Florida "Key Lime" 76 Duster Build

God Bless the "Legendary" interior company.....But have you PRICED some stuff lately? They want nearly $400. for a pair of the REAR door panels (you know....the "little ones"....!!!!!!) Mine were ratty, and I hemmed and hawed until I just decided, tonight, to redo them myself. Here goes.

First, do NOT think this is "too hard".....it ISN'T. WATCH.

I had some white pleated vinyl left over from my custom interior on the F-100 project.....I measured it, and had enough for all 4 door panels. I also have some self adhesive backed Mahogany Veneer that I bought for this car, to redo the upper portion of the panels.....SOoooooo, I quit cryin' and started flyin'.

I laid out my patterns as pictured, making sure the lines were "level" with the old trim on the panel. I then cut and tabbed the edges so I could fold them over, securing them with Weld-Wood contact cement. (don't use "spray" glue...it isn't strong enough in my experience). After folding into the glue, I taped the edges just to hold them down while I continued to work (didn't want to catch an edge on somethin').

Next, I glued the vinyl to the front of the panel, being sure again to be STRAIGHT and true with the pleated line. I then cut out a piece of Mahogany, using the upper portion of the panel as the pattern.....I attached the mahogany, pressing it firmly into place, then trimmed the edges for a perfect match to the panel's shape. I masked off the new vinyl, snaded the top of the mahogany with a quick skim of 400 grit, thoroughly wiped the wood clean, and gave it a nice coat of clear acrylic lacquer to bring out the natural grain. I finished it off with a new chrome strip in the exact location of the old factory strip, and VOILA'........BETTER THAN NEW panels in my opinion. TOTAL COST of materials was appx. $20. per panel.....ONE TENTH of brand new replacements. (Total time for a pair, 1.5 hours including glue drying time). I can now hit the vinyl with a tiny touch of SEM or similar to exactly match the new bucket seat covers from Legendary.

I'll repeat the same process on the front panels. The edges of the wood that are clearly seen after installation will be sealed with a paintable silicone bead, perfectly smoothed over (making the edge of the old panel and edge of the new wood literally ONE edge), and color matched.