My first project after the months long landscaping hiatus, was an assessment of the leather door cards.  Here is what they looked like – pretty much the way we found them back in Steve Dickey’s Hebron barn in September 2011. (Yeah…. a while ago.)

Door Card – Right Front

Door Card – Right Rear

Door Card – Left Front

Door card – Left rear

Each leather door card had issues.  The right front was in the best condition – by far, but even it was stiff, brittle and had some minor tears.  My quest was to see if some of the supposed “leather rejuvenators” and leather repair methods worked.  My assessment is – sort of. After considerable effort, NONE of these things look new or un-flawed. But, they are original to the car. The right rear door card is a complete loss. Portions had been EATEN by some of the numerous rodents and other vermin that called our MICHIGAN’s upholstery home for decades.

I used backing material (blue jean patches) in areas that had holes kicked into them and long tears and filler materials where the tears came together. Black leather dye was applied in places where the original surface was gone and where the filler showed.

All of the material was saturated with neats foot oil multiple times. It was truly amazing how thirsty this 108 year old leather was. I did as many as 10 applications and it all soaked in (when left overnight or in the sun).

Neats foot oil & right front door card.

Here’s what the completed (but not installed) door cards looked like:

Left front door card, after repair, before installation.

Left rear door card repaired & installed with nickel plated trims.

What you cannot see or feel is that these door cards are now much more flexible and usable.  Before treatment they were almost as brittle as crackers.  The flaps bend upwards when the twist lock / turn button fasteners are opened, allowing for storage between the inside of the door card and the metal door panel. All of the doors on the MICHIGAN have this feature except the right front door which is immediately adjacent to the gear shifter & hand brake lever. (Remember, this is a right hand drive automobile.)  We will see what our upholsterer wants for new door cards.  We will have to replace one of them – the right rear door. The others may stay or go, depending on cost. Our goal is to have a fairly original car, but the contrast may be so much that we will be compelled to replace them all.  We will see.