'59 Merc Door Panels

[Stephenorf]

I have this Driver's side door panel off of my 1959 Mercury Monterey. It is in pretty rough shape. There are no aftermarket replacements for this year/make/model that I can find.

I'd like to "rebuild" the existing panel.

The alternative is to buy some vinyl and padding and recreate the vinyl from scratch. I'm sure I can cut the pattern, but not sure how to "melt" the contours and "melt/glue" the pieces of vinyl together.

The third alternative to to do my best to patch the existing door panel back together and use as-is until they completely fall apart.

Lastly, I could build completely new "plane-jane" door panels with a simple monochrome vinyl covering.

Option 1 is to "rebuild" the existing panel. I can get the backing board and cut it to the proper shape, including the cutouts for the handles and clips. My plan was to re-stretch the vinyl over the new board and go from there. But the old vinyl seems very stiff and seems to have shrunk/warped over the years. I want to keep the original design door panel to match the other door panels.

Does anyone have experience "rebuilding" a door panel?


Here's some pics of what I'm working with:

 

[fordor41]

If you can make a new panel, try removing the vinyl and heating it up to mske it more plyable. Maybe then you can stretch it back over the new panel

 

[miker98038]

It might be worth giving SMS Fabric a call. They’ve got more than they show on line, and some listing for your car. The reviews on them are mixed, some having long ship times, but I haven’t seen anything recently. They were pretty good in their day, and before LeBaron Bonny went away.

I watched a guy in a shop do those moldings once. He cut the foam with a hot knife, then used heat and a glue pot to get the vinyl down in the groove. I’d say it took him a while to learn that. But there might be a YouTube video out there.

One of the local guys around here did a lot of that on a custom basis. Surprisingly, a lot of the work was on speedboats. Texas is a big place, so you might have boat shops around (he did the canvas tops, frames and all, too) or you might be high and dry.

That’s a cool car, more work and hard to find parts than a Mustang, but worth the effort.

 

[Stephenorf]

Thanks for all the comments suggestions. Here's where I'm at:

I got a 1/8" x 2' x4' piece of Tempered Hardboard at Home Depot.

I traced the perimeter of the old door panel onto the new board

Here's the outline of the door panel on the new board. the 2' x 4' piece is just the right size for these door panels.

Using a jigsaw, I trimmed away the extraneous board. It looks good already! I could just paint this board and it would do in a pinch.

Here's the door panel on top of the newly cut board. Perfect match.

Here's a side-by-side comparison.

Here's a good look at why I can't use the old door panel. It is literally falling apart.

The old vinyl looks pretty bad. I have little hope that it will actually look good on the new panel. I do have a backup plan in mind if the old vinyl doesn't cooperate.

Next step for me now is to remove the old vinyl from the existing door panel and see if I can manage to attach in so that it at least looks halfway decent.

 

[Stephenorf]

I finally got some time to resume working on this old door panel. I want to test fit the panel to the door before covering the panel. Other than getting the overall shape and size of the door panel right, the other most critical part to making sure the door manel fits is getting the slots for the door panel clips in exactly the right spot. If the clips don't exactly line up with the holes in the door shell, you will not be able to attach the door panel to the door.

I used a big piece of craft paper as a template to transfer the location of the holes to the back of the door panel. The location needs to be precise in order for the door panel clips to align correctly.

The "craft paper" ended up being too flimsy. I couldn't be sure where exactly those holes lined up on the door panel using that thin craft paper. So back to the drawing board.

Next I use a little bit heavier stock of paper that I cut to the exact shape of the door panel.

I reinforced the paper with some cardboard so it wouldn't be so flimsy. Believe it or not, this made it much easier to handle and to position on the door.

I put the paper door panel on the door exactly where the real door panel will go. I used a pencil to mark where the holes for the clips are. I also marked the holes for the armrest and poked the window crank and door pull through the paper. Lastly I marked the four screw holes that go in each corner.

Now I carefully laid the paper door panel on top of the replacement door panel and transferred the marks I made with the pencil onto the actual door panel. I used a black sharpie to precisely mark each location.

Using the black Sharpie marks as a guide. I laid the door panel clip on the door panel and marked where I think the whole should be for each door panel clip to attach to the door panel (Six clips toward the leading edge of the panel, four on the rear). Note, there's an offset between where the door panel clips slides onto the door and where the clip actually passes through the door shell.

I followed the same procedure for all ten door panel clips, the holes for the arm rest screws and the large holes for the door pull and window crank.

While the door panel is off, I cleaned the bottom-inside of the door. There was plenty of dirt/gunk at the bottom partially obscuring the drain holes. I also inspected/cleaned/lubed the window and lock mechanisms. Now I can reattach the plastic water shield to the door shell. The factory used some spray adhesive, I used some dum dum (3M strip caulk).

Next up the big springs that go over the door pull and window crank shafts. These go between the door shell and the door panel and push the door panel out so they don't sag inwards. Now the door panel can be attached to the door shell. I found it easiest to start at the door jamb end and pop the clips on starting at the one closest to the bottom and working my way upwards. Hint: always make sure you have the next clip lined up before popping a clip into the hole.

Here's the prototype door panel backing board all buttoned up on the door.

At least I know the shape is accurate, and now I have a good template for making the passenger side. Next I'll have to see about covering with some padding and some good vinyl. Not sure what color, I kind of want to recreate the factory look vs a monochrome look.