Working on the ‘56 is a new experience for me as I’ve always worked on early mustang fastbacks, anyway after repairing the lower sections of the doors inner and outers,hung the passenger side and had to weld some extra rods to get decent gaps, I go to the install the drivers side and it’s way too tight, on the upper section the frame has a measurement of
27 1/2” (passenger side is 27 3/4”), the door measures 27 3/8”, metal is all original no damage at all, I asked a fellow FTE who also has a ‘56 and he has the same measurements,so I guess my question is has anyone have the same issue and how were you able to resolve the problem, only thing I can think is to scribe the door to the frame and grind down the door, I need to gain anywhere from 3/16” to 1/4” to get decent gaps, thanks for any help, Pete

 

That pretty much sums it up. These old cars and trucks were never built to the standards of a Lexus as cars are today. Being a 1/2" out from side to side is not uncommon. Grinding and welding to make uniform panel gaps is typical sop, if building anything show-worthy.

 

I just went through the same thing.