Ideas please - Upholstery on Inner Door Panels

[jason999]

Hello,

I am getting close to completing my 66 Fleetside. My inner door panels are dinged up. Instead of buying new ones, I am thinking about taking them to have them upholstered.

My seat is red vinyl with red/black houndstooth inserts.

I am thinking about making the inner part cloth houndstooth and the outer part red vinyl to match the seat.

Does anyone have photos of upholstered panels?

Thanks,
Jason

[dwcardfan]

Not mine but was at the shop I had to do my interior.

[kerber63]

I had my door panels upholstered with cloth. The outside was a thin dark gray and the inside was a thick light gray. The upholstery shop wrapped the light gray around a cardboard cutout and glued it into the recess so the recess was flush with the rolled lip. Any time moisture ran into the door, the cloth absorbed it and it would run up the cloth. Eventually, the glue started to give and the edges of my inside panel started to curl and pull away. When I did my next rebuild, I ripped the cloth off, fixed the panels, and painted them.

[PGSigns]

Mine in the 66 are done in the same material as the seat. Been on many years and has held up. Was done by one of the previous owners.
Jimmy

[jason999]

Thanks for the picture DW.

No one else has pictures?

Im starting to think about covering it in black instead of the houndstooth and red vinyl.

[dwcardfan]

Where are the dents on your panels? There are panel inserts on Ebay that look pretty cool.

[dwcardfan]

Here is a sample. There were other styles on there also.

[jason999]

Mine have done dents on the outer portion too. So I'll need to cover more than jUst the inner part. I am thinking about all black on the panels I the red doors now. I may spray one with plasti dip to see what all black looks like. ..

[MisterC]

A couple that I've saved off of Instagram

[racecougar]

Saw this one at a local cruise:

[BR3W CITY]

Pics aren't the best but I did my upper panels, then made a set of lower door cards myself and matched them with the same material and hardware. I ended up making a knee-panel for the dash as well. The center console is the same leather, just without the stainless hardware.

[65chevysub]

There was a place called "Rodoors" not sure of the spelling that made complete sets: door panel and lower door, as well as kick panels all matching. I will try to look them up for a website.

[65chevysub]

Originally Posted by 65chevysub

There was a place called "Rodoors" not sure of the spelling that made complete sets: door panel and lower door, as well as kick panels all matching. I will try to look them up for a website.

Ok. The website is
www.roddoors.com
The unfortunate part is they do panels for just about everything BUT 60-66 Chevy trucks.
Sorry I mislead anyone.

[BR3W CITY]

At one time I believe they actually did sell a door panel or armrest kit or something like that, but I think its been years since thats been true.

[Pizzaholic]

Mine is a '62, so the shape of the panel is different, but the concept is the same. I took thin upholstery vinyl from a craft/fabric store and using a heat gun and strong adhesive spray wrapped the front side and edges of the door panel with the vinyl. You need to use a really strong hold/bond strength of adhesive, and stretch or compress the vinyl a bit as you work around the convex contours and into the concave contours of the metal panel.

Then I used the same vinyl and fabric spray paint that I had used on my seats (which I pulled out of a '67 Buick in the salvage yard) so that it would match. My '62 dash is different than the '64-'66 dash (but I assume that there are similar possibilities with those years) - I'll also be doing the glove box door, ash tray door, heater control panel, and a (still to be fabricated) panel insert to surround the stereo. If I feel really ambitious someday, I might even try to create a headliner insert to put in the cab ceiling in order to soften up the cab and it's acoustics even more. I'm not going two-tone with any of my interior vinyl, including the seats, because I like how the vinyl color and painted metal interior of the cab already create a two-tone look for the interior, both in terms of color and texture.

[Pizzaholic]

Here is a close up of the texture. The vinyl paint that I used is a Duplicolor product available at most parts stores.

[jason999]

Originally Posted by Pizzaholic

Mine is a '62, so the shape of the panel is different, but the concept is the same. I took thin upholstery vinyl from a craft/fabric store and using a heat gun and strong adhesive spray wrapped the front side and edges of the door panel with the vinyl. You need to use a really strong hold/bond strength of adhesive, and stretch or compress the vinyl a bit as you work around the convex contours and into the concave contours of the metal panel.

Then I used the same vinyl and fabric spray paint that I had used on my seats (which I pulled out of a '67 Buick in the salvage yard) so that it would match. My '62 dash is different than the '64-'66 dash (but I assume that there are similar possibilities with those years) - I'll also be doing the glove box door, ash tray door, heater control panel, and a (still to be fabricated) panel insert to surround the stereo. If I feel really ambitious someday, I might even try to create a headliner insert to put in the cab ceiling in order to soften up the cab and it's acoustics even more. I'm not going two-tone with any of my interior vinyl, including the seats, because I like how the vinyl color and painted metal interior of the cab already create a two-tone look for the interior, both in terms of color and texture.

That looks great! Post more pictures of the interior when its done! I have a really good upholstery guy. He has my panels right now. I post pictures when I get them back.

Thanks,
Jason

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by kerber63

I had my door panels upholstered with cloth. The outside was a thin dark gray and the inside was a thick light gray. The upholstery shop wrapped the light gray around a cardboard cutout and glued it into the recess so the recess was flush with the rolled lip. Any time moisture ran into the door, the cloth absorbed it and it would run up the cloth. Eventually, the glue started to give and the edges of my inside panel started to curl and pull away. When I did my next rebuild, I ripped the cloth off, fixed the panels, and painted them.

Me too. My truck came with some kinda tuck n' roll which had already rotted the door.

[Chevy Fleetside]

Originally Posted by 65chevysub

Ok. The website is
www.roddoors.com
The unfortunate part is they do panels for just about everything BUT 60-66 Chevy trucks.
Sorry I mislead anyone.

Originally Posted by BR3W CITY

At one time I believe they actually did sell a door panel or armrest kit or something like that, but I think its been years since thats been true.

Rod doors when out of business. It's no wonder with their bad fastening system. I did order door panels back in the day when they were around. I bought door panels kick panels and a headliner. Here are the door panels that are still in my truck. I have doctored them just a bit, but you can't see what I did. Not great pictures as I took them in the garage. I can always take better ones when it is outside.

[verdell]

Originally Posted by Pizzaholic

Mine is a '62, so the shape of the panel is different, but the concept is the same. I took thin upholstery vinyl from a craft/fabric store and using a heat gun and strong adhesive spray wrapped the front side and edges of the door panel with the vinyl. You need to use a really strong hold/bond strength of adhesive, and stretch or compress the vinyl a bit as you work around the convex contours and into the concave contours of the metal panel.

Then I used the same vinyl and fabric spray paint that I had used on my seats (which I pulled out of a '67 Buick in the salvage yard) so that it would match. My '62 dash is different than the '64-'66 dash (but I assume that there are similar possibilities with those years) - I'll also be doing the glove box door, ash tray door, heater control panel, and a (still to be fabricated) panel insert to surround the stereo. If I feel really ambitious someday, I might even try to create a headliner insert to put in the cab ceiling in order to soften up the cab and it's acoustics even more. I'm not going two-tone with any of my interior vinyl, including the seats, because I like how the vinyl color and painted metal interior of the cab already create a two-tone look for the interior, both in terms of color and texture.

Very nice. Can you post more pics of your interior?

[The_Hub]

Mine's a '60 but I covered mine in old burlap sacks.

[robber grin]

Had matching red pleated vinyl panels made to fit. Got the repop door pull arm rests and will paint the gray areas white.