I have the 71 challenger door panels from Year1/PALCO..that I bought 4 years ago. I know they have a bad reputation.

I tried to install them yesterday and it was just as promised. Did fit, holes don't line up etc.

Can anyone give any practical help to make them work. I am thinking about taking them to a professional upholstery guy in town.

Thanks!

Mark

The pro guy is not a magician, don't expect him to be able do anything with them.

I'd look for OEM ones and paint them if neccassary.

I used a re-pop new set on a '70 I bought from Texas Acres. Probably the same or similar to the ones you have. A local upolstry shop installed them along with headliner, carpet and rear seat vinyl. They took a little work like re-enforcement of the hand rest mounts and I'm sure some tweaking of the holes. All in all they came out fine though.

Agree there is no magic but the upolstry guys got them to fit well without looking cobbled... better than I could have.

If possible..............sell those Palco's and buy the new Metro door panels. They look and fit exactly like original. Not cheap at $1200 for front and rear but well worth it !!!

I saw Troy spend four hours EACH panel fitting Palco, Legendary, etc panels in his Challenger T/A to get as good as possible fit. Some of the metal structure hidden under the panel needed to be cut back. In the end that car was very rattle free.

Because the O.P. has stock rear panels I believe, the fitting fronts only should be a little easier.

The quality in fitment is going to be a result of the labor you put into them.

Step one: Locate a Dumpster with a large enough opening to accept the Palco panels

Step two: Deposit them and start over with originals or Metro reproductions.

I've got the original black ones from the car should I just dye them?

I painted my A-pillars and kick panels with SEM Adhesion Promotor and Landau Black. They really look nice. They don't look like they have been painted. It just looks like new plastic.

Make sure to clean the panels before spraying any paint. When you think you have them clean enough...clean them a few more times.

That might be the ticket, it's what I had done to mine. Nothing was wrong with the structure, they were just faded. The upholstery dude had a hot-dye machine that really soaked the color back into them.

bump