Jim's Panhard Restoration

Here are some images and narrative from Jim, reference his latest project.   This is the project and below is an interesting article from Jim reference door card restorationI next attacked the door cards..I was initially intending to use  3 mm marine ply-- but experimenting with the staple gun  showed it to shatter  and split==> so a denser medium was required--ergo why they used hardboard in the first instance..?Mindful of  comments that ordinarily available  hardboard is too thick (1/4 ")  I managed to source some 2.9 mm  very dense hardboard  from local specialist timber merchant  ( Bamptons Vespasian Road Southampton)I had the boards cut by a local  kitchen fitter-( he is a good guy-- german chap with excellent attention to detail)-whose tools are good and sharp!( as was his precison and knowhow !)I deliberately did not have the  D- shaped  clip apertures cut in==>  as sprung clips are often the ruin of all door cards--.... especially when one  needs to remove them from the door itself( ie for window winder repairs or door lock fiddling )The hardboard,even when not damp, old or distorted  tends to give way --as the  clip -- by way of its mounting tends to set up a one-sided rotational  motion that endeavours to tear the clip  out of the hardboard, resulting in the usual array of retro desperation fixes of numerous screws through the edges of the door cards...On motoryachts ( with which I work and come into contact with via my business)   all sidelinings and   headlinings these days are installed with 50 wide  mm velcro-- this gives total area adhesion with no point-loadings.I have endeavoured to replicate this methodology on the car also-- using in this instance navy blue unbranded high grab velcro-- that on the metal side of the doorwill be ( after painting!)   be self adhesive velcro  onto a pre-cleaned surface.On the PL 17 this will work  very well indeed as the upper edge rests in the  ally channel-giving a horizontal repeatable datum to work from- requiring  only precise location  in the  vertical plain.So as to be able to adjust this and finalise the exact location    I place a sheet of thin plastic sheeting twixt  the two sides velcro--and once alignment has been satisfactorily established make tiny datum marks at the  edges on the door itselfThe high -tack velcro door panel is lowered into position   and the sheet of plastic is withdrawn--apply pressure  all round and the panel sticks extraordinarily well!This should inhibit the typical waviness that is often exhibited on door cards twixt the point loaded clips.The  rescued   and re-applied  53 yr old vynil will be re-coloured on Monday  to match the seats.The door pockets were too soiled   and damaged to be re-used-- so I made fresh items(in the  photos seen  taped to the plywood --with new  elastic moused into place)I was able to locate a virtually identical grain pattern -albeit in a darker shadeThis will be re-colored to match the other  old vynil so that all the furnishings in the car will have a homogenous colourWhen fully dry and set the new pockets will be stapled into placeSince the images were taken the old screw holes in the vinyl have been repaired and rendered 95% invisibleRemoval of panel is  reversal of above to a certain extent--  a plastic     blade  (  flat glassfibre  sail batten or plastic ruler is see-sawed between the  Velcro layers at the centre bottom working outwards --whilst a helpful assistant ( wife?!) starts  drawing up the plastic sheet  twixt the seperating velcro sides.Car goes in next Saturday for  partial bare metalling ( roof and bonnet) and   complete  re paint --I think I  am even more excited about this paint-job then I was on the  E-type ....I think!?? !  hheheh!:-Denclosed the images of the boards--these were sprayed with  enamel varnish so as to make moisture ingress resistant