Hello everyone, My 51' Mercury project has a chopped top and I do not have headline bows and would prefer not to use them so I can get as much headroom as possible. Any ideas on how to build a headliner out of removable "wood panels" like what you would use on door panels so I can have them upholstered to match the rest of the car. Anyone added 1/2" or 3/4" square tube pieces with holes drilled into them welded to the roof in order to use the push style door panel pins into the tube to attach panels like this? I have seen a few cars, including Mercury's that have headliners that look like they have panels installed and they have been done cleanly but I have only seen them in pictures. Ideas?!?!?
The headliner bows almost touch the roof, only about 3/8" or so. You can buy a book on upholstery, one of them goes over moulded headliners. Think it was called "custom interiors"? Stock ones look sooo clean though!!!
I think if you weld to roof it will "print" through because ur in fact making the roof thicker where the welded ribs are
Exactly as stated by all above. Bows can be made out of 1/8 round edge wire or made to fit from other cars. If panel is your choice , there is probably enough supports in there now . Would take too long to guide you thru it here. Good luck
I've done many headliners where the bows actually touched the roof. I think you could probably end up with a net loss of 1/2" headroom if you take some time.
Here is an awesome tutorial. The thread was started by another member, and member skipstitch chimes in and shows a detailed headliner install. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...amples-of-coupe-headliner-installation.38449/
There was an article in (I think) Custom Rodder in the 90's on how to do a headliner where the seams run front to back like many of the original chopped Mercs had. They used conduit and tack strips. The article was actually the headliner on one of Kurt McCormick's Barris restorations. I'll see if I can find a link to it....might be on Rikster's site someplace. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I guess it depends on how tight up you could bend your conduit. If you got it right up against the roof you might not lose too much. I hope not anyway since I plan on putting one in mine and I'm 6'2" LOL But, the car in the article is the Johnny Zaro Merc in Kurt McCormick's collection and he is not short….and all his cars are driven, so I assume he must sill fit and be able to see.
Thank you for the offer Matt, I am going to do a little more research and if the bows are the way to go, then I'll contact you. Your work continues to inspire me and others here so thank you again.
Dr Dave, This is what I am talking about-I knew someone from the HAMB and a fellow Merc owner would find some more cool ideas. I can fabricate tubing very well, so this may be the way I go and using 1/2 Square tube instead of conduit may be the answer.
Well, there you go, thinking up a better mouse trap! I think the 1/2 square would be a great idea and would probably make a for a better surface to fix the tack strips to. I probably would have never thought of that….and my father-in-law owns a steel company, so I would have ready access. LOL.
Thank you, Its not very hard to bend the arc using a simple tube roller and then possibly a tube bender for the tighter radiuses on the ends. Now, I have some ideas and will get on this very soon. My plan would be to also use luan wood with standard door panel clips to make panels that can be pushed into place after they are upholstered as this will also help with insulation etc. I have a bunch of pics of my project that I need to post and will do so after I figure this part out to share with everyone, much like you and others have.
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