Armrests

This car was missing all of it's armrests when I got it. That meant I had to do some research to figure out what I was supposed to have.
1. Front and rear armrest pads are the same length on this car.
2. The white interior is supposed to have white armrest pads front and back.
3. The rear armrest pads always have ashtrays.
4. The rear armrest pads should be installed with the ashtrays toward the front of the car.
5. Standard armrest bases are color keyed to the interior on 1970 Belvederes & RM21 Road Runner Coupes (has B pillar).
6. 1970 Belvedere sedans could get chromed armrest bases only with the extra cost Custom Trim Package.
7. 1970 RM21 Road Runner Coupes (has B pillar) could get chromed armrest bases only with the extra cost Road Runner Décor Package.
8. 1970 Satellites, Sport Satellites, GTXs, & RM23 Road Runner hardtops (no B pillar) had standard chromed armrest bases.


That was more complex than I expected!
Not having any of these parts, I went to order reproductions. black or white front armrest pads are available. Only black armrest pads are available with ashtrays installed. Even though I never intend to use the ashtrays, I want to have them because every car had them, and it would just be wrong to not have them. I'd really rather not paint a black armrest pad white though.

Side Note: Door lock knobs are supposed to be white on a white interior car. Only black door lock knobs are available reproduction. I did not want to paint the black door lock knobs white because this car will be driven, and I don't expect the paint would hold up as well as I'd like. I've decided to leave my door lock knobs black for now. In the future, I may pull one off, use it to make a silicone mold, and resin/plastic cast my own white door lock knobs.

Back to the armrest pads now. I decided to get 4 white reproduction armrest pads, and install ashtrays into two of them myself.
I grabbed on of the rear armrests out of my Satellite parts car for an example to work off of.
1. Place the ashtray bezel upside down on the armrest, located where it's supposed to go.
2. Trace around the inside of the bezel where the ashtray goes. This marks the area that needs removed for the ashtray.
3. I used a Dremel tool to grind out the part of the pad that needed removed.
4. Surprise! Unlike the originals, the reproduction has a metal reinforcement inside, and it's in the way.
5. I put a little cut off wheel in the Dremel, and removed the metal that was in the way.
6. Continue grinding the rest of the foam out, to the depth needed for the ashtray.
7. Test fit the bezel & ashtray into the armrest pad. The bezel is very flat, and the armrest pad has a slight crown. Some slight adjustments with soft jaw pliers will do wonders for fitment.
8. Some of the bezel retaining tabs were longer than others. The shorter tabs held tighter for me, so on the second armrest pad, I cut all the bezel retaining tabs down to the short size, and got a much tighter fit than what I achieved on the first armrest pad.
9. Bend the bezel retaining tabs over into the armrest pad to hold the bezel in place. Squeeze them nice and tight.
10. Install ashtray