Re: Stewart's 1955 Packard 400

Posted by TxGoat On 2023/7/5 20:40:13

Having 2 persons to wrestle the door is a great help. You might try getting the hinges out of the way and setting the door in place in the door opening. Then, working from inside the car, use Gorilla tape or a helper, and cardboard or thin wooden shims under and around the door to align it with the body and fender as closely as possible, looking at the outside of the door. If you can shim it into good alignment, that would indicate that the body opening is close to right.

If you run out of gap around the door without achieving good alignment, the door opening in the body probably needs to be adjusted. Most doors on 50s cars had 1/4 to 3/8 gap between the inner door structure and the door opening on the body.

Temporarily hanging the front fender, leaving the door off, may help indicate where any misalignment in the door opening may be.

Most all old cars I've ever owned have adjustments and shim stacks at various body/fender/door attachment points to allow bringing the body sections and doors, etc, into acceptable alignment.