Guy's is it worth my time and money to find a new rear hat shelf for my 1984 244GL or do I restore the existing one ? Will a spray paint job give me a neat look ?

1984 244GL 266K
1992 245 119K

You could try what I'm considering doing to cover the cracks in my dash. Istead of using ordinary matting, get those rubber backed towels they have on bars. Ask you local where they get their bar mats, then get one advertising your favourite beer of spirit and put it over the parcel shelf. I saw a beautiful one the other night for Galliano Sambucca, and thought of putting it on my dash.

Also, please don't call it a hat shelf. The 244 has enough of a reputation as a man in a hat car already. Parcel shelf I can live with.
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Drive it like you hate it

For a cool look, how about artificial lawn carpet? Seriously, foam backed carpet should do wonders for parcle mounted speakers.

I spray painted my seat belt covers that I picked up at the junkyard. Covered the shelf myself with auto carpeting that I bought at autozone for $10.

Cheap and easy.
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85 240 DL, 89 245 DL, 419,000 miles total

On my il 240, the seat belt covers and the shelf material had deteriorated to the point of looking really bad. I got new seat belt covers on ebay and painted them dark brown to match the originals. I pulled the hardboard shelf out of the car and took it to a trim shop. They matched a dark brown felt type material and glued it onto the shelf for $25. It really was simple enought that I should have done it myself. The car looks so much better now.
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91 240, 86 240 DL, 485k, Tulsa, OK