when I saw this in the magazine, I thought it was a radio, a very vary large radio

but I was wrong, it's just the passenger side insert in the dash on the 1960 Olds Super 88. That does look a lot like a graduated frequency bar and the Olds rocket looks like a tuning indicator needle.   So it gave me the idea that a smaller version of this would be a super fine looking radio for this car, instead of the boring one it has. Then blank off this area, or make some nice cove design

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/chase-germeroths-1960-olds-super-88/