Vanden Plas Door Cards

Previously I had removed the door cards on my Daimler Double-Six Vanden Plas to fit new door mirrors and speakers.  The material of the door cards was still in good condition, however the backing boards were almost totally disintegrated.

Given there were a few edges where it was starting to come apart, I wanted to repair this before the original material was damaged.  This was beyond my skill level, so I took the door cards to a trimmer.

If my car had been a regular XJ or Daimler, then new backing boards are available for purchase.  However, the Vanden Plas uses its own hand made backing boards.  They are a unique design, with some sections double for strength.  These can be seen in the photo above, around the thinner section.

Reviewing the options with the trimmer, we agreed that the best course of action was to create new ones in Aluminum.  They could be cut exactly to size and wouldn’t need the additional strengthening sections.  Moisture wouldn’t be an issue either.

I dropped the car off a couple of weeks ago and he created me a couple of sets of backing boards in aluminum, re-fitted my original trim and installed it all back on the car.   While he was there I also asked him to install the grab handles that were still in a box in the boot, and fix the damaged felt in the tray under the gauges. We also didn’t mess with the door pockets as they were still in good condition.

The old backing boards looked very sorry for themselves when I went to pick up the car.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the result.   We also talked about looking the drooping headliner.  I decided to leave it alone for now.   The headlining was changed not long before I purchased the car, so its disappointing that it is already drooping.   I’ll have to see how it goes.

The interior is a big part of what makes these cars special, so I’m glad to have repaired this in a way that preserves it.  While not factory correct, I think its a better solution overall.