ken1007 Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 (edited) [h=2]35 Dictator fabric roof[/h]Does anyone have the technical drawing/specification for installation of the fabric portion of a 1935, 4 door, Dictator? The issue now is the spacing/alignment of the wooden bows, they are supposed to line up with the metal portion of the tack strip for the headliner that is part of the body metal frame and the distances are not even, side to side. People collect the strangest Studebaker memorabilia and maybe this is tucked away in someones collection; if so it would certainly make the installation much easier. Vendors that specialize in this have good specs for more common cars of which Studebaker is not. Ken, Deltaville VaPhoto follows: I bought this from a person who gave up on restoring the car. He had apparently bought or made the bows and installed the 3" wooden pieces surrounding the open roof hole. It appears to me they may be too wide and if the bow is installed in its correct position onto the edge of the 3" board it would leave a too long area where the headliner could not be secured. But, what I was attempting to describe was that, the bows, when installed to match up with the tack strip on one side do not match up with the tack strip on the other side when measured equal distance from a measuring point from the front. One tack strip was previously removed and I will have to weld it back in place, so maybe he realized the same issue. So the first problem problem is getting the bows straight across the roof and addressing the area where the headliner would not be secured unless the 3 inch board is narrowed. Each bow almost reaches to the metal portion of the original roof making it much closer to the tack strip. Studebaker folks collect the strangest stuff and technical drawings would solve both issues. Vendors who do fabric kits for old cars are at a loss on Studebakers. I have done upholstery for several post war Studebakers, but, obviously do not know much about at this. Edited November 2, 2014 by ken1007 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Not sure I understand the question.In the metal around the "open" portion of top, there should be slots to tack the covering fabric on, usually one side of slot is used for tacks and the other side to fasten the final trim piece.Are you saying that there's no wood under the slots, thus nothing to tack to? A picture would help.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken1007 Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 Not sure I understand the question.In the metal around the "open" portion of top, there should be slots to tack the covering fabric on, usually one side of slot is used for tacks and the other side to fasten the final trim piece.Are you saying that there's no wood under the slots, thus nothing to tack to? A picture would help....Added pic to original post, does that help? Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 I think I understand now, the metal braces that have a tack strip added to them are at different positions on each side, so the headliner tacking tail wouldn't line up.There is usually a span between the cross piece end and the side of the car where headliner just "hangs", and is not attached. If it's supposed to be attached to the tack strip on that metal piece, then you'd have no choice but to move one side or the other to match, a little metal work but not too difficult. Also, there almost seems to be a piece missing above the doors, as usually there's a panel that's two or three inches high that goes there, the headliner tacks along the sides slightly below where the top of this panel would end up, thus the panel helps pull the headliner taut side to side.Hopefully someone will find a good picture of an original "bare" car so you can compare what's on your car to what's needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken1007 Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 [ATTACH=CONFIG]278860[/ATTACH]I think I understand now, the metal braces that have a tack strip added to them are at different positions on each side, so the headliner tacking tail wouldn't line up.There is usually a span between the cross piece end and the side of the car where headliner just "hangs", and is not attached. If it's supposed to be attached to the tack strip on that metal piece, then you'd have no choice but to move one side or the other to match, a little metal work but not too difficult. Also, there almost seems to be a piece missing above the doors, as usually there's a panel that's two or three inches high that goes there, the headliner tacks along the sides slightly below where the top of this panel would end up, thus the panel helps pull the headliner taut side to side.Hopefully someone will find a good picture of an original "bare" car so you can compare what's on your car to what's needed.Thanks, apparently Studebaker did not care if the headliner was little off, side to side, but I do. No problem with welding them back in place. Hopefully there is some one who has a spec for the headliner support. There is a one inch tack strip starting at the front and going to the rear window that is immediately above the doors. It's not that visible because of the rotten material still in the car. Thanks again for you help. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter P Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Not sure if your answer lies in these photos... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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