It was where a normal dashboard would be. It actually was *very* easy
to remove. I'd say that it ranks slightly above the "repair the heater
fan on an early 140" repair, and easier than the "remove the pushrods
with the block in the car, using a long wire and a flashlight and a magnet".
And a much lower pucker factor than "I'm about to sell the car and I just
pulled the distributor out of the block and I don't have a timing light
and I'm wearing a white shirt." repair I had to do in SF last year when
I was selling my 144.

My 164 had a fabric (industrial carpet, really) cover for the dashboard.
It didn't look too bad.

When I have the cracked, mangled dash out, I'm planning on taking it
apart and seeing if I can replace the foam padding with something similar
and then take it to an upholstry shop and have them put a new piece of
black vinyl in. That's all the original is, after all.
chris