Rover Mini Cooper Binnacle

[Snoop]

Hello,

Can any tell me what the three gauge Rover Mini Cooper instrument binnacle is made from ie; wood with veneer finish, fiberglass or plastic with a wrapped veneer type finish etc?

[rolesyboy]

Hi, its wood with a veneer finish. Cheers. Mark

[Peter Laidler]

Don't want to disagree but with the sample shown by Snoopy, it looks to me like the wood grain along the front has continued, turning through a sharp 90 degree bend and continuing on, around the right hand end. Look at the bottom right hand edge. I know bugger all about woodwork but you'd need veneer made of fablon* to get a bend like that. I don't know what it is but I'd suggest that it's a sort of formed FORMICA and laquered. Commonly seen on wood pattern serving trays in places like Costa and the like

If I was you Snoops, I'd scratch away at the rear and see what comes up. But being Rover, it certainly won't be anything expensive or something that you'd have to spend a bit of time or ££'s making! I could be totally wrong of course but it looks a bit too plasticky to me
* Fablon, a thin coloured peel-off sticky back plastic

[UHR850]

Yes it is its wood with a veneer finish, will crack on the corners after many years.

Kees.

[Peter Laidler]

Looking at the top right corner, I just cannot see where the wood veneer has rolled over from the top, gone around the two compound/two-way radiussed corner that we can see (and there's 2 others that we cannot see.....) and been wrapped around the end grain too.

Wood veneer isn't the most pliable or stretchy stuff. If it really is pliable and stretchy wood veneer then then I accept it and freely accept that I'm mistaken

[Tupers]

They’re a milled wooden back with a veneer face. If you look at the second picture you can see a straight line where they cut a section of the veneer out to wrap it around the curve.

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[rolesyboy]

Agreed. Definitely milled from a block of wood. Veneered in sections. Cheers

[Peter Laidler]

Agreed and more than happy to be proved wrong by Rolesboy and Kees

[Snoop]

Thanks for all your help with this gents

[UHR850]

On my April 2000 Rover Mini the binnacle was at the bottom cranked at the corners so I thought it was fineer.

Kees.