There is a long tradition of the use of wood in car instrument panels, either on its own as a structural material or in combination with other materials as a decorative finish. One thinks of the bits of zebrano in Mercedes-Benzes, and the burr walnut panels in Rolls-Royces. One also thinks of the elaborate Art Deco assemblies of various timbers in old Rovers and Jaguars, the slightly gratuitous woodiness of Riley One Point Fives and cars of that pleasant kidney. One might well think of the plasticky woodgrain veneers in '70's Audis or the tin-printed briar on the Wurlitzer organs that served contemporary Cadillacs as dashboards; or the hand-applied woodgraining on the pressed steel dash of a '40's Oldsmobile. One might be surprised by deeply polished ellipses of oriental fruit-wood amidst the painted sheetmetal of something like a late-'30's Hotchkiss. One knows where the wood goes in a car interior, but what does the budding latter-day carrossier do for an encore?
Why not stone panelling? Cut thin, natural stone can be much lighter than it looks. Why no accents of marble or granite? There is an entire range of colour and finish to explore: various grades of polish, matt honed creamy marbles; broken granites; laminar-split slates; coarse, silvery quartzites; with reds and greens and golds and blues, glassy fish-scale embedded crystals and trapped fossils. There's a whole new car-interior palette there.
Why have I never seen it done?-- Ned_Ludd, Aug 06 2007 baked http://www.strangev.../content/112354.jpgStone Panels a la Fred [vincevincevince, Aug 06 2007] Marble (or something) dashboard http://photos1.blog...timor_b8123zh_4.jpg(Of course, this photo may explain why you don't see it more often...) [DrCurry, Aug 06 2007] Offered in the Maybach http://query.nytime...AA35751C0A9629C8B63Baked [jhomrighaus, Aug 06 2007] Willmaaaaa!!!!-- the dog's breakfast, Aug 06 2007 Yeah, next up, rawhide and woolly mammoth tusk...-- DrCurry, Aug 06 2007 I suspect there's a flexibility issue.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 06 2007 You could always use formica...-- DrCurry, Aug 06 2007 Or stucco...-- theleopard, Aug 06 2007 probably never seen it done, [Ned_Ludd] because nobody really wants to have a stone dashboard shoved up their sternum in the event of a crash. nice looking, no doubt, but i'm gonna pass on this one.-- k_sra, Aug 06 2007 In most countries, it is actually illegal to drive a car stoned.-- vincevincevince, Aug 06 2007 If a single sheet of stone is impractical, ceramic tiles might be OK. You could have the interior of yor car decorated with erotic mosaics, like at Pompeii.-- hippo, Aug 06 2007 If it is cut thin enough to be light, it is too fragile. If it is cut thick enough to be durable, it is too heavy.-- ed, Aug 06 2007 "This is my town car."
"What town, Pompeii?"
- Marx brothers.
I once used a sheet of marble as a makeshift anvil. Once.-- baconbrain, Aug 06 2007 See link Natural Granite is an option on the Maybach, in article 1/2 way down or so.-- jhomrighaus, Aug 06 2007 Yabba-Dabba-Do! (What [the dog's breakfast] said)-- zen_tom, Aug 06 2007 I like it. I cannot imagine that stone would be more fragile or heavier than glass, and cars are full of glass.
In fact, all glass would be pretty nifty too. You could use deeply colored glass. Or leave it clear to see the guts of the car inside, doing your bidding.-- bungston, Sep 07 2007 Ferrocement may be texured to look stoney, and is strong & tough, albeit heavy. Or you could go for a gloss finish, with embedded glitter. Ferrocement is similar to stucco but has a greater proportion of reinforcing wire and uses a stronger mortar.-- afinehowdoyoudo, Sep 07 2007 Or, how about a material similar to exterior insulating finish systems - essentially mortar on foam. Shape and coat it to look like stone, and call it "Stoam". Like the cheap props they used in the 6-Million Dollar Man.-- afinehowdoyoudo, Sep 07 2007 [bungston], yes, glass tiles are enjoying something of a vogue in architecture right now. I hadn't thought of them (perhaps for that reason?)
But what about mosaics? Imagine a mosaic dash, in fine, say 8-10mm, tesserae.-- Ned_Ludd, Sep 07 2007 I can do your dashboard in either slate or granite mosaic for the low, low price of $ 6700.00. Taxes and setting materials extra.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 07 2007 // cannot imagine that stone would be more fragile or heavier than glass// Glass used in cars and many other situation is generally modified (for example, tempered) to make it stronger. Most natural stone would be even weaker (at least in tension, hence in bending) than "natural" glass. Marble, for instance, is crystalline at several different scales, and the crystal junctions are weak-spots and also crack-initiators. The same is true of granite, sandstone and most other rocks to varying degrees.
You might be OK with things like jade or mica, which have a crack-stopping structure and hence are tough (though not especially strong). Failing that, you might be able to make artificial obsidian (volcanic 'glass') and temper it. You might also be able to coat a rock such as granite with a tightly-bonded transparent tempered glass-like layer, effectively creating a pre-compressed 'skin' to make it stronger.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2007 a car that shatters into a million tiny knives on collision. no thank you.-- k_sra, Sep 07 2007 "Don't slam the.."-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2007 random, halfbakery