I used MDF board when I rebuilt the door cards a few years ago. Removed the vinyl from the old, warped backing boards and reglued them to the new MDF boards.
Unfortunately, the MDF was 3mm thick and made fitting the boards to the doors a real struggle which also caused slight damage to the old vinyl.
Recently bought a pair of door cards from Australian Door Cards that were 2.5mm. That was about the thickness of the original cards.

Just finished swapping over the vinyl and backing padding to the Australian Door Cards, using a more appropriate spray adhesive than the original type.
Needed a hot day to soften the vinyl and allow it to be stretched over the new board to avoid wrinkles.

End result seems to be improved. The thinner board made fitting the cards very easy without damage to anything.

Looking very nice. I'm jealous.

My Matic bitsa has the same pattern in green, taken from a 66 Deluxe.
They were warped of course, so I soaked the boards with water then put them between 2 sheets of heavy plywood, with bricks on top.
After a week, they were quite flat. A bit of glue in a few spots, some black upholstery paint and they look ok. But I'm still jealous of yours.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Thanks for the comment.
It's hard to know what to do with these. No one is making the early 2 stripe so you have to go to later patterns or save the originals.
The padding was originally foam but I used polyester (?) wadding used in dressmaking, as it won't crumble as quickly.

Are you posting a pic of the latest summer frock you've made?

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

I only use padding where it makes the most impression.....

They turned out Great Bill.Love the morrie in the background,my first car.

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1967 Morris mini Deluxe
1968 Buick Riviera
1979 HZ Kingswood
1979 CM Valiant
1982 Jaguar XJ6 series 3
2002 VX HSV
2013 Mazda 6
2018 Gt Mustang

I did a hydro pump up for a bloke who does upholstery a few weeks ago. He reckons he can do all of the old.patterns, he showed me the machine he does them on. Very old school. He even thought he could do the deluxe floor mats

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Very Interesting, Simon.
Do you know what stage of the door card assembly does he do the heat mould pattern? Does he start with a blank piece of vinyl for example, or when the card is completely assembled?
If he is interested in a paying hobby on the side, there must be lots of people wanting to reproduce those panel cards.
I was lucky my '66 mini was tatty but mostly complete and unmolested when I bought it in 1980. Might be interested in the Mk2 pattern for the K, though.

Simon, I guess this machine is in Qld!

You should show him a picture of the GT stich pattern to see what he can do

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The lines are put into vinyl before anything else is done, I think even before it's cut to shape.

Post pictures of anything you want him to look at and I'll show him.

He's in Wodonga

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Simon, if you could show him these for the stitch pattern would be excellent.













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that's the GT basketweave, right?

I'll show him but I reckon that'll be too hard to do, it looks like it's not actually stitched but heat moulded...

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Yeah it looks like a stitch but is a heatpressed/heat moulded/whatever. Basically the same as mk1/2 door cards but instead of a flat pressed line it has a stitch pattern in it.

Ignore the basketweave pattern, just the heat pressed rectangles I am interested in

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Simon, I am trying to get replacement door and rear quarter cards for my Hi-Ho Silver 1275LS.

Do you think your man would be able to reproduce them at a reasonable price - they are unique to the LS and contain a heat produced line and a chrome strip rectangle.

I have the originals but they have shrunk and I haven't been able to successfully stretch them - the backing boards are US, but I have new boards.

Regards John Kornbrekke