MTFCA Forum

I'm trying to sort out some confusion on the Tudor door panel finish. Most Ts that I’ve seen have a single material used from top to bottom which makes the replacement simple.

However, new information indicates that there was a split in the materials used with the bottom portion the same material as the seats and the upper portion a different material something different. Not sure what different means, but a definite change from the bottom material.

The panels in my car are long gone so no help there.

Anyone have an accurate read on what was this detail was from the factory?

Many thanks for your thoughts,

Joe

I am not aware of door panels as you describe, but then a lot of things can happen to a car with different owners and repairmen over the course of almost 100 years. To my knowledge, the door panel material is the same as the seat material, grey with a white stripe.

Thanks for that info, Jeff. It confirms what I've heard about the matching material.

I've come across the suggestion that the door material is the same as seat material but only up to some height where it might have changed to a different material.

I haven't come across any photos or descriptions that demonstrate this construction. Everything I have seen and almost everything that I've heard is just as you have noted it to be.

Seems like a lot of extra work but this was on the "improved" Model T so maybe there was some effort put into making things look different and "improved"?

Joe

Could be confusion with regards to the side panels above the seat, those are not seat material, they are headliner material.

My '26 Coupe came to me with an upholstery kit made by one of the usual suppliers for the T Coupe and fitted by the previous owner around 1988.
That had the same material, a wool with a fine vertical stripe, on the seats, door cards and the small panels aft of the doors. The headliner and upper sides and rear are in a different plain material.
There is carpet on the floor, footwell sides and around the seat plinth.
The door cards have a stitched horizontal line about halfway up.
Other cars and photos (@improved' Coupes) I have seen are similar.

Chris - your description is a perfect match for what I have seen during my searching. The horizontal stitching on the door cards doesn't demark a change in material used but rather serves to hold the single panel of seat material from sagging.

Jeff - I am starting to think that the confusion may be coming from exactly what you note - that headliner material was used above the side panels. This may have lead to the comment of two different materials being used on the panels. That would involve a lot of extra work so I can't see the factory investing that kind of effort into such a small "improvement".