Door flushness

[Nerd]

After saving up for 26 years, I have finally decided to get some needed body work done on my 1955. The body man says that he can and personally would recommend for aesthetic purposes adjusting the doors and performing the necessary surgery to get them to hang flush with the body when closed; however, he also says that a customer of his who has award-winning T-Birds says that they came from the factory with the door normally sticking out a little in the lower rear corner and that an authentic restoration would not be perfectly flush; the customer in fact intentionally restores his cars so that they have this imperfection.

Upon looking back at the early Birds I have seen, it does seem to me that an extremely high percentage of them in fact did and do have this lower corner of the door sticking out a little. Although I prefer the flush look, I would easily forego it in light of the extra work and expense involved if the protruding corner look is in fact "legal". Is there any truth to this story that most Birds from the factory did not have perfectly flush doors?

Thanks much.

 

[nomadbird]

Most Bird doors didn't fit "for sour owl sweat" when they were new. At the mandatory Judges Meeting before each CTCI Concours, the Judges usually hear something like this: "Many doors didn't fit well and exhibited a noticeable gap with the body particularly at the lower rear portion of the door. SOME mis-alignment is permisable and points should not be deducted". The key word is: SOME. "Some mis-alignment" to one person may be "excessive mis-alignment" to some one else.

Bottom Line: Adjust the doors to the best of your abilty. I have never heard of points being deducted for doors that fit too well; but points have been deducted for poor fits.

As far as the fellow with the award winning car(s) with the doors not fitting is concerned: we all do screwy things with authenticity. My big hang up is to have some orange peel in the paint instead of a perfectly smooth finish. Your car; Your choice.

Tom D.

 

[Nerd]

Tom D--Your advice is both simple and quite sound. It is probably also what the factory did--do the best job possible short of getting anal and obsessive about it and slowing down the assembly line.

Actually, as I look back on my prior body shop experiences, I seem to recall that any problems usually have not arisen out of the shop doing too perfect and high quality a job. My son, who left a car with MAACO, certainly did not find that to be a major problem.

Thanks again.