Just bought a coupe that was a mild kustom in the late 50's/early 60's. Under the worn out carpet was 2 layers of form fitted tar paper/ roofing felt paper. They first covered the floor board with hot tar then a layer of paper, second coat of hot tar then another layer of paper. Did a nice job of fitting and shaping to the floor board and tunnel. Looks like it was done by a seasoned roofer. Hate to take it out but mice living in the car have done a job on the paper. Will the tar left on the metal get hot enough to cause a problem when I drive the car?? Was this a common way to insulate the floor boards during that time period?? They also tarred the sides of the trunk walls.
That could be the original stuff, my 51 ford has 'Tar' like stuff on the trunk walls and floor, and its factory stuff.
On my '61 there is tar like stuff in the seams of the floor. Basically like a black body silicone, seam sealer. maybe similar. pretty annoying to get off so i just left it.
If you want to remove it,try covering it with dry ice for a while. It should get very brittle & chip off rather cleanly.
probably OEM most early stuff had this inside the doors .quaters and trunks and floors.up to the 60s/
I think that stuff was standard issue for most car builders. Fiats had it until the late 70s. Pretty obnoxious stuff because water that gets under it can only get out by rusting a hole to run out of.
Don't know about aftermarket, but it is amazing how deep they get that stuff, in the doors and such. Almost seems like they put it on before assembly.
Roofing cement and tar paper was used a lot in the 50's around this part of the country. Used it to help keep dust out of the car and quiet things down. There were a lot of dirt roads around back then and the cars had rust holes underneath if they were more than 4 or 5 years old.
My 50 Ford's trunk had been hosed down with some evil undercoating type stuff thick as hell. Don't know what it is, but wish it had never been invented!
A friend of mine had a '51 International p/u . We took the door panels off and found asphalt shingles stuck inside the doors for sound deadening and insulation apparently. Don't think they were "factory", ha ha, but they worked and were far easier to remove than that tar stuff.
I think you are right that the car was probably owned by a roofer. I never ran across double layer tar paper. Some of the Ziebart rust prevention business' stuck circular sprayers through drilled holes and sprayed in nasty stuff.
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