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Questions about interior panels

3K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  Will I. Finish 
#1 ·
So, i have my carpeting and seats removed. there are 2 panels in the rear below each window. one is really badly warped. How hard are these to fabricate? I assume they are nearly impossible to find in good shape? the front panels in front of the front doors look like they can be fabricated out of masonite and painted. my right side one is warped. Left side, not too bad, but I can use it for a template.

Door panels are good, but will need to be recovered in vinyl to match seats when they are reupholstered.

the back panel below the rear windshield is totally gone. That doesn't seem to be a major problem to fabricate.
I will take some pics and post them.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
I too thought about redoing my own door panels, they were pretty bad, but I was sure I could do it. After taking the panel apart and making patterns, I tried to put it back together. What a mess. It looked something like the original, but not close enough for my satisfaction. Took it to an upholstery shop and got an estimate. I already had 1/8 inch marine plywood for the backing. I showed it to the guy in the shop and he said "good, that will cut down the cost". Then without a grin, he quoted me $1200.00, that was for the rear panels, door panels, and the kick panels. Not today. About three years later OGTS came out with replacement door panels, rear panels, and kick panels. Don't remember what the cost was, but I bought them all. Installed them, with a new carpet and it looks as good or better than a new car. Looked at Gil's site the present price is $550 for the door panels and rear quarter panels, and another $79 for the kick panels. So I guess it is a matter of what you are going to do with your car. I am sure if you are not going to enter it in any shows, there is a cheaper alternative, but for $629 you can buy all the panels in the interior, if you are going to show your car, it is well worth it, top quality, easy installation, and most of all it looks great. If you can't spend that much and you are handy, you might be able to make your door panels and get them looking good for a lot less. I hope you keep us informed it you decide to do it yourself.

Bob

No, I don't work for OGTS, just love the products they have.
 
#3 · (Edited)
It's easy. It took me 15 minutes to make each rear side panel. Of course, that's without quilting or any embellishments, just smooth, padded, vinyl over masonite or plywood of your choice. They aren't seen or abused much, so I just stapled gunned the vinyl on. I did the same to a car back in the late 80's and all of the upholstery still looks as good as when I did it.

It all starts by mocking up panels with sheets of cardboard, make your mistakes and adjustments, then trace it to the final substrate(your panel). Depending on the area, you can use contact cement, Goop, staples, to hold the vinyl on. For doors, I harvest the curved plastic piece at the top of an old door panel and staple that to my new flat lower door panel. This makes dealing with that curve at the top and padding it a bit easier. If fact, I think I padded and vinyled the curved plastic piece FIRST and then stapled it to the already upholstered lower door panel. I screw my replacement door panels to the door at each corner at the bottom. It's too much trouble to get all those oem clips to mount up.

Quilting and stitching pockets, designs, logos, stripes, requires considerably more work, equipment, and skills, so I use my imagination to invent other ways to dress things up.

If you're a stocker and want the doors to look oem, then buying OGTS interior panels is definitely the way to.
 
#4 ·
I made my own rear panels and door panels for my 69 rally kadett restore. The doors are or course just flat, while the rear has the arm rest shelf and ash tray built in. I used the old ones as patterns and cut 1/4 plywood and glued and screwed the shelf together. While not exactly original, it looks ok to me.
 
#6 ·
Diy?

If you want to DIY with a custom design, upholstery supply shops sell a cardboard exactly like the stock backing material. IIRC, a piece about 36" x 65" was about $15 and would do all 4 pieces. The upholstery guy I have talked to would lower the price IF he didn't have to do any extra work to make them fit, and did NOT like the plywood. HTH -- Doug

PS - Ask for "door card" or "door stock".
 
#7 ·
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#9 ·
I made mine too, both front and back for my Rallye. But I covered my panels with a thin 1/4 foam before the vinyl. Well it looks good, but. But it wound up being a little too thick for the door handle escutcheon to snap into place. I havent fixed it yet, but will eventually remove a small diameter circle of backing foam from the opening so the escutcheon will fit properly.
 
#10 ·
I just ran across this old thread and wanted to add my comments.
I took the front kick panels and the rear panels off during the restoration, mid 90's, and purchased a high grade vinyl and using the original panels added some foam, and used contact cement and they look just like the originals. The only cost was the vinyl and the padding. The rear panels also required the plastic chrome stick on strip which was a 3M product that you just peel off the back and it adhears forever, at least so far, 20 years and counting. The fender well covers, well my wife sews and just used the old one as a templete and they fit really well too. My door panels are in pretty good shape so no plans to date however I did use the 3M chrome strip to cover the old ones as both of those were looking pretty bad, I swear I think I purchased a roll of that chrome strip from Kmart when they closed there store in my area. The door panels appeared to me to be pretty difficult and I am not sure how easy it would be to find the same pattern to match the seats. If that is available I may give it a try. I don't recall for sure but I think I recovered the rear window tray instead of purchasing it and purchased the rear spare tire flap from OGTS. I also recovered the panel below the flap with new viny myself. I purchased a head liner from OGTS and had the dash done at Just Dashes and replaced the carpet with a Kit from OGTS so the interior is in pretty good shape. As a kid I really liked the all black interior but I have seen pictures of a tan interior that was outstanding - I would think, if going none stock, that grey tones would be great. The problem with a black interior is you just don't really see it like you can see the tan interior. Just one man's opinion. Loved the posts and pictures - got some great ideas. Thanks.....
 
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