Picnic tray.

[cass3958]

When I bought my car the picnic tray under the middle of the dash was damaged. The top surface was scratched but worse was the fact that the veneer had come off the front of the tray and the wood was damaged in the corners. I had been looking for a half decent replacement and in my box of many things that I purchased a couple of months ago came two spares. One had a decent top surface but had the same damage that mine had on the front edge whilst the other had damage to the veneer on the top surface.
Rather than try and repair the veneer on the front I decided to replace it with a piece of polished alloy angle. I also had a piece of polished brass which really went well against the wood but unfortunately did not match any of the other dash fittings which are all silver chrome.
First I removed the remaining veneer from the front and then using a router I cut a small groove in the top of the leading edge so the alloy strip would sit flush to the top edge and then set about cleaning, sanding and lacquering the top face. Once I had a decent finish following ten or more coats of varnish each followed when dry by a sand down with 1000 grit wet and dry. I attached the polished alloy strip to the front of the tray with araldite and drilled the holes for the handle and screwed this in place.
I have to say the finish looks really good and a lot better than the chipped veneer and bare wood I had. Set against the dash and switches it looks very neat and tidy.
The old front with damaged veneer.

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The front routed out and showing the Alloy angle piece.

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Alloy angle offered up to tray fitting flush with surface in routed groove.

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Handle and runners attached with polished surface.

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Tray in place closed.

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Tray in place open.

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[Norrena]

Good job, looks great! Do you still have extra picnic trays in your box of many things? My car is missing it altogether.

[cass3958]

Yes I do have another one. If you send me your email address via a PM I will send you details. The other one I have has the same problem with the veneer lifting. Would you want it as it is or machined to have the alloy strip fitted, re lacquered and polished. Also do you still have the tray runners or are you missing these as well. PM me and we can sort it out over an EMail as I can then send you photos of what I have.

[Norrena]

Thanks. PM sent.

[cass3958]

As far as I can tell from the Heritage parts manual the S Type Jaguar was the only model that had the Picnic table. It was not fitted to the Mk2 the later 420 that I can see on the parts manuals. The Mk10 had a version but it had a different part number BD 23705 and the same with the runners BD 23700 and 701 so I would assume larger than the S Types.
None of these parts are available new anymore as they are not reproduced.
The tray was made from a laminate ply board and then veneered in Walnut Burr on the top and front leading edge only. It has the same looped handle to pull the tray out as is on the glove box and metal runners attached to the tray which fit in to a metal runner which are uniquely fitted to the underside of the S Types metal dash backing plate.

The tray is part number BD 26591

The two runners are part numbers BD 26521 and BD 26522.

The handle is part number BD 12326.

[jonesdl]

Rob that looks really good and does not look out of place with the rest of the dash, a very good job you have made of repairing the damaged.
Dave J.