1955 Crown Victoria headliner question

J

Jerold Ebke

Member
Friends.
35 year project ‘55 Crown Victoria basket case. Truly came in boxes , piles and buckets so never saw anything as it was originally.
Reached a milestone when ordered upholstery kit from Larry’s Thunderbird this summer.
Several questions for upholstery knowledgeable folks:
1) Are there tack strips for the headliner along both sides above the door and rear side window held under some of the bend over tabs and if so what dimensions are the strips?
How do the tack strips work in conjunction with the screw on contoured metal strips with all the barbed pointed edges that go in the same place?
2) Does the windlace go around the entire door opening and is it held by tabs as well? Does it go on first before the metal strip with all the points?
3) How is the head liner held in place at the front and rear glass? Glue?
4) In my stuff I cannot find a metal trim to go above rear side window like above the door. Am I missing 2 of those or was there nothing there, just headliner. How was the head liner vinyl finished against the stainless of the window top frame?
I have attempted to search online for information and really have not been successful.
I have looked at a bunch of pictures, but not very educational about basics.
I know a bunch of questions. Sorry.
Please consider helping on areas you are knowledgeable about.
I am open to a phone call as it seems so much easier to cover more information efficiently. 402-729-7660. Retired, so usually available.
A sincere thank you.
Jerry
 
I'm not sure but have a book somewhere that had a lot of details. I think you can still buy used. The resurrection of Vicky may be the name.
 
Oh brother it's gonna be hard to explain to somebody that hasn't had a '50's Ford all apart before.
Parts needed and method of installation:
1) headliner bows. Nearly all of them are different length and different bends. They need to be measured and marked with the shortest as the one that goes closest to the windshield and the longest goes closest to the back window. There may be some bows in the middle that are same length. Slip the headliner bows into the loops in your new headliner.
2) The center headline bow slips into a special bumpout in the top structure on each side and is independent of the headliner. The part has the mounting bracket for the dome-light and wiring. Wiring needs to be attached to the bow with small nylon wire straps then tucked in to the trough along the side top structure. Be sure to plug-in all wire connections that will be hidden by the headliner after it is installed.
3) There are two specially shaped spring-steel wire clips that hold the last headliner bow tight into slots in the top structure just above the back window. These should be attached to the last headliner bow and plugged into the slots in the structure before rear of headliner is glued to top structure.
4) The front of the headliner is glued to the underside of the top structure just above the windshield. It is recommended to install the windshield garnish moulding with it's clips attached (these clips with teeth on them slip inside the top of the moulding help to hold the headliner in place while the glue dries once the moulding has been tightened down to the top structure).
5) Along the sides of the top structure, there are sections of specially shaped tack-strips with teeth punched into them to hold the windlace to the car roof structure. These tack strips are made of galvanized metal and they have rectangular-shaped holes in them. Those holes are for attaching them with special factory made fasteners. These fasteners need to be spread apart carefully just a little bit so they wont break in half. the fasteners are mostly made of an aluminum alloy with high lead content and can break easily. To install one in a tack-strip, the windlace needs to be attached first, using the bend-over tabs to hold the windlace in while you install the tack-strips. Hold an aluminum-lead fastener loosely with pliers into the rectangular hole and twist 90 degrees, then clamp the two sides of the fastener down with your pliers. Repeat for every rectangular hole until all fasteners are used up. If you don't have some fasteners, it will be necessary to drill small holes thru tack-strip and top structure, but be careful not to drill thru the top exterior. Use small washer-head self-tapping screws to fasten tack-strip to structure in lieu of factory fasteners.
6) get a special plastic putty knife made for headliners and start tucking headline in under the bottom of the tack-strips. You may want to trim a little bit of excess off all around the sides of the headliner prior to tucking the headliner in. The teeth on the backside of the tack-strips will hold the sides of the headliner in place.
7) The windshield trim pieces must be installed on the dashboard prior to installing the windshield stanchion garnished moulding pieces
8) The headliner should be installed prior to the installation of the back window glass. First, add your two spring-steel wire clips to the back bow of headliner and clip the tongs into the slots in the roof structure. That will hold the back of the headliner tight. The factory method was to apply glue to the top structure and window channel and wrap the back of the headliner around the channel. You can hold the headliner in place by using a bunch of binder clips along the window channel. You should do a dry run without the glue so you can determine how much of the back of the headliner needs to be trimmed before applying glue and fastening headliner permanently.
9) the idea at the sides and front and back of the headliner is to have enough excess material to tuck in and get snagged by the teeth of the tackstrips along the sides and the teeth of the clips that slide into the windshield top garnish moulding. Replacement headliners often need a bit of material trimmed off around the sides, front and back.
When glueing the front, hold the excess material and bend it away from the top structure, then fold it back, and if necessary back toward the front again, then attach your top garnish moulding.
10) install the dome-light housing, bulb and plastic lens.
 
I'll be needing a headliner in my '54 soon. When I bought the car, the headliner bows were scattered about in the trunk. I know the bows are color coded, and I can see a little bit of color on a couple of them but the rest are covered in rust. Is there any way to tell which one goes where? Also, where would I find a listing of which colored bows go where?

Also, Daves55sedan mentioned 'two specially shaped spring-steel wire clips that hold the last headliner bow tight into slots in the top structure just above the back window.' I haven't found those. Anyone know where I could get them?
 
A guy might be able to use the Scott Drake parts for the later Fords and see if they can be made to work to hold that rear bow. Proper bow placement may be like putting a puzzle together but they will generally only go one way to keep the roof to bow spacing correct. Sometimes the bow colors are listed in the Ford Body Parts catalogs for the applicable year of car.
 
Is it possible there are different ways the metal strips with the teeth are held in place from one model to the next?
I see no evidence of split soft metal fasteners on the roof side rails, even broken off that correspond to the rectangles in the strip with the teeth above the doors.
After some pondering, I was able to get the rear quarter window tooth strip in place on the bendable triangular tabs on the roof rail above the window.
Above the doors, I am befuddled by how the tooth strip fits over the tabs holding the tack strip along with the windlace and trim piece.
I found no evidence of clips associated with the front and rear glass trim moldings. I could just be missing them.
Any one with further thoughts or experience with Crown Vics?
 
The ones on my older 51 Merc are held with screws. I have no experience with the later cars but where there is a will there is a way. Finding clips may be possible if that's what it has but a part number would go a long way toward that. Stuff like that is in the body parts catalogs for your car.

I'm including this link to the HAMB for fat fender cars but it still has relevance to illustrate parts of the procedure. I don't think they used any wire clips on the older ones but the shape of the top and the backlite is all different on them. They still used nails to hold part of the wind lace. I think my Merc has nails in places too. They had a spiral grip to them and fit the holes pretty snug as long as a person is careful pulling the old ones out.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/how-to-install-a-headliner-in-a-fat-ford.1027573/
 
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Ok. On thinking about these long metal pieces with the teeth, I finally remembered I purchased a set of front door ones from someone associated with the Crown Victoria organization. I believe they are not correct for a Crown Vic.
Anyone on here know of guys who might have appropriate parts for 1955 Crown Victoria?
 
The Crown Victoria is unique with the tiara and all fitting both inside and out. There may be a few folks that can help with them on the board but I don't see a lot of discussion about them on here. I would figure that the 1955 and 1956 may be close but earlier cars like the 53 & 54 are just different enough that nothing would cross over. The 55 & 56 Victoria cars may have some similarity but no tiara. All I can suggest is to try and contact an owners organization in the near term. This link may help.
https://www.thecvaonline.com/
 
The tack strips with the teeth in the back that hold the headliner for the Crown Vic should be the same in '55 and '56 I would think, as well as the even more rare '56 Mercury 2-dr hardtop model and the '56 Lincoln Premier.
In 1955, Ford also had a lower priced 2-dr Hardtop called a "Victoria", and Mercury also had a similar 2-dr hardtop called a "Monterey". Those two have swappable parts amongst each other BUT will not fit the Ford Crown Vic's and '56 Merc and Lincoln cars.
As far as the interior garnish mouldings (chrome plated or stainless, I don't know which), The '55 Crown Vic's I have seen did NOT have a trim piece above the rear quarter window, only the door windows. The Skyliner (with the transparent roof) may have had a part that was different from the normal Crown Vic's. The '56 Lincoln premier did have the trim going all the way to the back window, but it wouldn't fit because of the interior crown moulding.
I think finding these parts in a junkyard would be slim pickens. You may need to try to find them on e-pay for an arm and a leg.
 
Thank you folks for continuing to add to my information gathering.
I am a Crown Victoria Club member and will try doing the online club as well.
May be able to find more info and appropriate parts from that narrower group. And online will be faster than the monthly publication.
You all have been so kind.
Thanks again.
 
Jerold Ebke said:
I am a Crown Victoria Club member and will try doing the online club as well.

May be able to find more info and appropriate parts from that narrower group. And online will be faster than the monthly publication.
Click to expand...

What you find there would be appreciated here as the CLUB is closed to non-members. Most INTERIOR DETAILS and DRAWINGS for early INTERIOR TRIM were removed from the 1949/1959 FORD MPC FINAL ISSUE.

You may find the info you are looking for here -

- https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/ca...pair-manual/am-0178-1955-body-assembly-manual

AM-0178.jpg


Or any competent trim shop should have the answers you need.
 
I talked with Crown Victoria parts source and expert Norbert Doll today and he set me straight and answered all my questions.
There is not a toothed strip above the door on a 1955 CV. Since I had a pair for above the quarter windows, I wrongly assumed there should be a pair for the doors.
Above the doors is only a staple strip held by bendable tabs on the inner aspect of the roof.
Then covered by the interior trim garnish molding.
He agreed the toothed strips I have are probably used in a Victoria.
Thanks to you all for your kindness in helping and offering advice.
Our country is still full of good and kind folks.
 
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