MTFCA Forum

I’m to the point where I’m ready for interior panels on my 24 Touring.

I can buy a set from Lang’s or I can make some and cover them with more of the distressed leather that I used for my seats.

If I choose the latter, what material do y’all recommend for the base/backing?

Water board is it’s common name.., Rochford Supply Co. you can google them.

Hank

If you check with a local upholstery shop, he may have it. It is also called panelboard.

We use 3mm MDF. It is stable and can even be sewn through if stitching is needed to replicate original panels.
Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

Contact Mike Francis at Classtique and order the pre-cut panelboards sans the leatherette material. He does sell items and material "a la carte" so it should be no problem.

My dad made a set from scratch for his '17 touring a few years ago.

Instead of buying a pre-made set, he bought the waterproof panelboard sheets and leatherette material from Classtique and cut everything himself. It helps that Classtique is only 40 miles away so we can drive there to get materials.

As someone else posted, you can buy the panelboard from any auto upholstery supply that carries it. For example:

https://www.automotiveinteriors.com/wat ... owl-dp.htm

(When my father originally did the panels way back in 1951, he went to a local auto upholstery supply and bought the panelboard.)

Otherwise, you can go to an art supply or probably even Hobby Lobby and buy heavy cardboard that will suffice (the original factory cardboard backer board certainly wasn't waterproof).

NOTE: earlier cars such as my father's '17 have leatherette applied over the panel board. Eventually, Ford cheapened the open car interior door panels by utilizing a "finished" cardboard and eliminating the leatherette fabric. My dad had NOS examples of these panels that were used on later cars.

Has anyone besides me, ever heard it called 'chipboard" or is that something else?

In Australia, chip board usually comes with a melamine surface each side. It is made with much coarser 'chips' of timber like really coarse sawdust. Most of it has now been superseded by MDF fibreboard, which is more stable and takes crews better. In industry, MDF is the material of choice for computer cut cabinetry.
Knowing you blokes, it's probably called something else over there.
Allan from down under.

Allan here it is called "crap".

Hank