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I have a '37 120 sedan convertible but do not know where the weather stripping goes around the doors - none was on the car when I purchased it. I would appreciate a photo of how to install around the doors and also a profile picture of what the weather stripping looks like.

Thanks
Dwight

Back then they used 'Windlace", it is a cotton cording wrapped in a bias woven fabric and is trapped between the kick panel and the inside cowl on the front, then between the B pillar wood trim and B pillar on my 2 door, not sure of the exact geometry on your sedan.
As you can see in the two pictures I attached, Since there was very little curve to the convertible seam I simply used the same material as my seats and wrapped around 1/2 diameter cotton cording I got at an upholstery supply shop. That would not work on a closed car as the tight curves all the way around a door would cause pleats and kinks, but ours stop at the belt line/door tops.
Hope this helps.
Bob J.

Attach file:

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  Front Windlace.JPG (142.01 KB)


  Rear Windlace.JPG (132.24 KB)

The '37 120 literature (Service letters(?) mentions foam door weather strip as an addition in cases of air leaks. It was sold by the foot and cemented in place. Apparently, some '37 120s came with it, in addition to the regular windlace. Some service material mentions a metal channelon the door to hold the rubber. My '37 120 convertible has no such metal channels, and no evidence of ever having had any rubber gaskets on the doors. The doors still wear original paint. My experience with windlace is that it usually leaks.
My car does have a rubber strip across the bottom of the doors that meets the aluminum trim piece when the door is shut. Adding rubber gaskets to cars not originally equipped with them required modifying the rubber door bumpers slightly. The procedure is given in one of the Service Letters available on this site. (1936, 1937 or maybe 1938)

Convertibles had much less weather stripping than closed cars.

Hence the leather vs fabric.

My biggest concern is keeping dust out, since I can't avoid some dirt road driving. Better weather stripping also prevents water intrusion when washing the car. Wind noise is another factor, although I don't notice any excess wind noise around the doors. I'd like to have a blower with outside air access to blow air under pressure into the car. I see no way to do that without cutting exterior sheet metal.

Thanks for the response. Interesting that Packard relied on windlace to keep both wind and water from intruding the cabin. I have the channels and rubber weatherstrip seals for the top to door glass and windshield to quarter window seal and thought that there were seals around the doors since Kanter shows two options in their catalog for '37 door weatherstrip. I can see how the door bumpers would be problematic.

Packard recommended grinding down the rubber bumpers just enough to allow for the strip-type gasketing. The combination of a perimeter gasket and windlace is much to be preferred. If you add gaskets, you might have to loosen the latch adjustments a little to get the doors to shut properly without slamming. After the gaskets take a set, you could re-adjust the latches for best alignment. The instructions are fairly comprehensive on procedure. I can't remember exactly where I came across the information, but it's in the Literature Archive, probably in the pre-war Service Letters or body manuals.

It was common practice back then for autos to only have wind lacing around the door openings. Gaskets came along later, but the wind lacing remained as a way to trim the openings.