1972 MC 350 A/T - Door Panel Custom Refurb

[B-Man]

So there are definitely some nice Door Panels for sale by a number of members on this forum. But I figured I would give a 'custom refurb' a shot with what I have on hand and minimal dollars. So far I like the direction I'm going. But it's certainly taking a good amount of trial and error.

I happen to have a black-color leather restoration kit from Color Plus leftover from my 1968 Lincoln Continental build (should never have sold that car, ugh). That kit is the basis of my attempt here. So far it really is brining the color and texture of the door panels back really nicely - like luxury nice!!!

I've decided I want a black with brown / wood accent color scheme going. A member on here sold me a REALLY nice wood dash Insert!!! Yay!!! I bought the 'saddle' color arm rest pads from SS396 and 'saddle' door panel carpets from The Parts Place. I'm not completely sold on either of those yet. I'm running with the arm rests but may not use the door panel carpets - they are not as dark as I would like, and have sort of an orange hue to them.

Instead of the door panel carpets I bought a 4x4 sheet of 1/8in wood from Lowes. I made a cardboard template then used it to cut out a door carpet profile from the panel. I shaped the edges of it a bit with a sanding block and it turned out ok I think. I definitely am not a wood worker

Today I started a rough reassembly with all of the parts. I am waiting on a piece of stainless trim from a forum member, and some adhesive backed, black, rubber 'edge guard' from Amazon to run around the edge of the panel.

Within the next week or so I should have one or both of the door panels refurb' and installed. I'm done with the power window / door lock conversion and window felt / seal replacement (other threads).

Below are some progress photos.

Note: the weird piece of door panel fabric in the last photo is from the door panel of the BMW E90 that I grabbed the interior from. I'm going to install the bucket seats shortly, in place of my bench seat. I have the door panels from the BMW as well as the back bench seat, so I can harvest fabric as needed. Maybe use the fabric to recover items to match the seats better (like the Saddle arm rest pads?)

[B-Man]

Here is a picture of the Color Plus kit. I've had the kit for a while and the liquids still seem viable. 

[B-Man]

Driver door complete!!!!

Well, almost. I still need to repaint the black strip down the chrome strip between the vinyl and the wood, possibly may just run some pinstriping tape if I can find some thin enough. I also need to find some sort of block-off cap where the manual window handle used to be (converted to power, see other thread).

But yeah, I'm pretty happy with this overall. It definitely took longer than I expected. But I learned, and it was fun.

I still have to assemble the passenger door. But it will look much the same hopefully. So ... Thread closed!

[1970mcss]

That turned out very well. It would be cool if you could find burlwood that matches the dash but that's close

[B-Man]

@1970mcss that is the eventual goal.  There is a company near me called Cambio Plywood. A few years ago I bought a 'roll' of adhesive backed, real wood, laminate and used it to reface the dash on my 1978 Triumph Spitfire. I forget exactly what wood I picked - maybe Maple?  So once I get the rest of my DIY custom interior in place I will go back and match things a bit better. It will be VERY easy to reface these wood panels.

But yeah, I really can't believe how well that driver door panel turned out! I'm excited to show it off

https://www.cambioplywood.net/