SMS Exonerated Given Their Results

saforwardlook

Old Man with a Hat
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I have been pretty vocal on this site about my frustration with SMS over the little more than 3 year wait to have my 1971 Chrysler 300 Door Panels reproduced and the repeated claims that they are getting close to being up next in line that haven't proven reliable over time.

Yesterday, I received a large box at my front door for signature, and at first I had to think about what it might contain, but then it quickly dawned on me, given its dimensions, it was what I had been waiting for a very long time.

I know myself pretty well, and I am quite hard to please when it comes to reproduction anything, and I actually waited 15 minutes before working up the courage to see what the results looked like - would they be below my expectations of what I expected or much better than expected or ??? My thoughts hovered around the bottom end of the range so I was preparing myself for that outcome.

But then I opened the box, that did have some handling rash on it, and was hoping not to be disappointed. Well, all I can say is that I am extremely impressed with the quality and faithful reproduction efforts of SMS - they might even look a little better than original from the factory in some respects. The 300 emblem on the door panels I sent them on the panels I wanted reproduced were not perfect, but when I got them back on the new panels, it looks like they took the effort to even replate them and paint them black in the areas needed to make them just like new again. Even some areas of the door panel contain padding behind the covers to give the panels some 3 dimensonal enhancements that were also faithfully recreated. The "chrome trim" around the 300 emblem was also done perfectly.

I would rate them an easy 90% overall. The only slight flaw I could find when comparing to an original one I have shown in the photos next to the reproduction one is that a couple of the smaller lines in the vicinity of the door pulls should have had embossed stitching, but were just straight, but the embossed stitching is so small in the originals that it is not that big a deal to me, as I had to look at one of my originals closely to note the difference.

I was hoping they would provide the same cutouts for the power window switches, door locks etc, but in thinking about the absence of them, I realize that might cause a lot of problems for them in terms of redoing them if there were any communication errors about what options to include given that they do all makes of vehicles and keeping it all straight could lead to too many problems. So I will make the cuts, very carefully that are needed. The cutouts on the back sides of the panels, however, do include the provisions for mounting the door clips, in the same exact locations as the originals and the quality of the backboard surpasses the cardboard from the factory.

Given my being pleased with the results, I placed an order for another 4 sets of door panels with them, with each set being almost $1000 to reproduce with shipping included. They also assured me that this next time around, the wait should be half the time it took for mine to get done. But just in case, I placed an order that would cover about 3 years going forward of restoration car efforts.

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I'm happy for ya...… My current promise is my panels are being assembled and will ship by the end of May. We'll see. Perhaps we can both celebrate.
 
It looks great, too bad it took so long. Is this the first one's they are doing for a 300 or do they have so much work it takes that long? I can understand if they have to do some R&D for the first set, but 3 years?
 
I have been pretty vocal on this site about my frustration with SMS over the little more than 3 year wait to have my 1971 Chrysler 300 Door Panels reproduced and the repeated claims that they are getting close to being up next in line that haven't proven reliable over time.

Yesterday, I received a large box at my front door for signature, and at first I had to think about what it might contain, but then it quickly dawned on me, given its dimensions, it was what I had been waiting for a very long time.

I know myself pretty well, and I am quite hard to please when it comes to reproduction anything, and I actually waited 15 minutes before working up the courage to see what the results looked like - would they be below my expectations of what I expected or much better than expected or ??? My thoughts hovered around the bottom end of the range so I was preparing myself for that outcome.

But then I opened the box, that did have some handling rash on it, and was hoping not to be disappointed. Well, all I can say is that I am extremely impressed with the quality and faithful reproduction efforts of SMS - they might even look a little better than original from the factory in some respects. The 300 emblem on the door panels I sent them on the panels I wanted reproduced were not perfect, but when I got them back on the new panels, it looks like they took the effort to even replate them and paint them black in the areas needed to make them just like new again. Even some areas of the door panel contain padding behind the covers to give the panels some 3 dimensonal enhancements that were also faithfully recreated. The "chrome trim" around the 300 emblem was also done perfectly.

I would rate them an easy 90% overall. The only slight flaw I could find when comparing to an original one I have shown in the photos next to the reproduction one is that a couple of the smaller lines in the vicinity of the door pulls should have had embossed stitching, but were just straight, but the embossed stitching is so small in the originals that it is not that big a deal to me, as I had to look at one of my originals closely to note the difference.

I was hoping they would provide the same cutouts for the power window switches, door locks etc, but in thinking about the absence of them, I realize that might cause a lot of problems for them in terms of redoing them if there were any communication errors about what options to include given that they do all makes of vehicles and keeping it all straight could lead to too many problems. So I will make the cuts, very carefully that are needed. The cutouts on the back sides of the panels, however, do include the provisions for mounting the door clips, in the same exact locations as the originals and the quality of the backboard surpasses the cardboard from the factory.

Given my being pleased with the results, I placed an order for another 4 sets of door panels with them, with each set being almost $1000 to reproduce with shipping included. They also assured me that this next time around, the wait should be half the time it took for mine to get done. But just in case, I placed an order that would cover about 3 years going forward of restoration car efforts.

View attachment 288905 View attachment 288906 View attachment 288907

I would wait 3 years if they could do my 78 NYB door panels.

:thumbsup:
 
It looks great, too bad it took so long. Is this the first one's they are doing for a 300 or do they have so much work it takes that long? I can understand if they have to do some R&D for the first set, but 3 years?

They made the dies for the 1970-71 300 door panels maybe 5 or 6 years ago as I recall, so it is a matter of taking so long. They are the only game in town since SMS bought out Original Auto Interiors of Michigan (who mostly supplied original auto fabrics/vinyls and didn't make door panels as far as I know) and since LeBaron Bonney closed up shop for making specialty door panels too. As I understand from Bob Baker of ABC Moparts, the only other company in the U.S. reproducing door panels is one for Corvettes only.

I have heard from one SMS employee it takes so long to make the door panels because it is really hard to find capable die makers anymore. Another source says they have heard that the owner of the company is striving to keep his number of employees to something manageable to ensure quality work and to avoid having to pay medical benefits under current law but that is just hearsay.

At this point, I am just glad there is at least one source for these panels and who supplies quality authentic reproduction and original auto interior fabrics and vinyls, headliners, seat covers, vinyl tops etc. Without them, the bottom line is that I would be very hard pressed to restore a vehicle to like new condition.

The rule for me now is to order long in advance of being able to complete one of my vehicles. Nothing else will work as far as I know.
 
I would wait 3 years if they could do my 78 NYB door panels.

:thumbsup:

As far as I know Bob, SMS will do just about any door panels for any make of vehicle - that also complicates their business. I would give Kim a call there and ask her. Their willingness to take on just about any project must also add to wait time. I have seen them do some very outstanding door panels for some Forward Look circa 1958 Desoto Adventurer convertibles that also look perfect. You might have to supply your own plastic storage containers if some of those formal models use them mounted on the door panels (like on the fuselage Imperials for example) but when it comes to the core door panel, they should be able to reproduce them. You could call her at (503) 263-3535 (she usually picks up or it might be Leslie).
 
They look good, but obviously they forgot to include the door speaker provisions of your original.



lol :poke:
 
As part of the reproduction process SMS requires you to send in your old door panels so they can reuse the top metal portion. The remaining portion of the panels gets destroyed (except of course for any any emblems, etc that must be reused). Just an FYI for those who are not familiar with the process. That adds about $100 to the cost of the panels at least from California to Oregon to ship them the originals since the boxes are big and the weight is around 40 lbs.
 
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They made the dies for the 1970-71 300 door panels maybe 5 or 6 years ago as I recall, so it is a matter of taking so long. They are the only game in town since SMS bought out Original Auto Interiors of Michigan (who mostly supplied original auto fabrics/vinyls and didn't make door panels as far as I know) and since LeBaron Bonney closed up shop for making specialty door panels too. As I understand from Bob Baker of ABC Moparts, the only other company in the U.S. reproducing door panels is one for Corvettes only.

I have heard from one SMS employee it takes so long to make the door panels because it is really hard to find capable die makers anymore. Another source says they have heard that the owner of the company is striving to keep his number of employees to something manageable to ensure quality work and to avoid having to pay medical benefits under current law but that is just hearsay.

At this point, I am just glad there is at least one source for these panels and who supplies quality authentic reproduction and original auto interior fabrics and vinyls, headliners, seat covers, vinyl tops etc. Without them, the bottom line is that I would be very hard pressed to restore a vehicle to like new condition.

The rule for me now is to order long in advance of being able to complete one of my vehicles. Nothing else will work as far as I know.

Thanks Steve.

This is what I did for now.

20181117_114603.jpg


20181117_114529.jpg
 
It looks to me like those are molded plastic parts rather than vinyl, Bob, which SMS probably will not be able to reproduce. That would be more in the purview of ABC Moparts if one can establish a reasonable business case for him.
If a guy didn't know any better you would never know the screws didn't belong.

Best fix I could think of for those door panels.

Mopar used some cheap fiberboard to construct those panels. The problem is twofold for the door panel. The mounting clips were stronger than the fiberboard so the fiberboard/ panel would just pull out and destroy the fiberboard /panel. The other problem is the blue plastic on the display side of the door panel becomes very brittle and will crack just by looking at it.
 
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