The driver's door has a bad armrest but the rest of the inside of the door is fine. I'm not sure where to find these kind of replacement parts.

 

From your photo it looks like a 4 door. Check with French Lake Auto Parts in MN for a replacement. It will be as old as yours but perhaps good or better. If you find a good part, paint to match your other doors. Junkyard 4 doors interiors fared much better than convertibles over the years since they are closed cars.

If that fails, keep an eye on EBay, or here’s a repair.

If the door cardboard is bad, well, it’s more or less time for new panels. Don’t bother with anything catalog, there’s no market so there are no kits.

If it’s the plastic arm, under the chrome switches, they can be repaired. The plastic arms are screwed into the door car with 10 or more short wide head upholstery screws that are slightly hard to find now. The job is pretty much pull the door panel, then unscrew the arm from the backside of the panel so you can see what’s broken and the design to figure out repairs.

My plastic arms broke in various places, generally at the front where the switch arm screws down. I must have cracked it somehow over the years too, but I don’t remember quite when/why. Probably overtorqueing the switch plate screws.

1) You can try gluing the plastic pieces back together and covering with fabric or leather on top to hide the repair.

2) If the break is in a place where it’ll crack or break again due to stress, make a “sister” support out of shaped metal cut to fit both sides of the break and rivet, or screw it all back together. Then cover with fabric (black?) or leather to hide the repair

While you have the door panel off, that’s a great time to check the condition of your window tracks, window motors and clean out the inside bottom of the door - especially the drains to inhibit rusting.

Welcome aboard and I hope that helps. I’ve got 2 66 big cars - one for 40 years and another for 25 or so, if I can help further, please ask.

Chris

 

Oh, when you’re searching for parts, check for both 65 and 66 Olds, they had a lot of parts in common across those 2 years.

 

Thanks for the info. Sorry I wasn't very clear in my original post; the padded armrest has had rips in the vinyl, exposing the foam padding inside it. Really, that's the part I need to replace. I'll check out the French Lake Auto Parts store to see what I can find. Eventually I'll need various other parts too, but lucky for me the interior of my 98 is pretty solid.

 

If it’s rips in the vinyl, you’re looking for a good local auto upholster who can remake the vinyl coverings, assuming the foam is good.

If the foam is gone or bad, you can get a new chunk to completely replace the old, but density and material type for the new stuff might well be different from old. In which case one move would be to simply cut the old foam square and skin it with a layer of newer material to create a clean covering. But check with old car junkyards for replacement foam from back in the day - you might go to a good combination of quality & price. This is a bit of a long shot.

If your car is like mine, the vinyl grain you’re looking for is called Madrid. Olds called it Morroceen or something like that, but it was just their name for pretty common stuff.

I believe my upholsterer got vinyl for my car from a supplier called Lindsey & Hall.

Chris

 

Check with the Indiana chapter of the OCA for referrals I would assume any reputable auto upholstery shop could repair that.

 

I don't see a pic? If you want OE vinyl for a concours restoration then contact SMS Auto Fabrics. As others said, a local auto upholstery shop should be able to fix a damaged armrest. If you aren't doing a concours restoration then they probably have material on hand that will work.

https://smsautofabrics.com/