1936 dodge coupe interior questions

[Guest glnrcg]

Looking for any pics of a 36 coupe interior.Looking to restore to original style and the interior is pretty stripped down. Trying to figure out the roof bows and how to seal the metal roof insert .Also door panels . Any companys that I can get materials from.

Thanks

glnrcg@netzero.com

[Ian_Greenlaw]

g'day,

Have a look at my thread " slow progress but getting there " in the Dodge section. not sure if the 34 and 36's have the same roof setup but I posted a lot of pics when my roof bows were rebuilt and when I sealed the roof insert in place.

Have a look and see what you think.

I'll shoot you some pics of a few 36's I have when I get a minute. Hopefully they will help.....not coupes but may give you some ideas.

Cheers

Ian

[jpage]

The original roof seals are no longer available for these cars. There is a man who sells a one piece repro seal that looks pretty good. It's doesn't have the same exterior look as the original but I think it will do the job nicely. If interested, PM me and I'll give you his number. All the interiors were done in the same style of stitching regardless of body style except commercials. Most of the cars I have seen were finished in a mohair fabric in a taupe color although different colors were available. Leather was also available at extra cost but I've never seen a closed car done in leather from the factory. You can buy door panel material from Restoration Specialties in PA at 814-467-9842 along with the painted cowlboard for the package tray, firewall pad and kick panels. From what I see, most of the latter panels were a dark gray color. Upholstery material can be purchased from several different suppliers like Bill Hirsh, Lebaron-Bonney ,SMS and others but you will not find a kit for these cars so you'll probably have to have an upholsterer sew one up for you. Most of the advertising fliers show artist renderings of the interior which are pretty close. The hard part is getting all the coach lacing, windlacing and material to look right together as the original styles and colors are not available any more although many are close. It's getting harder to find the old style windlacing fabric and coachlacing as supplies dwindle. Also Restoration specialties has new original panel fasteners available for the door panels. Originally they used a plate stapled into the panel along with a wire clip. It's a lot of work but makes a nice job. I just did new panels for my sedan. If you have any panels at all try to keep them for patterns as trying to figure an interior from scratch can be a headache. I can guide you as to which window channel to use and I can rebuild your wide window channels and beltstrips if you have them. You mention the roof bows; do you have them and the metal mounting brackets along with the wire headliner hangers? If not maybe one of the guys with the coupes could make you some patterns and have some extra brackets. I have some original upholstery panels from my sedan and I might be able to lend you a sample so you can see the way that they are made but the seat is a different story. If you have any questions fell free to PM me or call me direct and I'll try to guide you as best I can. Jim

[Guest 1935du]

i have an all original 1935 2dr but it has bucket seats not sure the 36' did. any detailed photos you need of it, i will send you.

[36 D2 Coupe]

Hi glnrcg - Welcome to the forum! And good to hear you're working on a '36 Coupe. I saw jpage's comment on the roof seal and wanted to comment on it. Originally the roof was sealed with a material called dum dum. There is a diagram of how that works in the November 1935 Annual Show Number of MoTor Magazine in conjunction with the roof antenna. The roof is isolated from the body on a rubber pad and the bolts that attach the panel to the body are mounted with fiber washers to keep the parts separated electrically. The channel between the roof panel and the body is filled with dum dum which is a pliable sealing material. This will work far better than a rubber seal and a rubber seal is not original anyway. I did locate some dum dum in England on eBay and got a roll for my own coupe. It is becoming hard to find so if you or anyone else wants some it might be an idea to look into it. Current eBay item # is 370631714598.

keiser31 - do you have a fax- I don't have a scanner but can fax you a copy of the page from the '35 MoToR magazine to post on the forum. I think it's a great sketch of how these things went together originally. PM me.

[keiser31]

I do not have a FAX, but if you can photograph the page and email it to me, I may be able to work with it. John

keiser31@charter.net

[knobless]

The original roof seals are no longer available for these cars. There is a man who sells a one piece repro seal that looks pretty good. It's doesn't have the same exterior look as the original but I think it will do the job nicely. If interested, PM me and I'll give you his number. All the interiors were done in the same style of stitching regardless of body style except commercials. Most of the cars I have seen were finished in a mohair fabric in a taupe color although different colors were available. Leather was also available at extra cost but I've never seen a closed car done in leather from the factory. You can buy door panel material from Restoration Specialties in PA at 814-467-9842 along with the painted cowlboard for the package tray, firewall pad and kick panels. From what I see, most of the latter panels were a dark gray color. Upholstery material can be purchased from several different suppliers like Bill Hirsh, Lebaron-Bonney ,SMS and others but you will not find a kit for these cars so you'll probably have to have an upholsterer sew one up for you. Most of the advertising fliers show artist renderings of the interior which are pretty close. The hard part is getting all the coach lacing, windlacing and material to look right together as the original styles and colors are not available any more although many are close. It's getting harder to find the old style windlacing fabric and coachlacing as supplies dwindle. Also Restoration specialties has new original panel fasteners available for the door panels. Originally they used a plate stapled into the panel along with a wire clip. It's a lot of work but makes a nice job. I just did new panels for my sedan. If you have any panels at all try to keep them for patterns as trying to figure an interior from scratch can be a headache. I can guide you as to which window channel to use and I can rebuild your wide window channels and beltstrips if you have them. You mention the roof bows; do you have them and the metal mounting brackets along with the wire headliner hangers? If not maybe one of the guys with the coupes could make you some patterns and have some extra brackets. I have some original upholstery panels from my sedan and I might be able to lend you a sample so you can see the way that they are made but the seat is a different story. If you have any questions fell free to PM me or call me direct and I'll try to guide you as best I can. Jim

I am the guy who use to make the roof seals, sold out my last one last year and have not done another run sence , if I come across a photo of what they looked like I will post here...also have 36 dodge hood hinges, sets)

Steve

Edited May 18, 2014 by knobless
more info added (see edit history)

[jpage]

The original roof seal in '36 was not "dum-dum". The seal is a several part seal. There were flat rubber straight sections and preformed corner pieces that had holes for the roof mounting that where installed on the roof lip on the body. The roof was tightened down which made the initial seal. To fill the gap between the top and body there was a special contoured rubber filler strip known as "Wedge-loc" hammered into the gap. The "Wedge-loc" strip was only about 3/8 in. wide at the top and when installed did not extend past the roof line so it was barely noticeable. This material was available aftermarket but has been out of production for many years. I have a piece of "wedge-loc" as a sample. We contemplated remaking it but when Knobless came out with his we decided not to. His was a combination on the flat rubber seal and the "soft" top seal together in one piece. It fit very well and I think will work well but it does not replicate the original look on top. Only the steel roofed cars used the gasket and "wedge-loc, the soft tops used a little larger and different style seal that carried a groove that the fabric went into to be locked between the seal and the roof. No dum-dum was used on steel '36 tops from the factory but it was a common backyard repair before silicone sealants.

Edited May 18, 2014 by jpage (see edit history)

[keiser31]

Here is the page with some roof sealer information....click on image a few times to enlarge.

[36 D2 Coupe]

Here is the page with some roof sealer information....click on image a few times to enlarge.

Thanks for getting this on the forum for me keiser31. I have had this info since last summer when I got an original copy of the MoToR Magazine - November '35 Annual Show Number. It includes a wonderful collection of comparative information on all the manufacturers new '36 models. Now it may be that there were different methods of sealing the roof panel and perhaps "Wedge-loc" was one of them. Certainly there were a number of changes made in the course of a model year and what was done when is hard to determine without some kind of documentation. I'm putting this forward not to discredit jpage or knobless but as some information that was published at the time. (Incidentally, I can vouch for the quality of knobless' work) I have not yet taken the roof of my coupe apart but the joint filler looks a lot like hardened dum dum. Before I saw this article I would have agreed with jpage but now I don't know what to think. Comments please!

[knobless]

The original roof seal in '36 was not "dum-dum". The seal is a several part seal. There were flat rubber straight sections and preformed corner pieces that had holes for the roof mounting that where installed on the roof lip on the body. The roof was tightened down which made the initial seal. To fill the gap between the top and body there was a special contoured rubber filler strip known as "Wedge-loc" hammered into the gap. The "Wedge-loc" strip was only about 3/8 in. wide at the top and when installed did not extend past the roof line so it was barely noticeable. This material was available aftermarket but has been out of production for many years. I have a piece of "wedge-loc" as a sample. We contemplated remaking it but when Knobless came out with his we decided not to. His was a combination on the flat rubber seal and the "soft" top seal together in one piece. It fit very well and I think will work well but it does not replicate the original look on top. Only the steel roofed cars used the gasket and "wedge-loc, the soft tops used a little larger and different style seal that carried a groove that the fabric went into to be locked between the seal and the roof. No dum-dum was used on steel '36 tops from the factory but it was a common backyard repair before silicone sealants.

Thanks for that info. as I have had many debates with others about the "dum-dum" being the original used,"" why would they use something that looked so awful on a brand new car?? and why would you use it today??, when I torn down my 36 it still had the 2 piece seal on it,and you are correct 1 was flat, the other was a wedge,once hammered in it could not back out , I decided I could make it in one piece and it would not only work well but it looked good too, I sold alot of my seal to street rodders as well as original restorers, never had any complaints on look, fit or leaks,, it also came in a shorter length for coupes....

forgot to mention there was a guy in Conn. or Rhode island making the insert for coupe's, last time I talk to him was over 8 years ago though, he bought a 36 radiator off me.......

Edited May 18, 2014 by knobless
more info (see edit history)

[36 D2 Coupe]

Hi knobless and jpage - do you suppose that what is labelled as dum dum in the diagram could actually have been the "Wedge-loc" product? The dum dum I got is really sticky stuff and as you suggest could be quite messy to install. Just trying to make sense of what I read:confused:

[jpage]

I have never seen a notation of "dum-dum" use before. All my old ('30's) aftermarket catalogs show only the "Wedge-loc" rubber seal and interesting enough I can't find any listing in my '36 Dodge parts catalog for the top outer seal. I guess it's possible that the "dum-dum" may have been used but it seems very unlikely that a material so soft, sticky and hard to form and clean off would be used in production. With the unavailability of Knobless' seal I would suggest cutting the bottom seal from sheet rubber and using a separate contour for the upper seal. The "dum-dum" only comes in short lengths which means many small connections that could shrink and leak. I would not recommend any use of silicone sealant as it would only mess up your paint job. You might be able to use a polyurethane roof cement in tubes that dries to a rubberlike state but I'm not sure it can be painted or would hold paint for any time. It too,would be tricky to use because once on it doesn't come off. With a little research we could probably come up with a currently manufactured contour that would suffice. Another possibility is to look into the repop of the old "wedge-loc" material but I'm not sure there is enough market to support that. Given some thought ,there's always a solution! I'll look into some stuff as I used to work in antique rubber industry.

[36 D2 Coupe]

Thanks for the feedback. Interestingly the dum dum I bought came in a 24' roll. That aside, your comments on what would work best make good sense. I would surely be interested if you discover a better solution with something that is currently available. I am a bit familiar with the repop issue on other parts and agree that it is likely too hard to recover costs with limited demand.

[Ian_Greenlaw]

Steve,

why did you stop making it ? just out of curiosity

[countrytravler]

Some pictures of my 36 4 dr sedan that were parting out. Maybe this will help. Wounder what function that the rubber blocks have?

[1936 D2]

"countrytravler" - Some good shots of the original interior views of the lower flat rubber seal. You get a good idea of the thickness of the flat seal and how the top's bolt on connection points are electrically isolated so the top panel can act as the radio antenna.

But a couple detailed shots of the outer seal would be most helpful if you think your car's top outer is original.

The rubber blocks are there just to cover the tips of the bolts so passengers would not rip their heads open on the ends of the bolts by mistake. They also helped keep the headliner material laying flat and correctly.

When my '36 was taken down for painting the body man said that the outer seal was just some sort of an "applied goo" (as he put it). There was no separate rubber seal in the groove he said. Attached are a couple photos (last two) of the same area on another '36 I am working on but has already been sand blasted and epoxy primed. That blaster also said there was no shaped rubber seal in the groove, just some kind of sealant. He commented it was still doing a good job of sealing but was able to be blasted off the surface of the groove.

36 Dodge very old top seal. Looks like some sort of sealant, not a rubber gasket. This car was originally "Mercury Metallic" and was oversprayed with white many years prior to these photos in an attempt at preservation (apparently).

36 Dodge with top panel fully removed.

36 Dodge with top outer seal blasted away and body epoxy primed.

36 Dodge top groove closeup - no seal (sandblasted out) and groove epoxy primed.

When my avatar car was finished, we used a urethane sealant (from a tube) to fill the groove after the paint was cured.

36 Dodge - top groove sealed with urethane after paint.

Edited May 19, 2014 by 1936 D2
added photo (see edit history)

[knobless]

Steve,

why did you stop making it ? just out of curiosity

Don't have an answer Ian, maybe I will start again...if I can find any time hahaha.......

Edited May 19, 2014 by knobless (see edit history)

[knobless]

Don't have an answer Ian, maybe I will start again...if I can find any time hahaha.......

Matter of fact Ian, the last one I sold went to a mate from your neck of the woods...............

[36 D2 Coupe]

1936 D2 - Interesting pictures and comments. Your body man's description of the sealant as "applied goo" leads me back to the suggestion that "dum dum" may have indeed been the original sealant with "Wedge-loc" as an easier-to-use aftermarket replacement. Certainly your pictures of the outer roof seal look a lot like my coupe's roof in its unmolested state. (Don't know if it makes any difference but my car was built in Windsor Ontario)

countrytravler - nice shots of the inside of the roof - going to be helpful when I reach that stage. Thanks!

[countrytravler]

The top from the looks of it hasn't been tampered with. It was bought from a junk yard in Redding Ca in 1970 from the guy we bought it from 6 months ago. It sat in his garage untouched since then.

[35cz8]

Many years ago, I used body seam sealer that was in a tube and applied using a caulk gun, to fill the top gap on a coupe I had. It worked out great and I never had any leakage at all. As I recall, it could be painted as well and was not too bad to work with. Perhaps a body reapir expert can better advise on it's use.

[jpage]

We can't be sure of how many times the seals may have been repaired over the life of the vehicle. The photos show very sloppy work, maybe too sloppy for factory and I wouldn't doubt what is being taken for original is a repair. The sun and weather would have taken its toll over the years necessitating easy and cheap repairs. Need more research.

[Dodgenz]

Just to throw a potential curved ball...one of my D2's has a 'soft top' panel in the roof. I was told this was to stop the "drumming" that supposedly occurred in these roofs, it seems to be quite a common retro fit over here. Having driven my 'hard top' much more than the soft one I can't say I really complained about it, and it no interior at all! Do you guys see this much elsewhere?

[jpage]

I think that all U.S. Dodges in '36 had the steel top inserts. Incidentally, I was looking at my one Dodge which is an original car, and did notice that there is no rubber seal in the roof groove. It is very well defined and appears to be made not from "dum-dum" but from a fibrous mixed material. It seems to have been a rectangular form about 1/4-5/16 in. thick with sharp edges and about 3/4 in. wide. It must have been hammered or pressed in after the insert was installed and then painted body color. It resembles a type of resin or tar with short fibers like heavy paper mixed in. Mine is squeezing out and it still retains a lot of it's seemingly original shape and I don't think it was sticky but had a medium hard consistency to it so it wouldn't crush upon installation. I guess that the "Wedge-loc" may have been an aftermarket item as suggested above. Learn something new everyday!