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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Trunk Pebble Grain Paper

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Trunk Pebble Grain Paper     john38coupe 07-15-2012 @ 7:06 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 130 Joined: Jan 2011 That is correct, Henry must had found a sale on black grain paper and bought a shipload of it. It wasn't functional because the first time you install or remove the spare tire, you would probably rip it in half......and then tear the rest out. What makes it worse is the 38 trunk floor has contours, bumps, dips, etc everywhere so there is no such thing as laying flat. Strictly a cost savings decision and a poor one. 37 Coupe 07-15-2012 @ 5:38 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 366 Joined: Oct 2009 Kube,I know Ford used paper on trunk floor of my 37 standard coupe. Not very heavy paper either,torn easily and mice loved to chew on it. Now my coupe has the wood platform over the spare tire which lays flat on the floor, mayby Ford thought a full size rubber mat was a waste. kubes40 07-15-2012 @ 5:26 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 3577 Joined: Oct 2009 It appears I misunderstood your question. Am I to understand Ford simply used paper on the floor of a '38 trunk? 37 Coupe 07-15-2012 @ 4:04 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 366 Joined: Oct 2009 I went to Ebay to look and see if someone had the black vinyl listed. A guy in Florida has the pattern but only shows sand color. you might look up the item and ask him if he has black,but anyway look at the pattern and see if it is close. 54" wide by the yard was not expensive. Just search for pebble grain vinyl. 37 Coupe 07-15-2012 @ 3:52 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 366 Joined: Oct 2009 John,something else you might consider.It would look like the original pebble grain paper but not tear when you load up the trunk to go to your first V8 concourse. It would be cheating but mayby you would luck out and the judge would not lift it to check it out. I used this years ago ,found the exact black pebble grain in vinyl or naugahyde or whatever it was from an upholstery shop. Think it was from a roll that they used to do vinyl tops with,I'm telling you it was right on the money you could not tell by just looking at it. If you found this mayby it could be hot air or heat gunned in place and glued down. Wish I had bought the whole roll now. john38coupe 07-15-2012 @ 3:39 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 130 Joined: Jan 2011 Gerald, I was hoping gravity and high humidity would long term settle the paper down but I'm not sure. Its got a shiny finish to it and doesn't look like a water mist spray would do much. Your thoughts about duplicating a light weight rubber mat may be a good idea to settle it down and preserve it while not in use. Sounds like you would recommend a 39 reproduction and trim accordingly. Its too bad they just didn't offer a simple single layer rubber mat originally. 38 continues to be a difficult year as suppliers still aren't acknowledging all their components for obvious supply/demand reasons. Thanks for the suggestions. kubes40 07-15-2012 @ 2:31 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 3577 Joined: Oct 2009 Here's a picture of the floor insulating pads for a '39. All passenger cars utilized these. kubes40 07-15-2012 @ 2:28 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 3577 Joined: Oct 2009 I'm not certain about a '38 but in '39 and '40 this 'paper' in the tool tray area is actually the stuff that was used between the trunk lid. Much heavier than 'paper'. Also, in '39 the front floor area on each side had a rather long piece of this same material. Behind the seat was a thick paper, no pebble grain, very similar (but a bit thicker) to modern roofing paper. I have attached a photo of the '39 - '40 trunk liners. To get these to lay in the trunk properly, a heat gun does the trick rather well. This message was edited by kubes40 on 7-15-12 @ 2:30 PM 37 Coupe 07-15-2012 @ 12:43 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 366 Joined: Oct 2009 John I know what you are going through with the paper. I ended up just covering the tool box wood covers but I know you are going the complete Dearborn type restoration. I had thought at the time of mayby steaming the paper to get it to lay to the contours or wetting the backside with a spray bottle. Mayby you can then do what I did buy a 39 repro rubber trunk mat and trim it to fit mayby it will help contour the paper and you can remove the rubber mat when you go Dearborning. I cannot imagine what Ford was thinking when this is what they provided for a trunk floor covering,thin paper. john38coupe 07-15-2012 @ 10:13 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 130 Joined: Jan 2011 Purchased Pebble Grain Paper from LeBaronBonney. Took significant layout measurements and it installed quite nicely..I was pleased. The floor of a 38 coupe has a number of undulations and I'm assuming it would be impossible to expect this to lay flat immediately. I did not use glue as I figured it would put too many stress points in different places. I'm hoping in time it will settle down and fit around all the bumps and curves with a more appropriate fit. Would appreciate any thoughts, suggestions as its only laying in the trunk at this point. I guess paper was the cheapest way to cover the floor in Henry's days but for anyone using a trunk on a regular basis, the paper probably didn't have much durability due to the non-level floor. Thanks

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