Does anyone know what the factory used for material on the stock shift knobs?

Acrylic? Bakelite?

-Rusty

Don't know for sure but it's the only piece that won't rust. They should have built the whole car from the stuff.

we are making our stock replacement knobs from delrin. They look identical and last forever. (the last of the factory replacements were bakelite and shattered when breathed upon!) (they were also shorter in length than the original)

Pretty sure its an acrylic resin.
There is a guy just down the street from me, Brezel Works, that makes knobs, wheels etc out of this material for the VW and Porsche world.

He may be able to make them, or he may already have them in stock.

Rich

I would lean towards bakelite, but I'm admittedly not that familiar with acrylic resin. Anyone have a chipped or broken knob that can photograph?

I have been in the plastic business for 34 years. Casting Acrylic and Polyesters are my specialty. The area where the numbers are for the shift pattern is Acrylic. The black body is not. It does polish like acrylic and it does not smell like it when I cut it or sanded it. Alter all of my years I swear by the smell test. The way you test for Bakelite is to rub it and if real it will give off a smell. I do not know what the black is but it does not want to polish as easy as the Acrylic top.

The top of my old knob had crazing, as a lot of Acrylic that has been in UV light will get.


Bob Burton
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