What have you done to your DeLorean today?

[Col Bennett]

My original door panels looked great, but the backing boards were totally busted at the fir-tree holes so I decided to buy a set of new NOS panels a few years ago. As I’m sure you all know by now, NOS doesn't mean perfect. They arrived with marks on the vinyl from 39 years of storage. Minor, but you know me - not perfect.

I was bummed. I originally planned to sell them on and repair my backing boards with fiberglass - BUT, you know, if you're gonna perfect your car properly, why not do it with some style.

Tri-Valley Auto Interiors in Pleasanton (California) took on the job of swapping the vinyl from my original panels over to the NOS boards - and also restored the padding too. Thanks to local owner Sandy for the recommendation!

Absolutely gorgeous work. The best of both worlds. My original door vinyl with brand new boards and glorious spongey padding - just like it rolled off the lot in 81.

[mr_maxime]

Looks awesome. Did they originally have that much padding? Cause mine look deflated in comparison

[Col Bennett]

Looks awesome. Did they originally have that much padding? Cause mine look deflated in comparison

They did.

As far as I can tell, most door panels these days will look totally flat because the foam will have disintegrated into black powder over the past 39 years. If yours haven't, try pressing on them and you'll hear the foam squish and turn to powder. Actually, scratch that - don't press them. That's a bad idea if they still look nice.

Mine were flat too, and the NOS panels I got from DMCH we're also flat. I believe the same foam was used on original leather seat covers - again turning to a black sandy powder.

I'm sure there's plenty of better references, but here's a few quick ones from a fairly obscure movie…

[mr_maxime]

I actually like it better that way. I got some eventual interior refresh I'll have to do. Probably get those done with the seats.

[Col Bennett]

I actually like it better that way. I got some eventual interior refresh I'll have to do. Probably get those done with the seats.

Totally. It's one of those things that once you see it returned to its original look, there's no going back. It looks and feels great. It's so nice to have a sense of squishiness to the panels. Feels a lot more premium than the flat boards for sure. Well worth doing - and doing properly. Cheers!

[DMC5180]

Totally. It's one of those things that once you see it returned to its original look, there's no going back. It looks and feels great. It's so nice to have a sense of squishiness to the panels. Feels a lot more premium than the flat boards for sure. Well worth doing - and doing properly. Cheers!

They look great. But how did they put new foam in. Did they remove all the stitching, then bond a new foam filler in, carefully re-stitch over the existing stitch pattern? Or, did they simply cut foam inserts and slide them in between the original stitched rows? Is the new foam a better type? The original was PVC foam. Surely a more modern replacement was used.

[louielouie2000]

They look great. But how did they put new foam in. Did they remove all the stitching, then bond a new foam filler in, carefully re-stitch over the existing stitch pattern? Or, did they simply cut foam inserts and slide them in between the original stitched rows? Is the new foam a better type? The original was PVC foam. Surely a more modern replacement was used.

The part I bolded is how I've seen this done before. Basically the vinyl skin is just glued onto the backer boards around the edges. Once you peel the vinyl off the backer boards, you can open up the individual "channels" in the vinyl and remove the old foam dust, slide new foam into the channels, then just glue the edges of the vinyl back onto the backer boards (using many clamps around the edges to keep the vinyl in place while the glue dries). There used to be a blog that showed a step by step how to do this... but I can't seem to locate it.

In any event, I *LOVE* seeing when restorations go to this extent. Thanks to Darren Decker, I have an unchecked OCD obsession when it comes to proper DeLorean cosmetics haha.

[Col Bennett]

They look great.

Thank you!

Once you peel the vinyl off the backer boards, you can open up the individual "channels" in the vinyl and remove the old foam dust, slide new foam into the channels, then just glue the edges of the vinyl back onto the backer boards.

Thanks! - and yes, spot on. That's how it's done.

Oh, and maybe this is the article you were thinking of…
https://timemachine16606.tumblr.com/...rd-restoration

[louielouie2000]

Thanks! - and yes, spot on. That's how it's done.

Oh, and maybe this is the article you were thinking of…
https://timemachine16606.tumblr.com/...rd-restoration

That's the one! I'll have to bookmark this for later use, thanks for sharing the link!

As a side note, I sometimes wonder if vendors take the time to eyeball parts before shipping them. Maybe they figure only a small percentage of people are particular enough to send items back for quality/condition issues, and just roll the dice.

[DMCMW Dave]

As a side note, I sometimes wonder if vendors take the time to eyeball parts before shipping them. Maybe they figure only a small percentage of people are particular enough to send items back for quality/condition issues, and just roll the dice.

Quite honestly, with NOS parts, especially "soft goods" at this point there isn't much choice. NOS parts have been stored and picked over for a very long time, and they will not throw away remaining parts that are "defective" as they are better than nothing and probably restorable to a better condition than a full reproduction. Full reproduction of parts like this would be insanely complex and expensive to come anywhere near the quality of the originals. The OP didn't mention the cost of having these re-mounted and foamed, but I'll bet it wasn't cheap.

If you happened to have a situation where someone gutted or damaged the car and you need the panels, you'd be happy to have these. If you want perfection you'll have to refurbish them. If the NOS vendor was to refurb parts like this the prices would likely more than double. Maybe an option would be multi-tiered pricing (restored and non-restored), but that's a lot of extra work for some pretty slow moving inventory. I recall seeing notations on some parts that condition may be variable, maybe that should be added to these as well.