Just a place to do a dumb

Center Console

We were tempted to post this as a "Stupid Project" but its really not, and also NOT original specs.

If appears that in the 50's people did not need a center console.  Its like they did not have drinks in the car or need a place for thier phones!?  That did not stop the previous owner (you knew I had to bring this guy up...) from installing a rather cool Camaro Horseshoe Shifter though:
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Now he did not care much for aesthetics (cool in a mechanical way) but it shifted and thats what mattered.


We did a lot of CAD work (Cardboard Assisted Design) before we cut our first piece of wood.
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And slowly but surely we advanced the design using 3/4" plywood left over from other projects:
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Things added:

  • 3" Bluetooth speakers (mounted up high on the sides) and powered from a console switch. This allows us to connect and use our phones for "radio", navigation, and so on.
    • Just to show MY age, we tested these via Van Halen.
  • Front and Back dash cameras powered from console switch.
  • Map light rewired to console switch (original does not work and had a small switch running the light)
  • Safety/Neutral Reverse switch added to the shifter. We had the light but it was not wired in because there was no reverse switch on the Camaro shifter.
  • Small "cubby hole" for stuff and things.
  • Lastly we did incorporate an NOS Camero console shifter cover and selector plate.  These came from Ricks Camaros and the best part was filling out the order form which included the request for which year Camaro this is will be used in.  We selected "Other" and spelled out "1950 Studebaker". ;)

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And, of course, Cup Holders
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The cup holders are actually a cut down kit that is meant to slide between a center console and a bucket seat.  We simply trimmed the bottom edge to follow the contour of the transmission tunnel.

UPDATE:

While the console worked just fine we made some changes as part of the Radio Mod project.  As the switches shown above where no longer needed we simply increased the cubby hole size and added a bit of flair with some houndstooth.

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 We also needed a way to ensure the console would not move but did not want to add new holes in the transmission tunnel so we fab'd up a little somethin' out of flat stock aluminum and attached it to the seat frame.

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