1955 Super: How to attach Window Felts on Front Doors?

[Ralph55]

Last year I bought some window felts and some kinda strange little rectangular brackets for attaching them to the door.

 

Because the window felts on the front doors of my 1955 super were (probably) attached at the wrong position I didn't change them.

 

Today at a car show I noticed the holes of/for those brackets in a 56 Special (see attachment below): The window felts of the Special are obviously long gone - but you can  still see the holes of the brackets.

 

So my question ist: How do I "shoot" the brackets through the felt + door metal? Is there a trick or some kind of metal penetrating nail/bracket gun???

 

 

[leon bee]

Those are staple holes, right? On my older car, 53, some of that stuff was put on with tiny countersunk head screws so that's what I did with most all of it. Little bitty screws from the special drawer at the hardware, and a littler drill. Worked better than I ever thought, and the heads disappear into the fuzzy stuff. I decided I didn't have enough time left to try the staples included with the kit. I might have used a little glue, too, but wouldn't tell anybody.

[Ralph55]

hehehe... glueing the felts right to the metal is something that came to my mind, too - but if you want to keep your car "original" you've to do some research on how the real craftsmen solved the problems in times I wasn't event born 😉 

 

If I take a look at my staples I think they'll never pinch through metal....

[leon bee]

Well I guess on the assembly line they had a stapler that shot through steel.

[JohnD1956]

You could try clamping the felt to the trim and marking the staple holes from the back. Then drill the holes in the felt strip and manually install the staples from the front and bending them into position with a body hammer. 

[old-tank]

Use 0.020 safety wire in the original staple holes and twist from the back.  If too tedious then pop rivets.

[Joseph P. Indusi]

I also used the little flat head screws that disappear into the fuzzy strip.   Used some 3M adhesive on the back of the strips.   Looks as good as the original.   I have the staples but they must have used a powerful gun at the factory to use them.  I used stainless steel screws and they have done the job well for over 15 years.

Joe, BCA 33493

[Ralph55]

Yesterday I removed the door trim of one of the rear windows which still was equipped with the original felts: those staples were really twisted from the backside! I needed an angle grinder to remove them - that's a kind of sturdy quality you won't see today any more 🙃

 

After finding a proper way to bend the rear window felts so they'll match the body shape I decided to use adhesive to attach the felts supported by some tiny screws.

 

[leon bee]

I used a few pop rivets in the channel part on my 53. Had to cut down the nose of a riviter to get in there. I know these methods aren't "correct", but they don't show, work good, and the windows and wings were redone in my lifetime. Also, I figure somebody else can do it right next time.