I know what you're thinking... rat rods don't have door panels! I don't have any pics right now, but here's the deal. My '36 Door panels were brand new in '85 from Lebaron Bonney. 19 years later, they were still perfect, unlike the racoon ravaged headliner, but that's another story. Since we've been working on the car alot the past few months, Dad had put the door panels in another car for safekeeping. I asked where he put them, so I went to go get them. When I opened the door I was horrified. The car had started leaking and the rear corners of my door panels were sitting in water. The board had soaked up alot of moisture and was pretty floppy. I let them dry in the sun, but I think the board is not saveable. The fabric has mold and water stains. DAMN. And I can't be mad at my Dad, cause he meant well, and the car used to be air tight. So can I save these? Will they clean up? Can I transfer the material to another backing board? Or do I just forget them and buy new door panels when I have money that can be alotted for that (as opposed to the rear end that fragged in my chevelle and my blown tranny in my Bronco=$$$). Any suggestions?
old fashioned Chlorine bleach (not that new "ultra bleach" which isn't Chlorine bleach) will kill the mold (and the color if it's too strong) replace the wet backing and stuffing. you should be able to get backer board from an upholstery supply.( They hide sometimes. the local onehas an unlisted number and doesn't advertize AT ALL because he preferrs to sell to pros who know exactly what they want coming in the door and they all know where he is.) Or you can go to Home Depot and get a Luan door skin and use that. If the bleach bleaches it redye it. Actually you might get a big plastic storage container, they make under the bed shapes, that you could put a rack in and just suspend the panel above some bleach and cover it and let the gas/vapor do the job.
It's a multi brown/tan fleck mohair fabric, so I don't think bleach/redying is going to work unfortunately.
I think I remember reading once about upholstery shops being able to fix that kind of thing. I'm sure you could transfer it to a new board, but I bet an upholstery shop could fix up the fabric.
If the board is wet, get the fabric off, or it'll get worse. But save the board for a template to make a new one. As for the fabric, maybe Woolite? Or take it to a dry cleaners?
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