Chalkboard paint, cool; somebody in the Mini club back home had their bonnet done the same way.

Not sure how much you wanted to spend but there's a couple of louvers for sale on TB right now, shipping will be a challenge. One is internal the other external, mullet, white T shirt and cig pack not included.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=181872
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=181320

Edit: Here's another one, although it's really expensive and shipping from woodenshoe land will be astronomical.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=181846

As much as I really want one I don't have the money to match... Certainly not to pay international shipping costs, which I ain't even going to look into! I've got Winter tires to save up for. Appreciate the links though; that Volvo branded louver is interesting.

I've never seen the internal blind before (for a Volvo); must be a universal item? Internal rear window blinds are pretty common in Australia for most cars and are pretty cool.

I could live with the internal louver, merc's and bimmers have had them in the past and they looked OK.

Louvers aside, things are a bit tight at the minute so over the last few days I've been working on and off with a little project I've been meaning to try for a while now; 'wood trim'.

I've read a lot of posts online on various forums about how it wouldn't work in the 240, it would look crap, it doesn't suit this sort of car, etc. whatever; I love wood trim in all cars, but it has to be 'plentiful' and look as if it's meant to be.

For my experiment I used wood effect adhesive vinyl. Most of the dash trim in the 240s is textured, so I felt quite limited. The vinyl I was using isn't very 'comply', so trying to apply it to anything other than a flat service required a bit of working-with.

Here's the outcome;




Perhaps I went a little over the top with the ashtray, shifter knob and handbrake, but I wanted to see how far I could go. The shifter knob needs some 'R,1,2,3,4' letters, I know. The ashtray I only covered whilst considering the flat surface of the heater controls, which I plan to do eventually. The handbrake is the best I could do with this type of vinyl.

I'm really happy with the outcome, impressed even, if I may say so myself! Next time I would love to do this on an 240 with a cream interior - the 'wood' would have a much better contrast and look more luxurious.

Conclusion? It is possible to 'wood' a 240 interior and make it look pretty good, too.

I like it all except for the mirror adjusters and the shifter. The rest is really well done though good job.

I like it all except for the ashtray and shifter, but the ashtray might look better once the heater controls are done like you plan to.

You did a very clean job. Good work!