1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

[Richard M.]

If any of you have original Door Panels off of the car, please measure the depth/thickness of the Lock Knob hole. Please include foam and vinyl, and backing board, then compress it like when the knob goes on and measure again.

Below is a self explanatory pictorial. I gave up. It cannot be done with these door panels. I am planning to review this with the vendor(will be named later), and I would like some data for them to use for the future.

Rich

[Tom D.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

I wonder... Can the locking device mounted in the door be moved?

I am going to look for my old red ones, from a '60.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

I wonder... Can the locking device mounted in the door be moved?

I am going to look for my old red ones, from a '60.

Tom, They can be spaced outward toward the panel on a midyear but not on a C1 as the mechanism is mounted on the backside of the door skin and cannot move toward the panel.

I'm curious what you measure,

Rich

[Bill M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Rich:

I get 12.9 mm driver's side and 14.3 mm passenger's side on my original '59 door panels.

Bill

[Richard M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Rich:

I get 12.9 mm driver's side and 14.3 mm passenger's side on my original '59 door panels.

Bill

Bill, Thanks. Is that with the foam compressed or not?

These reproductions are over 1/2" thick and the distance from the door skin to the lock slot on the shaft is only 3/16", so no way will the knob lock in place.

Conversion:
12.9mm = 0.508"
14.3mm = 0.563"

[Bill M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Bill, Thanks. Is that with the foam compressed or not?

I think my foam is now closer to concrete.....it is a very hard sandwich.

[Bob W.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Richard Please keep us informed as to what you find out as i plan on buying new door panels for my 1959. I can"t check as they are still on the car and the car is in storeage at this time.

Thanks Bob

[Richard M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Bill, Any chance you could shoot a picture showing the layers that make up the hole? Like what I showed above and also below.

Bob, I will when I get this worked out and follow up here. Who knows, maybe I'm doing something wrong. The last three sets of panels i did had very tight lock knobs too but not like this set.

Jury is still out. Bill's are a about 1/2". These are also over 1/2" thick also and the knob will not go on either door panel. Using a rubber mallet and a 2x4 block doesn't even work. I got one on that way yesterday and it compressed the panel and foam/vinyl so hard that the door wouldn't unlock from the inside pull knob. I had a heck of time getting it off. I ended up using 2 small flat-blade jewelers screwdrivers at the ends of the clip to get it off.


I got some photos of other originals and old repros from a friend.

Original, apx 0.180" including vinyl and foam:


Old reproduction, apx 20 years old:
0.250" depth (measured)


Original, backer board thickness, apx 0.180":


===

[Thomas H.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Rich,

Picture of the door panel in my 58. Had to compress a little as you can tell by the depression around the lock knob, but nothing that prohibited me from installing or removing the lock knob easily. I had other issues with the door panels, but this was not one..........

Tom

IMG_1602.jpg

[Bob W.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Richard If anyone can get this worked out it"s you just like turquoise interior color!!

Bob

[Richard M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Tom, Yes those do look a tad tight in there. I'll have to look in Noland's book in the morning as he had a nice photo of a '58 door panel.


Hmmm, Bob, speaking of turquoise....Those were a bit tight too but were fine




A few others,
a '59....




a '60....

[Bill M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Bill, Any chance you could shoot a picture showing the layers that make up the hole? Like what I showed above and also below.

Sure. My first attempt with a phone camera. I can do better if these aren't good enough.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Sure. My first attempt with a phone camera. I can do better if these aren't good enough.

Thanks Bill, Those are fine.

They sure are thicker than I'd have thought.

Rich

[Terry K.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Richard:
Could it be that the hole in the panel is now big enough across? Looks to me that the chrome actuator lever is recessed way into the hole, with a lot of clearance. That space allows for material to be bent into the hole.... My panels are thought to be original off my 1960. They measure just over a half inch thick.


,

[Richard M.]

Re: 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Original Door Panel Thickness at Lock Knob Area

Richard:
Could it be that the hole in the panel is now big enough across? Looks to me that the chrome actuator lever is recessed way into the hole, with a lot of clearance. That space allows for material to be bent into the hole.... My panels are thought to be original off my 1960. They measure just over a half inch thick.


,

Terry, I'll check again when I get the panel back off(for the Nth time). Could you count how many layers in that hole on your panel and approximate thickness dimensions of each?

This reproduction panel is made up of:

-Vinyl
-Foam
-Thin board
-Mylar layer
-Thick board

Thanks,
Rich