I am trying to build a headliner for my 55. I have a couple of different sheets of different plastic and so far haven't been able to make a one piece headliner. Can you send me a pic or post one of how you did your headliner?
I am doing a simple headliner, no place for radio etc. and haven't been able to make one so far without it bending and buckling which would show up when covered in material.
Thanks
Larry

 

I built one for my panel from headliners out of a club van and chevy pickup. You could likely use one out of a car. They are usually made out of pressed fiberglass and are very flexible.

 

I made mine in 2 pieces, then added a 3 inch trim strip to the middle support bar to hide the join. Makes life a lot easier!!!

 

There are 4 sections to the one I made for my panel. The very front part was out of a chevy extended cab, the mid section from a ford club van and the rear I made from 3/8" plywood to hold the speakers and bristle board covered in fiberglass to cover the rear hatch door hinges. Biggest expense was the fiberglass resin and cloth.

 

Thanks for the pics I am having issued with trying to make the bends in the back cab corners. I was trying to make it in one piece and doing ok until I got to the back. The bend is so sharp that the plastic buckled and will show when I glue on material. I am going back to the plastic place and see if they have something more flexible without breaking when it get too sharp a bend. The rear cab corner has the bend for the back of the cab plus the right angle bends for the corners. I was trying to go from the front of the cab to the middle of the rear window in one piece .It looks like all the aftermarket ones have three pieces, the center and two side sections.
Larry

 

I guess it depends on the kind of plastic you're using but have you tried heating it? Like they do when straightening out dents on plastic bumpers for new cars.

 

I bought Mid-Fifties ABS headliner and covered it it headliner material. Yeh, I wimped out. But I ad considered doing it this way:

Lookin for some examples of coupe headliner installation - THE H.A.M.B.

 

I tried to make a one piece from ABS plastic. I was pretty sure it wasn't ever going to get finished to my liking that way. I eventually cut it in half and formed a metal strip to run down the middle. Even as a two piece, the corners were taking forever and were going to require a ton of hand shaping. I broke down and bought the mid-fifty one piece, but my initial try is documented here:

1955 Ford F100 4x4 - Headliner

 

Peecubed

That's my issue, because according to mid fifty and everyplace I have called is they do not have a one piece headliner. They only sell the three piece ones. I recalled mid fifty and they "checked" and their cardboard and abs headliners are in three pieces. I can't believe someone hasn't produced a one piece vacuum formed headliner. The other option I would think is someone make a mold and build a fiberglass one molded in one piece. The high shipping cost might be the problem but I am sure many would pay to get a one piece headliner that you only needed to cover with foam backed fabric and install without trying to get it in place without bending or buckling cardboard or abs.
I have some 060 styrene material and even heated it will not make the bend from back to the corner without buckling. I also tried some abs in 1/8" thickness but it had the same result.
Thanks
Larry

 

The one piece headliner was actually made by Rod Doors who have since gone out of business. For a while after they went belly-up Mid-Fifty was still selling the one-piece.

In attempting to form a headliner out of ABS we were using .040 thick material which appeared a little light but with a lot more patience I believe we would have gotten to the end.

T900

 

Having trouble with my camera driver. can't post pics but I was working on my interior this weekend.
I'm using 4 x 8' shet s of 3 mm PVC; installed section behind seat, using heat from heat gun was able to form the corners.

I'm not going to try to form the compound curves at the rear corners, but will use same material on headliner. Thanks to Overkill 51 and Ross, I have the template, which needs to be modified for the smaller 48-50 rear window.
I was going to cover the liner but since I'm going for the stock look, I'm going to leave the PVC in its natural state, satin black. I'll post when able.

Tom