I am putting the new interior back in my 54 ranch wagon and can't remember what or how the windlace around the doors were attached. Are they stapled to some sort of cardboard or something.
Above the doors there is a galvanized metal strip with teeth on the backside held in place by metal tabs. alongside the doors, there are also metal tabs in some areas and some metal strips similar to the top. The windlace is stuffed in between the body and the metal strips using a putty knife. It is best to remove the headliner to install the windlace.
I posted on a thread at 1954Ford.com also since I'm working on this now. The 54 is different from a 41, the 54 Fordor doesn't have fiber tack strips, thats a piece of cake with a staple gun. The 54 has small metal tabs punched out of the body that are bent down to hold the fabric edge of the windlace. But the 54 tabs aren't sharp spikes like my 41, they're rounded and the new windlace just pulls right back out. The top of the door openings have a galvanized metal strip with teeth on the backside as Dave says, but the windlace has to be pinched in place before attaching the spike strips, they only hold the headliner edge in place. The original 54 windlace appears to have a second bead on the blind edge for the tabs to grab.
I sewed a length of parachute cord along the edge and when the garage thaws out I'll see how it works