What wood is this?

[Merc_Girl]

Hi folks

Me again!

Any ideas on what wood trim this may be from my early 230SL? The dashboard trim is pretty faded but the wood surround on the hard top I think is pretty much the original colour.

Many thanks
Katie

[lreppond]

I believe it’s veneered in an open grained walnut: varnished in a matte finish.  I think your assumption of the wood looking as it was originally is correct. 

Check out this reference as mentioned in the Technical Manual at the bottom of upholstery colors,
https://vdhflipbooks.de/books/AUS/AUS1974Typ113/#1

[Merc_Girl]

Thanks Len

Appears those in EU can’t access this so a VPN would be required 😔

I’ll do some searches for walnut veneers and see what appears 😁

[JamesL]

If your veneer is complete, it’s a pleasant job to refinish. A screwdriver to take the trim off, a flat workspace (kitchen counter), some decent Matt varnish and some very fine wire wool. Start with the wool to get the old stuff off first trying not to scrub away the veneer, then do a couple of layers of the varnish, rub down with the wool to flat and repeat...

Nice job over a few evenings with a glass of wine. Allegedly

[ja17]

The hard part of the job is getting the wood out and back in the dash. You also have to be careful not to loose one of those special blue nuts!

[lreppond]

The wood on the dash is subjected to wild swings in temperature, exposure to UV light and condensation.  The contraction/expansion of the veneer and base wood (poplar or pine, I presume) make it brittle and dry over time.  The same conditions make the finish craze and flake off.  As Joe pointed out, removing such fragile pieces is tricky and precarious.  The good news is new finishes are more resistant to these conditions than those used when our cars were manufactured.