Sorry I've been somewhat absent from the forums, it's amazing how chores build up when you're not looking.
I've heard good things about marine plastic restorer, which I think is made by 3M. I've never used it.
The other product recommended to me was Mother's plastic polish. I bought some just for the hell of it to see how it would affect 28-year-old plastic, and it did wonders on the master cylinder (black) and the plastic over the gauges (clear). Unfortunately my digital camera is in Colorado with the girlfriend until the end of the month. Of course, if it weren't, I wouldn't have had time to pull the SR into the garage bay to play with the polish!
At any rate, the master cylinder looks GOOD where I did a test application, although unfortunately with the raised lettering it would take some serious work to get down into all of the cracks between letters. It didn't harm the remaining paint on the lettering.
It didn't do quite as well on the hazard light button, which is a really hazy pink color. After I put the stuff on and worked it in for a few seconds the button was much closer to red. It matches the underside of the button, which presumably hasn't seen nearly as much sunlight. After an hour or so the color had started to fade, which makes me think that if it's to have any permanent effect it'll take some serious working with a polishing cloth or maybe even a powerball or buffer (go slowly!) to really get results on colored plastics.
I've seen good work done to old plastic. It's something I've never had opportunity to do myself. That's why I was hoping that someone would walk into a paint shop and ask, or that someone with a little more solid knowledge than my modest hearsay provides could come forth with more details.
The Mother's is good, and should work on your master cylinder. If you're looking from the "looks cherry from 5' away" effect, it'll take you just a few minutes. If you want it to stand up to close inspection, you'll need to take some time around the raised lettering.
If nobody takes me up on the "walk into a paint shop" advice, I'll do it myself after the holidays and try to find out what the pros use.