I don't think liquid shoe polish would be compatible with the vinyl and plastic in the dash.

But, based on practical experience this summer, I would suggest trying AutoGlym, a UK product sold in a lot of FLAPs in North America (including Canadian Tire in Canada).  We bought some to try this summer on our '03 Toyota Matrix, and loved the results so much that we tried it on the Vanagon too - a warm glow rather than a high gloss shine - very authentic looking.

James
Ottawa, ON
'91 Westy Weekender

> Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 12:29:21 -0500
> From: mcperdue@GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Dash improvement?
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I should be getting my van back from the painter next week and I've
> been thinking of all those parts that are going to look so drab
> against the new paint. The dash is, of course, the biggest and most
> visible. Does anybody know a way to get the dash to look like new
> again, and to hopefully stay that way for a while? I'm not really
> interested in that high-gloss Armor-All look . . .
> 
> The funny thing is, I was thinking about this and wondered if anybody
> had ever put liquid shoe polish on their dash? Would this work, or be
> bad for the dash? My gut's telling me that it should go the way of all
> crazy ideas, but I just don't know what the dash material is and what
> chemicals could hurt it or not. Oh, I also want to treat the
> instrument panel cover.
> 
> Open to ideas . . .
> 
> Thanks,
> Marc Perdue, in central VA