MTFCA Forum

Can anyone tell me what I can do to replace the weather strip on a center door? I can't seem to find anything even close to what was used originally. I know this problem has existed with every center door out there. What were the solutions?

Here is an example of what I have. I believe this is original. What looks like a rusted channel is actually a brown felt that wraps around the steel window frame and is covered with a thin black material that very well may be a glass setting tape. It's hard to tell now as it is dried out and brittle. The edges were tucked into the window frame channel and the glass inserted.

This is original window lacing. Made of felt and sewn

Tough one. The 1916 center-door I had years ago was pretty messed up when I got it. I looked at almost a dozen cars, and read (pre internet!) what I could find. I don't recall much in the way of weather stripping. My car had no sign of any around the windshield or door jambs.
The side windows were interesting. And NOTHING anywhere near correct was available for it. The channels were smooth wood, about an inch wide down lower, tapering narrower to the top. There was this strange rolled felt thing, covered in leatherette, glued to the sides of the windows, sort of an oval shape about 3/4 inch wide. When the window was raised to the top, the narrower top channel kept the window from rattling (much). The lower bottom of the window had a metal channel with a rolled "hook" along the outer side that was pushed out and hooked over the metal ridge provided for it on the outside of the body. To lower the window, one first lifted the strap, then pulled the bottom inside (about a quarter inch) and then lowered the window, hooking the strap at the desired level. Or resting it upon rubber 'stops' at the bottom.
On my car, I got some replacement wind-lace foam. Cut it a bit more than half way through lengthwise, and covered it in vinyl top material. That in turn, was stretched over the edge of the glass, the thickness of the glass creating the oval shape, and glued to the glass. It wasn't easy, getting everything shaped and glued together was tricky. However, it came out looking very close to right, and worked fine as long as I kept track of the car. (I wish I still had that car!)

As I recall from many years ago while I still had my 1921 coupe; While that might help seal the weather out, I think it is more for anti-rattle. Are all your windows the strap type? If they are and because of how they closed sitting on the shelf on each side, you really could not put weather stipping in the grooves. I am thinking it was a heavy broad cloth that was folded over the edges of the channel, then the glass/setting tape held it in place, not fuzzy like the later types.

Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned that my sedan is a 1920 year model, produced in 1919. The windows are raised and lowered by a strap. The weather strip is attached to the steel window frames and held in place by the window glass.

I believe everything is original as the glass in the car is the original plate glass. I can't believe that the weather strip on the windows was changed at anytime without changing out the glass too. I'm having safety glass installed and the weather strip needs to be changed also as it's falling apart. I'd like to know what others have done on their Center Door Sedans in the past to find a solution to this problem. Thanks for the help.