400i door trim panel dent

Mine has a similar indentation and I've seen it on other cars as well. At first I thought I was pushing on it there either to open the door, or as driving but that isn't the case.

 

It was designed that way to provide elbow clearance based on feedback from the racetrack. Porsche has the ignition key on the left, Ferrari has door panel indents.

 

Christian is right. My 400 has these along with every '400 series' car I have ever looked at.

Simon

 

Rh drive does not have this. But the interior had been redone. I did notice this on my later cars with factory interior. Dumb me thought the panel was worn

 

Guys, I don't think that dent is a design into the door trim panel.
Yes, the trim panels are usually fiberglass or even heavy cardboard, fit to the door, then covered in an inch or so of foam padding with a layer of leather skin glued on and pulled in all the right directions ......over time, the foam breaks down, the leather is pushed in and forms a dent.
Usually because of repeated use in the same place over and over, I have seen it in armrests and console lids.
Check my door panel, 12k miles, no dent.... needs cleaning.

Gary

PS: go thru Otto's story on his car, there are pics of the door panels being redone.
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On my 400 # 20337. The panels were pressed on the upper part. they consist of a rigid support, an extruded polystyrene layer covered with a layer of foam which then is placed on the leather. I have therefore redone. The leather should be more tense, I would do later.
The pictures are not very good.
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Hello Newman
I am going to being re trimming mine at some stage in the next couple of months. If you can wait I will post photos of how they are done. I've re done these many times before. On mine the whole car has been re trimmed and the job is so appalling that it needs to be re done. They even fitted the central dash vent pod around the wrong way.
On my car I am replacing styrofoam with new sheets and it is quite straight forward to do as it is quite easy to sand to achieve the correct lines. I can send you photos if you would like to wait.
The in dents are not meant to be there.
Jim

 

Hi,

My 400 Auto (127K km) has the same indent on the driver side, about 10" from the lock. No indent on the passenger side.
My 412 (14.6K km) has no indent on either side and my 400i 2nd series (90K km) has no indent on either side either. Pictures are attached in the same sequence (starting with 400 Auto, finishing with 400 2nd series).
When I open the door, my hand is holding the handle and I am pushing (gently) with my elbow on the middle part of the door panel, this happens to be at least 4" below and 4" further away than where the indent is located on the 400 Auto left door.
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Yeah, I was just kidding about racetrack proven design. Looks to be fixable though.

 

Yep, any car that has driven on a regular basis has those "dents" from the driver pushing on the panel. No biggie.

 

No dent on either door card of my 54,000 mile RHD 1979 400i auto.

 

RHD cars don't count; they're already defective.

 

And autos, in general, are driven in such a sedate manner that no one would ever need to brace themselves against the door.

 

Yes! And I'll loan you my 11 year old trx's for the smoke show.

 

Someone should seriously do this!!!

Ruben

 

One of these should do nicely... NOT!

Driver Design Custom-Styled Abs Plastic Hood Scoops - JCWhitney

Or you could take inspiration from this beast (scroll down for a close up):

1980s Ferrari 412 Ute! - Cars Watcher

Where there's a will there's a way Newman!


Cheers!

Ruben