1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elongate finisher member for automotive vehicles or the like, such as a lower window molding member along the lower edge of a rear window of the vehicle, or a scuffing plate along an opening edge of a door, which is secured to the vehicle body panel by tapping screws and the like fasteners.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various kinds of elongate finisher members for automotive vehicles or the like are known and actually used. As one example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open Publication No. 63-201,820 discloses a window molding member which is arranged along the lower edge of a rear window of the vehicle and secured to the vehicle body panel so as to cover a gap between the rear window and the trunk room panel. To this end, the known molding member includes an elongate main body of a relatively rigid material, such as a metal sheet, which is formed into predetermined length and cross-section. The main body provides a mount portion for securing the molding member to the vehicle body panel by means of bolts or the like fasteners, which are passed through openings formed in the mounting portion. The molding member is provided with a cover portion extending from the main body to cover the mount portion inclusive of the fasteners, and a lip portion of plasticized synthetic resin arranged along the edge of the main body to be brought into abutment with the surface of the rear window.
When the molding member of the abovementioned arrangement is mounted in place and secured to a vehicle body panel, the molding member serves to provide an improved appearance of the rear window along its lower edge by covering the gap between the rear window and the trunk compartment panel, though it can be secured to the vehicle body panel only with troublesome and time-consuming manual operations. More particularly, since the fasteners and the mount portion of the molding member are covered by the cover portion, it is not readily possible to use tapping screws as the fasteners which can be inserted into the openings in the mount portion and then driven from outside to realize improved work efficiency. Instead, it is necessary to previously insert fastening bolts into the openings in the mount portion such that their heads are covered by the cover portion, and engage the bolts with respective nuts from inside of the vehicle body panel when securing the molding member to the vehicle body panel. This means that very delicate tool manipulations have to be carried out in a narrow inner space of the vehicle body, which makes it difficult or almost impossible to realize an improved efficiency in the assembly. The cover portion could be omitted from the molding member, though such omission results in deterioration of the appearance as the fastener heads are directly exposed and/or visible from outside.