OT-cars Repairing headling

[micky]

That's a good point.

I'll relay what you've said to him.

[Paintedcow]

Exactly, I tried them, they did not screw in all the way on many parts of the ceiling. They held better than regular thumb tacks or staples, but they did and become loose over time, and fall out. It became a never ending hassle to fix them or replace the ones that got bent.

Yep, thats about what it is. A solid cardboard close to 1/8" and while it's similar to the cardboard used on a cereal box, it's denser. Yet far from being something like masonite. I've never seen it used for anything else, so it must be made just for the car ceilings.

Pins go in, but dont stay in real long. You got to realize that a car bounces and rattles, and on top of that, when a window is open, the wind is moving that fabric in ripples, all of that loosens pins, staples, and whatever else is poked into that cardboard.

I fought with this for several years and tried all of the above, and more.... I spent a lot of time redoing it over and over, and picking up tacks that fell out and it was real frustrating. I finally had enough, and just removed the entire ceiling material.

Some people said that a plain metal ceiling would be cold in winter. I did notice some frost on it at times, but nothing that made life miserable, or made the car feel colder than before. What was miserable was fighting with that cloth which obstructed my rear view mirror, laid on my head, and deposited that nasty sticky foam all over people and objects in the car.

I do wonder if something like a textured paint would have sealed the metal, but the car is long gone, so I dont have the problem anymore.

I have also seen some custom vans and campers that applied that thin rubber backed indoor/outdoor carpetting to the celings. Not sure how they glue it, but it was a thought at the time I removed the ceiling. However, I found the bare metal was ok, and being an old car, I did not want to spend money on it. I just drove it as is for about 3 more years, until the car's frame was rusting and weak, and the mechanical parts were beyond cost effective repairs.

[micky]

I'm just going with what Barton said, but I'll send my neighbor what you said too.

I myself have never had this problem, The last two convertibles have had something like headliner, but it's never falled down. They're not glued in place; I don't know exactly how they're attached. I had the '50 Olds until 1970 and its headliner was always fine.