and kept these in good condition. I made the mistake of leaving a perfect one on a parts truck I have and it cracked even though I kept it covered. Made me feel a little sick when I saw it. I suppose it was bound to happen, but should have removed it before and kept it safe. I have five or six I have saved and these are a pain to remove if you don't have the windshield out of the truck.

Rich

I was looking at all the trucks in a local old junkyard and it seemed like all the larger trucks did not have the padded dash along with all the old state trucks.

I thought only the Custom Cabs had them in '65, and all '66's?

I'm beginning to think my 66 custom cab never had one. If it did, it must only have attachment points at each end near the pillars, that's the only place mine has any screws except, of course, for the dash speaker.

When I had my seat recovered, I asked the upholsterer for an estimate on my cracked dashpad, and he told me he'd recover it for about $150. Something to consider.

Both of the 66's I had had the pads. My 65 and the 65 cab I gought had no pad and a screwed on speaker cover.

Dash Pads where NOT Required, only as a option on 65/66 trucks and even several 67-72 trucks came through with no dash pads as well, we have had several on 67-72 trucks people looking for the vents that where screwed down on these trucks just like seat belts option on 65/66, now 67-72 trucks for seat belts is a different story