The stock door panels on the car in pretty good shape for a 50 year old car. I am considering removing the door panels and replacing them with custom metal panels covered with fabric.
Spring clips used to mount the original fiber board panels to the door interiour. After removal and installation a few times(no matter how careful) the fiber board does show signs of wear.
What I am looking into doing is using ford nut clip. These type of fasteners are used extensively in this car in other areas and are easily obtained from after market sources.
An idea I have about using the nut clips requires modifying the door to install the nut clips. This would require cutting/grinding/drilling the spring clips holes and so there would be no going back to the original installation hardware or the original door panel. That is not really a problem for me.
The basic plan is to install nut clips on the perimeter of the door and create a custom metal door panel with the correct cutouts/holes for the armrest, door handle and window lever.
The door panel would be fabric covered, and regular bolts/machine screws for the nut clips would be used to install the panel. If the door components ever needed repairs/upgrades it would be very easy and it would not damage the door panel.
