I started the project by making a paper pattern (arrow) of each of the original sills. After comparing similarities and differences, and figuring out rough dimensions, I traced the patterns onto a sheet of 0.048-inch 304 stainless steel and cut them out using a vertical bandsaw.
Not long ago, a customer came into my shop, The Tin Man’s Garage, with a set of old doorsills for his ’36 Dodge resto-rod. The interior on the Dodge had just been finished and he knew he couldn’t put the worn-out, cracked originals back on the car.
Although we specialize in complete vehicle builds from scratch, I love doing smaller intricate projects just as much, and we agreed to fabricate new doorsills. On cars like this, for which no companies make reproduction doorsills, there is still hope, but it means building your own parts. I regularly work with a variety of materials, including mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass, and chromoly. For this job, we used 304 stainless steel and completed the job with a matte finish.
This is what the inner doorsill structure looked like after removing the original worn-out doorsills.
On any project, even after countless hours of designing, fabricating, block sanding, and sewing, there always seems to be that small transitional area that gets thought of last. When you’re building a street rod, whether it’s traditional, high-tech, or a resto-rod, the finishing touches make all the difference.
