Mercury Speedster Door

[CamMan]

Can some one post a photo of the door inside for a Mercury speedster? I've seen the framing but I'm wondering what the door upholstery looks like.

[DanTreace]

This photo from a 1926 car show, the later bodies may have been done without pleats on the upholstery and this one seems plain. Imagine the door panel had pocket.


Other Mercury bodies seen had pleated upholstery, as per this photo of the factory operations.

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[CamMan]

That's the way I would expect it to look. If you look at the framing though (see photo), there is no solid edge running along the curved top edge. You'll end up with a gap that needs to be filled in somehow.

[DanTreace]

Larry

Since it's a speedster, the lighter design carries through. No expert, but just observation of photos, most all show a leather or imitation type leather 'hand or arm rest pad' on the top edge of the door. That detail would be for hand grip to pull and close the door. If a door panel was extended to the top of the metal door rolled edge, would be hard to place palm and fingers over the rolled edge.


So would think the lower part is door cardboard, and with a hinged 'pocket', so gloves or stuff could be stored inside the door. That is common on custom bodies. I did a custom bodied T touring and it had that type of hinged pocket too.

Note how ladies hand can fold over easy on the rolled door edge, if a panel was to the top, couldn't do this.

Door edge pads:

Typical door pocket, the flap is sewn to the door cardboard.

[Dan McEachern]

Larry- here are a few pictures that might help. Not great but.....

[AndyClary]

Similar to the above photo, my Mercury had a door card with an access flap. It only went up to the horizontal brace and uses the door cavity as a glove box. I probably won’t get to the upholstery until winter.




Andy

[CamMan]

Thanks Dan. The welt covers the gap but it seems like there must be a tack strip or something underneath it. My photo of Bud Voth's door is similar to Mike Bender's. There's nothing to attach the welt to.

[Mike Penserini]

Here is a photo of my Model B Mercury door. The Model B has many differences than the Model A. This is how I received the Mercury, I didn't mess with the upholstery. There is wood in the door and it definitely has a tack strip.

[Mike Penserini]

Here we have a photo of the ex-Harrah Mercury. Note the "hide em welt" as used on Model A tops.

[Allan]

It looks like 8 pleats in the seat backs in the Factory photo, so the Harrah's car, with 8 corresponding pleats in the squab, follows usual practice.

Allan from down under.

[Dan McEachern]

We took another look at the door trim on the Merc. The metal trim tabs on the ends of the hidem are held in place with oval head machine screws. They look to be 6-32 thread and it appears the top of the door is tapped to hold the screw. Under the hidem and fabric for the door liner is a strip of 1/4" thick wood that is attached to the top steel framework of the door. Not sure how this is attached to the door frame- perhaps a few countersunk head screws along the length. On top of this wood strip is glued a strip of 1/8" thick dense cardboard about 1" wide. This may have been a shim that was added to raise the edge of the door trim- not sure. There are tacks holding the fabric and hidem driven into this wood strip. No idea how original this is, but this is one example. Hope the pictures help.

[AndyClary]

This group of photos shows how we are influenced by those who built/restored our car before us. The early photo show at least a partial filling to the top of the door. But the horizontal brace is exposed. My car has a doo card that goes from the bottom to the top of the horizontal brace. As it is held in by mid 60’s Ford door panel fasteners I would doubt it’s authenticity. The McEachern and Harrah’s cars have full coverage to the top. Given the weight Harrah’s good name Dan’s car may have been influenced by their work. I think to get to the bottom of this we would have to hope Jarvis or maybe Mike Penserini might have a better original photo.

Andy

[Dan McEachern]

Andy- none of this is simple eh?

[Mike Penserini]

I've seen Dan Treace's pictures before, but I not blown up. Kinda puts a whole new light on things. I went out to the garage and looked at my other Mercury and I'm thinking Andy's car is probably correct. Jarvis is the best for original photos.

[CamMan]

Thanks to all that posted. At this stage we don't know what may have been done in a previous restoration and we don't know how many variations there may have been at the factory. I've seen quite a few minor differences in other parts even on bodies that look to be original, so I'm sure doors would be no different.