The door cappings are the finishing pieces along the top edge of each door, forming the surface against which the sidescreen base seats on the roadster and completing the line of cockpit trim as the door closes into the body. Renewing the door cappings is often the single most visible change in an interior re-trim, they sit at eye height and are immediately apparent when the door is opened. The capping set supplied for the MGA covers the door tops as part of a wider cockpit capping specification, giving a co-ordinated finish across the entire cockpit edge.
Door Capping as Part of the Cockpit Capping Set
On the MGA, the door tops are part of the wider cockpit capping system rather than a standalone trim item, the door top, rear quarter, facia top and rear tonneau front edge cappings were all designed as a matched set, with the same leather and Vynide materials and the same piping scheme throughout. As a result, door cappings are supplied as part of the full MGA Cockpit Capping Set, ensuring that the colour, piping and material are consistent along the entire cockpit edge when fitted. Ordering just one section in isolation rarely produces a satisfactory result, since any mismatch is immediately visible at the joins between sections.
Original Construction
The door top cappings sit on trim roll bases that were all-wood on cars built up to mid-1956, then updated to cast aluminium on later cars (matching the transition across the rear quarters and front of the door trim rolls). The door top cappings themselves were covered in leather, while the facia top and rear tonneau cappings in the same set were finished in Vynide leathercloth. Piping runs along the outer edge of each capping, with the colour matched to the seats and seat piping fitted to the car.
Colour and Piping Combinations
Capping sets are offered in the principal MGA seat colour combinations: black with black, red or white piping; red with black, red or white piping; grey with grey piping; and the lighter magnolia and biscuit colours with matching piping. The factory rule was always that capping piping matched the seat piping, so the colour of the seats and their piping determines the correct set for the car.
Ordering Considerations
Confirm the seat and seat piping colour before ordering, mismatched piping between seats and cappings is one of the most visible signs of a patchwork re-trim. Door cappings are renewed as part of the full cockpit capping set rather than ordered individually, which ensures consistency between the door top and the adjacent rear quarter and facia top cappings.