down on the doors

Taking the interior apart has been a lot of fun. Most of the interior trim is in pretty good condition and I am planning to put almost all of it back later.

I used some tape to prevent scratches when I removed the inner door panels. A piece of cloth would probably be better.

I suspected that the passenger door was a ringer, and it was confirmed when I took off the vapor barrier and discovered....it used to be black !

Like so many things in life, once you learn a new fact, you can find lots of other things that might have hinted at it. Red over-spray on the inside of the latch button and a black ring around the hole now make so much more sense.

There are some pretty obvious signs that the door has been repainted at the rear edge... 

Once the first piece of trim was removed, it was confirmed.

The interior door panels are in great shape and will definitely be going back later.

Both panels have the date JAN 25 1968 stamped on the back - this would fit with a car produced in March 1968.

I'm keeping the vapor barriers for now as they are good enough to put back.

Getting the door handles off is a bit tricky. You have to remove a very small spring clip which retains the bar shown below. It is a good idea to sweep the floor before you try and remove this clip, as that is probably where you will be searching for it.

Yet another part covered in red over-spray.

This is how the drivers door look: all red basically, with a slight color variation where the handle has been.The white marks are bits of old polish.

The other side is going to be much more work. The layers of red paint are as thick as eggshell; you can almost pick it off with your finger nail. This door is also slightly more rusted than the drivers side. 

The clips mounting clips for the interior door handles are very slightly different for each door. This tiny quirk in the production process can sometime help when dating parts, although I have no idea what, if anything, can be inferred in this case.