Gone are the days of stick-on fake wood dashes with the appearance of cardboard and cheap varnish. Today's custom truck requires a look of elegance and sophistication, without looking tacky and store bought. Custom and cheap really don't mix. No new truck is driven off the lot without an excessive amount of plastic inside, which provides a cold and uninviting interior. In an effort to keep profits high and expenses low, new truck manufacturers use plastics, rather than other materials, even though many interiors lack visual appeal. When building a custom truck, you can't have a stock dash with boring plastics abounding inside.
Answering our call to a custom interior without breaking the bank, Phoenix Imaging of Tyler, Texas, transformed our stock interior into a work of art. It's really pretty simple, you choose the color or pattern, remove the pieces you want coated, and wait. After a couple of days, sometimes weeks depending on scheduling, you receive your factory-fitting plastics with a look that is totally show-truck custom. Coated in a hydrographic process, almost any hard surface can be transformed by Phoenix Imaging. Finished in a clear coat and polished to a high shine, the interior can easily be updated to match the paint code, seat pattern, or even a custom design. We contacted Phoenix Imaging to help us with one of our project F-150s. The end result is a not too-over-the-top interior, but still yields questions such as, "That looks cool, how did you do that?"
We started off the install by removing each piece that was going to receive the Phoenix Imaging Hydrographics procedure. First off, the door handle trim rings and window switch covers were removed. | 
Next, the center HVAC control cover and vent assembly was pulled free, along with the ash tray and cup holder. | 
Then, we removed the steering column trim piece. |
This was followed by the gauge cluster surrounding, then the large dash piece on top of the driver side dash. We then carefully packaged our pieces and shipped them off to Tyler, Texas, home of Phoenix Imaging, to receive the cool Hydrographic procedure. | 
This gave us the perfect opportunity to remove the factory instrument cluster. Four small bolts held on the unit and after unplugging the two harnesses and disconnecting the transmission gear selector, the piece came free. Check out the ugly black factory cluster under the new silver Simco unit with silver trim rings. There is really no comparison. | 
Simco Limited uses factory Ford pieces to ensure a quality product that fits perfectly and works every time. |