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Working on a 1953 1-ton and need a headliner. I see one and two piece, and read some comments about the original style 2 piece headliners not fitting well. This truck is mostly a restoration, so I’m looking for something close to original but not having the floating bar in the middle won’t bother me if the 1 piece is better quality and still looks mostly original. What’s my best bet for a new headliner? What color were the originals?

A one-piece headliner is going to be a giant pain to install, IMO. The two-piece ones are hard enough. The original color should be the same as the door panels, which should be brown.

I did a one piece ABS type plastic that needed fitting (the advertisement said so before I bought) and needed 2 people to do the job. Below is the text from that installation:


I shot the ABS headliner with the same Rustoleum Hunter Green paint that I had used on my door cards.

After removing the interior sun visors, I used a set of dividers to measure the distance from two known points (a screw in the inner windshield trim and a pin hole I punched into the windlace as it curves down) to all 3 screw holes that hold the left sun visor in place. Did the same for the right visor. These dimensions are needed when it is time to put the visors back on.

I used some cardboard flooring protector (about 1/16" thick, comes in a 100' roll) to make a template of the leading edge, over the windshield down the a pillar a bit and then starting back over the doors a few inches.

Start the clock running.

Talked my brother into driving out and giving me a hand. Cut the leading edge of the ABS one piece headliner to match the template, tried fitting just the leading edge and probably had to fit and cut small amounts 8 or 10 times to get the leading edge in place. Removed at most 1/2" from parts of the leading edge to get it to match the inside top of the windshield gasket.

This is definitely a 2 man job. No way I could have held it in place and marked it for cutting.

Then spent a while working on the headliner's "tabs" that run down between the A pillar and the windlace where it goes down from the area over the door and runs towards the windshield's inner trim pieces. Had to remove about 3/4" from the bottom of the tab and narrow it from 2" as it came from the factory to about 1/2".

Measuring where to cut the ABS to get the right length to tuck it under the windlace going over the door was a real PITA. What we ended up doing was I held the headliner in place and my brother Jack traced a line on the back side of the headliner using the bottom edge of the windlace as it passed over and curved down a bit at the door. Then we measured the distance of the "height" of the windlace as it passed over the door at about 1.5" We wanted the headliner to slide it between the windlace and the cab's metal over the door about 1/4", so subtracted that from the 1.5" leaving 1.25". Then we drew a line on the back side of the headliner 1.25" "higher" from the previous line that marked the bottom of the windlace. Then we cut using that higher line. Slipped the side of the ABS under the windlace on both sides. The headliner now would hold itself in place. We had removed over an inch at the center of the doors tapering down to about 1/4" at the front and rear of the doors.

Now we had the front and both sides fitted and turned to fit the rear. Funny thing was it was almost perfect already. We had to remove a strip about 1/4" and a foot long.

Let my brother go home. Time so far is two guys for 3 hours.

Screwed down the over the windshield trim pieces and the back of the cab piece. Some of the screws had to be persuaded a bit, but eventually they all went in.

Made a small templet mimicking the mounting brackets of the visor. Drilled matching holes in the template.

Laid some painter's tape over the general area that the visors bolt to. Using the measurements from the second paragraph from the top of this post taped the visor template in place and drilled through the ABS. Actually hit 4 of 6 holes and was close enough on the other two that I just hogged out the hole in the ABS to match. Used the visor template cut the center hole for the visor's arm in the ABS using a 3/4" hole saw. BE CAREFUL THAT YOU DON'T DING THE UNDERSIDE OF THE TRUCK'S CAB ROOF AS THE HOLE SAW CUTS THROUGH THE ABS. Hogged that hole out to full size using a rotary rasp in a drill.

Probably another hour and a half later when I finished.

Bill, I think that qualifies as a giant pain to install.

How was the original headliner installed at the factory? Certainly it wasn't as difficult as it seems to be today. Has the material changed such that it isn't as flexible or are the replacements the wrong shape?

I'd think the line workers were just slapping it up.

Bill, your headliner looks amazing! Great work!

I have installed two of the cardboard headliners and later replaced both with ABS ones in my 1954 trucks. I found the ABS ones easier than the ill fitting, two piece reproduction cardboard ones to install. The ABS was not difficult to cut with aviation snips and went in with some trimming at the sides and back. The difficult part was getting up the nerve to make the cuts. Removing a little at a time off each side it eventually slid under the windlace. The front was very close and the back required some trimming. The most work was the many installations and removals required to remove material slowly. Easy to remove material, very difficult to ad. The ABS can be painted to match your interior. I used SEM brand plastic primer then their paint. Being a one piece windshield the 54 will be different than older ones to install. The ABS will never have to be replaced. The cost is considerably more but finished result is worth the time and effort.

Thank you for sharing that. Looks like a really nice job. I think I’ll go the same direction with mine.

Thanks for the compliment Phil.

As No1300 says above, it is hard to "uncut" once you cut too far. Or as my Dad used to say, "cut it off 3 times and it is STILL too short!".

It probably took an average 3 cuts in each area to sneak up on the right place.

My bet is that the originals were formed in a press to the correct shape to begin with, and likely fell right into place, lickity split.

I've found, making a template or a partial template, out of paper, helps greatly. Helps if it's heavy paper and you have a roll of masking tape handy. This way you can sneak up on it trimming your paper instead of your final piece AND, if you cut too much paper away, you can re-adjust by using tape or taping paper back where you need it. And the tape helps hold your paper template in place. Extra hands, if you will.