Not my woody, but a customer's. 1948 Chrysler Town & Country, convertible, just like the photo.

His car has Di Noc panels (3M product) instead of Mahogany, within the Ash frames. The older, better cars have wood, but Chrysler changed to plastic on some of their cars. A preview of the future.

My customer would like me to replace the plastic with wood. I do know this is basic frame and panel work (or I am really naive), but with curves in 3 dimensions. The trunk panels have a slight 3-D curve, convex, that should be able to be pressed.

One problem is how to manage the near crease in the upper door panels. Probably a 1" inside radius where it meets the ash. Some photos of the same model do show a 90 degree square joint there. I suspect this is for the wood paneled cars. However, the Ash frame is radiused, and I don't want to have to modify the Ash frames if I don't have to.

I will have others open things up from the other side, but will need to make forms, male and female.

Does anyone here have any experience with woody frame and panel work?

Will softening the veneers with glycerin et al help get them to bend as needed?

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David Sochar:

Nice car, is that the actual car in question? I am not enough of a car buff, but some of the 1948 Town and Country photos show that the upper front door panel is not quite as sharply delineated as the one in your photo, which makes me wonder if that is a difference between the wood panels and the plastic panels. The point at which the crease starts to flare out from the flat curved portion of the panel would give me pause, as I would fear buckling of the veneers, in trying to produce in veneers what it more easily done with something as formable as plastic.

My experience with glycerin only is to flatten previously non-flattened burls to make them usable in a vacuum press. It certainly makes them pliable, and I suppose that you could dry-form the veneers prior to pressing, but that crease.......

I will try to post a photo, but may not meet with success. I think I would research an actual wood paneled model and see what the actual differences are, if any, and if you can use a frame made for plastic panels on the wooden panels.

Good luck with your project.

TonyF

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Another option is to use a rubber hose from a steam pot to direct the steam on the crease while hand forming it. I think you could get it to relax pretty easily, and then due to being so thin, drying wouldn't take long. I was doing a little steam bending of a small part over the end of a tea kettle last weekend. It's amazing how fast it softens. Just remember to try to keep the bend in end to end compression while making the bend. Tension on the surface is not your friend.

I'm wondering if you'll be gluing the veneer down to a steel body part / substrate, or will it be floating in the panel. If it isn't gluing down to the steel body, while I haven't done it, I've thought about throwing in a layer or two of wet-out glass cloth or mat where the cross-band layers are more of a challenge than the face veneer.

Maybe that should be a sculpted solid wood panel. Forming veneer to that curve would be quite a feat. If it is possible, Keith seems to be on the right track.

After doing a google search for some better images, I don't think you'd need to do anything to Mahogany veneer to make that bend. I just pulled some out of my storage drawers, and easily bent it down to 1/2" R.
The only thing I'm wondering is that having the longer length of the forward edge than the aft side would mean that the longitudinal grain wouldn't be parallel to the either the top or bottom rails, but that may not be enough to worry about.

Now the trunk of one of the images I was was truly a frame and panel. What I've done on repair of some highly formed boat parts, is to slip all my epoxied veneers into a bag that simply lays on top of where it will go, with enough sand-bags or whatever weights you have around to press it down on top of where it will go, then pull the vacuum.

The trunk frame may need some strips across the middle to get the bulge out in the middle to keep it from getting too flat, but this would get the edge curves close enough, as well as the twist, and be a lot simpler than picking the curves and making a form, if you can get that license plate block out of the way.

On little panels this size, I've used clear plastic drum liners for the bag. I snip a little hole in the bottom corner to push the hose through with a few wraps of rope-caulk or anything soft and sticky to seal. A piece of cloth like a sock or shirt sleeve taped over the end hose end to make contact with the edge of the veneers.

The open end seals by just rolling up a dowel or lath with a spring clamp over another lath. Just make sure everything is splinter free so the bag doesn't tear and your good to go.

I would suggest trying to find a car guy. Yes, I know it's "woodworking" but it's pretty specialized.

We used to have a guy that came in and bought materials (mostly 8/4 and 12/4 ash) to restore old cars. Mostly they weren't "woodies", but earlier cars that had wooden frames covered with sheet metal, but someone like that would be apt to know who to talk to if they didn't have the answers themselves. I'd refer you to him but all I know is his name and I doubt he's still around - he was old 20 years ago. At least, he seemed old to me at the time... :D

The car I'm looking at is the same look as the one I posted. It may be the same car, as that photo was from an auction site from a few years ago. The owner says he has had the car a few years. He has found two people that can do this, but they are both on the West Coast and want the car for 6 months. He would prefer to not have the expense of transport, etc.

We did some difficult work for several of his projects in a couple of his his properties, so he thought he could easily entrust the work to us, if I thought we could do it. I have not said yes, but am intrigued, and surprised by how much 'brain time' I have invested in it. That alone makes me want to agree to the work, but that may not be the right course. I like a challenge, but.....

I believe the sharp crease in the door panel is seen in the all wood panels, and the radiused one is the Di Noc stuff. If I could do the sharp crease, I would make it up in two pieces and join them at the crease, with reinforcement blocking behind - easy. We will use Quartered Mahogany, so the grain is easily matched. The Ash frame has a definite, pronounced radius in it, though, so I either change it to approx 90 degrees, or radius the panels, foregoing the crease.

Some of the wood panels in photos I find online also have 'joints' denoting separate 'boards' about 2-3/4" wide. As Keith points out, the longer length of the forward edge of the flare would complicate the use of the 'boards' as they would not run parallel to the rails - one or the other or both.

The owner thinks he has someone local that can open up the inside of the car where the panels are to access the backs of the frame and panels for inspection and removal. I do not want to get involved in that. Meanwhile, the trunk lid has an interior liner fastened with screws that he will remove and photo for me this week. That should reveal a lot - to be able to see the backside of the panels.

Thanks for the help and ideas. I can be found scouring thru YouTube videos on these cars.

I'm not sure how many ways to skin this cat, but I'll just share a few more thoughts.

Since that bend isn't end to end fore and aft, it will likely have to be spliced due to the change in length if it is made up as plywood. If you are lucky and just applying veneer over a metal substrate, I would either plane or sand a long bevel on the top edge of the lower veneer which would end just below the kink or hard bend.

Then when the top veneer was glued on, the overlap would wild over the bevel, then be sanded down level to the heel of that bevel, taking the critical math out of the equation figuring out how much tapper to add.

As for getting some prebend in the upper part, I just heated a 1/2" pipe with a map gas torch, then bent a scrap of mahogany veneer around diagonally, for a tight bend like you'll probably need. It was quick and easy and worked beautifully.

If you are able to get the existing panels out of the car, is there a possibility that you could set up a duplicarver to copy the form? I think you could get veneer to bend into that shape.

My apologies David. You might have to sell your soul to the woodworking devil.

cnc mdf and thermofoil it with faux woodgraining.

I'm pretty sure that's how they do it in Mercedes and BMW's.

Or you could prove your worth as the master craftsman we know you to be.

I wonder if 3D printers have multiple woodgrain choices? By now, if not sooner or later, you should be able to attach a digital image to get the most exotic wood of your choice.
For now, I think going with Ziricote would look nice and racy. ha

https://www.certainlywood.com/images-menu.php?item=ZIRICOTE%201505-1