Inner Door Panels, were there ever cloth inserts?

Art_B · Mar 13, 2019

I'm new to the Mustang world; picked up a low mileage '98 convertible last fall. Sadly I've discovered it has a cigarette burn in the drivers inner door panel. Haven't found a replacement yet, but I was wondering. During the '94 to '04 SN95 run, did Ford ever offer a "cloth" insert (see the area circled in the pic) on these door panels? I have charcoal colored tweed cloth seats, and I think it would look nice to match that on the door panels (if I could ever find the original seat material....). Wondering if there was a secondary plastic piece made to fit that shape/contour that I could get upholstered?

ttocs · Mar 13, 2019

It came on the early models and you might be able to take one and use it but IIRC they are basically glued in/plastic welded so you would have to cut/melt it out of the old one and then do something similar on the new. It might not be too hard to make your own if you take the panel off, mask off the area and then lay down a thin layer of fiberglass.

MyLittlePony · Apr 29, 2019

Cloth? Don’t you mean vinyl? Mine has a black vinyl overlay with various dimples for a pattern. The rest of the black portion of the card is a harder vinyl with fake leather grain, which peels up around the window trim nicely after 22+ years in the sun.

I have never seen this part of the door card replaced or covered, probably for the same reason ttocs said. The plastic is fused together and would require cutting. I’ve often thought about myself as mine was damaged ever since I got it in 1998. I think a seat belt closed on it wrong.

ttocs · Apr 29, 2019

it can be done and I plan on doing it. Just go ahead and cut where you need to remove it and a few dabs of epoxy on the back will give the same result. Now your probably going to need to get a material with some give to it so it can stretch into the shape, or have it sewn so it will hold that shape.