I've always thought the Hirohata Merc was pretty cool with how it had the door post removed and the door glass opening continued to the quarter window. I have some other cool Merc photos saved where it was also done, and always struck me as a pretty cool idea. I'm curious how it's done. Does anybody has photos of the inside of that area to share? It looks like the top of the door is welded onto the body. This applies to two door or four doors. How was the door sheetmetal and quarter sheetmetal modified to create that? My Merc is a two door, but I'm also curious how it would be created on a four door, since the post is separate from both doors. I'm assuming the post trimmed off at the belt line since the latches have to land on it.
Look how convertibles do it. Typically a beefier frame and extra bracing at the bottom of the rear of the door Pillar, formerly the B pillar
The Hirohata and the flamed one you posted have the door tops welded to the roof. The other two have the door tops removed as well as the tops of the rear windows. When you do it that way you have to make a new piece to frame the top of the window opening and you can fit a window gasket onto. The Hirohata has a gasket fitted in the window channel of the door tops that the window frame closes against. The 1/4 window slides into a channel on the bottom and I think are fixed at the top against the same gasket. Here’s a pic of the Hirohata’s. So far as the b pillar, yes, I think most are just removed and capped, but as Tman says….some extra bracing might not be a bad idea.
The Jalopy Journal
