A few 1940 Ford Deluxe Fordor questions

[WarbirdPhotog]

Hey all, been a bit! Still working on the 1940 Ford battery 3D printed case, but life has been quite busy. It's about 65% done at this point. Anyway, a few detail questions beyond Kube's book.

1) When it comes to the driver's door armrest in the Fordor Deluxe, in Kube's book, it's said to be the same material as the upper portion of the door panels. But, I've seen an overwhelming amount of door armrests on deluxe vehicles online covered in the seat upholstery. That said, I also got a NOS door armrest for a deluxe (since mine was missing it) that appears to have original upholstery on it, and it looks like a similar (but not perfect) fabric to the Bedford style seat fabric. Which should it be, so I know which material to use? The rear arm rests on my '40, which are all completely original, including the padding and fabric, and have seat upholstery. So I just wanted to make sure what I should be doing for this single driver's armrest.

2) For that windlace that wraps around the side and bottom edge of the bottom low-pile door carpet, is that the same windlace as around the doors and on the B-Pillar? Or is it different somehow? My door panels (which look original... but perhaps they are not) are trimmed with leather edges on that lower section instead of windlace. So I wanted to be sure exactly what that windlace/welting should look like on the door panel.

3) I've asked Kube about the front kick panels before, and I plan to scribe them with the correct lines. But I'm not sure what material to make them out of. Corrugated Plastic Sheets, Hardwood/Pegboard, Thick cardboard, Gator/Foam Board? And those should be painted a tan color according to the book... like the same color as the rubber floor mat? Or more of a rose-gold tan?

Thanks all!

[WarbirdPhotog]

Anyone have some ideas on these questions?

[38 coupe]

One suggestion that could be time consuming: watch the films that Ford put out to advertise the new 1940 Fords and see if there are any good views of the interior of a sedan that shows the areas you need to know about. One disclaimer is that some of these advertising films were produced with prototype cars and may not be completely accurate for production models.
Link to some films available on that video sharing site: https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...rtisement+film

[Terry,OH]

Just an idea: The body parts books list the seats in different fabrics, they may also list the arm rest in the same way. That will let you know if they were offered in different fabrics and what the fabric was.

[WarbirdPhotog]

Originally Posted by 38 coupe

One suggestion that could be time consuming: watch the films that Ford put out to advertise the new 1940 Fords and see if there are any good views of the interior of a sedan that shows the areas you need to know about. One disclaimer is that some of these advertising films were produced with prototype cars and may not be completely accurate for production models.
Link to some films available on that video sharing site: https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...rtisement+film

Unfortunately, most of those videos are too low-res to really get an idea of the texture. I've seen many of them (some of them are new, thanks!), and while they show great looks at the overall interior, I wish they were just a bit more high-res to make out the fabric textures.

Originally Posted by Terry,OH

Just an idea: The body parts books list the seats in different fabrics, they may also list the arm rest in the same way. That will let you know if they were offered in different fabrics and what the fabric was.

Yes, I have an original 1940 Fabric sample page. The options were basically a mohair or broadcloth for the seats, and a mohair or 'cloth' for the sidewalls.
However, after finding a great super high resolution photo of the interior of a 1940 Dexlue Fordor in the Ford archives yesterday, it does appear that the arm rests should be done in the seat fabric, not the door fabric. This seems to be consistent across both either the mohair or broadcloth seat fabric options for the Deluxe.

[19Fordy]

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Warbird: On my 40 Ford LeBarron Bonney interior installed in 1978 the welting on the bottom of the door panels is the same as the door jamb windlace. Both are cloth. no leather.
If you need it, I will post a photo of the door panel.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

Warbird: On my 40 Ford LeBarron Bonney interior installed in 1978 the welting on the bottom of the door panels is the same as the door jamb windlace. Both are cloth. no leather.

[WarbirdPhotog]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

Warbird: On my 40 Ford LeBarron Bonney interior installed in 1978 the welting on the bottom of the door panels is the same as the door jamb windlace. Both are cloth. no leather.
If you need it, I will post a photo of the door panel.

Great photo! That answers that question, much appreciated!

[Terry,OH]

Ford published a "Body Parts List" book in 1940 covering interior items offered for each body style car. This book is much different than the interior cloth fabric sheet.
From that book: The 73B arm rest were only offered in
Mohair M-16502-F and Broadcloth M-16810-E