Door Storage Pockets

[HoosierB]

I would like to increase at-hand storage capacity in the cab section. The lower section of the door panel seems like a good area. I came across this photo of a 2003 Econoline with a nice lower door compartment. Don't know if it is aftermarket, a Ford option or part of the original panel itself. Haven't seen much of anything on eBay or other sites. Any help or other suggestions would be appreciated.

[Blue~Go]

I can shed a little light on this. So I have a 1999 E-350, and my buddy has a 2003 E-450. i.e. same cab, different years. I don't know exactly when they changed over, but my era has a little expandable pouch mid-way up the door that you can reach while driving, but nothing down on the lower panel by the footwell. His had no little pouch, but had a rigid compartment down near the bottom.

Both of these (entire) door panels were interchangeable on our two units. Why do I say this? Well, ironically (compared to what you are asking) he sourced the older style (like I have) for his 2003. Why? Well it's personal taste, of course, but he had already hacked into the lower rigid compartments in order to make certain things fit (reflective triangle box and fire extinguisher on the passenger side) - which they still didn't do very well - and also there were no pouches or storage he could really reach while driving, and he envied mine.

I also prefer my era ones. That's because I use the two "footwells" for storing various things, and the rigid compartments go into this area when the door closes (so you can store things in the rigid compartments, but not in the footwell). (I have a wheel chock in the after end of the driver one, and a few containers of things in the passenger one, but I don't typically have a passenger.) I also like the pouches you can reach from the driver's seat, where I keep gloves, and various other things.

Obviously it's personal taste, and you might prefer the newer ones. I can say that we had his changed over in under an hour, and that included cleaning the "new" ones. I had previously watched a video when I replaced the speakers in my doors, so I knew where all the little screws and clips were. But it wasn't that hard the first time either. (Oh, BTW, we replaced his door speakers, "while we were in there" also.)

Locally finding them was a bust. He used "car-part.com," which i have also used successfully. They have jillions. One note is that you can sort by condition. He was a bit casual about it and got ones marked "B" - and they were like a B--. I would only go for A or better myself. He had them shipped from someplace fairly far away but it was no problem. One other note is that the greys were not *exactly* the same between the 2003 ones and the older ones. I forget the difference, but one was a little lighter. It didn't seem bothersome since both door panels were being replaced, but just saying. Another difference in his car-parts sourced "soft pouch" doors from my "soft pouch" doors is that my lower kick panel is carpeted. His came with a sort of diamond textured plastic. I would slightly prefer the ones he had because super easy to clean. OTOH, mine don't make noise if something in the footwell touches them. So maybe it's a horse apiece. He's not the type to go nuts researching which year had which tiny feature (like some people I know... )

I would think it's possible you could combine the two? Best of both worlds type of thing... Maybe it'd be better to start with the newer ones, since I don't know if they added some kind of support for those lower rigid compartments (whereas i doubt they *took away* whatever backing there was for the soft pouch?). I could see that if you have a passenger on a regular basis you wouldn't use the "naked" footwells for storage, so then maybe the lower rigid compartment would work well. Just realize you can't really reach them from the driver's seat.