Brown dashboards, black dashboards

My 1984 Westy came stock with a Brown dash.  Not the covered version, but the metal rough surfaced version.  It's in good condition, including the front end impact strip, but the plastic bits within the dash are not so great.  The age of the plastic, and the oxidation is getting unsightly.

I am seriously considering swapping it out for a black dashboard, from a later Wolfsburg this winter.

What really pushed me over the edge was this photo, found on the Samba, that I REALLY like the looks of:

The added burled wood veneer brings the interior look closer to my Mercedes, and although I do not aspire to turn my beloved Thingamjigger into a Mercedes wanna be - it sure does look nice. Even considering the dark brown carpets I will have.

Have a good friend that parts out the Vanagon and he had a few Dash assemblies. I have some credit there as I have given him most of my takeoffs and promised him my parts van when I put the suspension back in it to move.  What goes around, comes around? 

I grabbed a mint condition black dash, with cluster cover, lower air vent, glove box, and all the pieces to make it complete.  With the very dark brown checked seats and door panel inserts, I think I could get away with it without it looking too ghetto.

I suppose if I had to swap out the front seats for some Honda S2000 black ones, or recover some late model stock seats like the picture below in a faux leather product, I may not be so concerned. :)

UPDATE- 10 Sept - looking at the Sewfine catalog, it appears that a set of faux leather seat covers could be had for under $300 if I do the recovering myself.  If I did that 'pleather' look, with a black tweed insert down the middle I would have a seat that would allow for a sweaty back to breathe.  I don't have AC, so should I even be thinking about black?

But then what to do with the rear? 

I need to finish packing for this weekends adventure.

Have a fun weekend everyone!