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P 15 Interior- What to do?


Daniel L

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Hey guys, 

I got my 1947 Plymouth Sedan in late July and finally got it all stripped inside and out. One thing I was wondering was what to do for the interior! The interior was non-existent in the car but I have the frames for everything.

What is the best thing to do for an interior in this car? I was hoping for someone to point me in the right direction for an interior kit or just DIY it. 

 

Thanks, Dan

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I would vote for a combination of approaches to a "start from scratch" interior.  Upholstery is not as difficult as some make it out to be, just takes patience, the less skill/experience you have, the more patience you need.  Don't take any shortcuts, either.  I did the interior on our D24 with zippo knowledge or experience, and it came out nicely, although now at 27 years old it's starting to show its age (again).  And I did the interior of our daughter's Falcon several years ago, and the seats in my Beetle this last spring.  I've tried mightily, but I can't sew a straight line worth a hoot. For the D24 we got a local (El Paso, TX at the time) upholstery shop to make the kits for us, but I've seen them available commercially as well, but we couldn't afford them at the time.  For the Falcon I used commercially available interior kits (at the time we lived only 10 miles from a major antique auto / Ford shop in Lockport, NY).  For the Beetle we still had good covers, the guts were just all shot, so I "restuffed" them with commercially available pads and cushions.  But - I still don't care for doing the upholstery / interiors, can't put a finger on why, I just don't.  But I like the results, and satisfaction of doing it myself enough to keep doing them. I still have to do our Terraplane in the next year or so, and will probably redo the D24 eventually...besides whatever else may creep into our shop...   

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13 minutes ago, Dan Hiebert said:

I would vote for a combination of approaches to a "start from scratch" interior.  Upholstery is not as difficult as some make it out to be, just takes patience, the less skill/experience you have, the more patience you need.  Don't take any shortcuts, either.  I did the interior on our D24 with zippo knowledge or experience, and it came out nicely, although now at 27 years old it's starting to show its age (again).  And I did the interior of our daughter's Falcon several years ago, and the seats in my Beetle this last spring.  I've tried mightily, but I can't sew a straight line worth a hoot. For the D24 we got a local (El Paso, TX at the time) upholstery shop to make the kits for us, but I've seen them available commercially as well, but we couldn't afford them at the time.  For the Falcon I used commercially available interior kits (at the time we lived only 10 miles from a major antique auto / Ford shop in Lockport, NY).  For the Beetle we still had good covers, the guts were just all shot, so I "restuffed" them with commercially available pads and cushions.  But - I still don't care for doing the upholstery / interiors, can't put a finger on why, I just don't.  But I like the results, and satisfaction of doing it myself enough to keep doing them. I still have to do our Terraplane in the next year or so, and will probably redo the D24 eventually...besides whatever else may creep into our shop...   

Awesome, thanks for a few ideas and insight!

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I don't know of anyone who makes an interior kit for the P15 Plymouths, not one that would be authentic anyway. Doing it yourself is certainly possible, Repro headliners are easily available and not difficult to install. Door panels and other trim panels are pretty easy to make as well. The hard part are the seats, especially if you don't have any of the old upholstery to take apart and use for patterns. you might want to try doing the parts I mentioned yourself and send the seats out to a shop for best results. Finding some good pictures of original upholstery helps a lot too. I've done a few interiors on my cars over the years and I actually enjoy doing it!

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I always wanted to go back with an authentic looking material on the seats & headliner, but I haven't found anything that is really close at all to the original patterns.  I think it might have been available back when I started this project back in the very early 80's, but as far as I found out at the time, mohair was only available in England, and for a pretty penny.  Back then we were looking mostly at valour as a possible sort of close match.  Since then I have seen a men's suit that had a color pattern that was very much like the color patterns on my seats, but it was my brother-in-law's suit, and he's not a big enough guy that his suit would outfit an entire car.   (HA Ha.)  But 'suiting' is a much finer fabric, and it probably wouldn't hold up at all, and i never found any like his suit in the fabric stores.  I figured that a person might sew it first to a sturdier fabric, and use it that way.

 

But thinking about it now, I'm thinking seriously of not trying to match the original fabrics at all, because many (or maybe even most) people didn't actually sit on the original fabric.  I know that the original fabric in my parent's 53 DeSoto was still perfect when it was parked at 19 years old with over 100,000 miles on the odometer.  Because when the 'original' seat covers (that had covered the original upholstery) wore out, my mom made new covers out of what we called 'naugahide' back then, some sort of vinyl, really.  The seats for my 46 Plymouth (91,712.2 on the odometer - I haven't driven it yet.) also have seat covers on them, and if it weren't for the fact that they are torn, and the original fabric underneath fragile from age, I suspect they would also look 'perfect'.  I've had a couple of Chrysler Town & Country minivans with leather seats, and I liked them, so I may go that way. I've also thought of trying to match the patterns of the fabrics used for the 'original' seat covers - that would be an approach that would be more authentic in many ways.

Edited by Eneto-55
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Here is one vendor for real old style interior materials.

 

May scare you with the prices however.

 

http://www.hirschauto.com/hvywtbcloth.htm

 

One of several after a web search for _ antique auto interior materials.

 

http://www.lebaronbonney.com/index.htm

 

Best,

 

DJ

Edited by DJ194950
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29 minutes ago, DrDoctor said:

   Our ’46 was re upholstered in the original pattern, with a velour-like material that also looks similar to what was used “back then”. It’s not exactly correct, but it’s very close – close enough for gov’t work, so it’s close enough for us. Regards . . .

I would love to see a picture that shows the color & stripe pattern.  (Maybe not all of them had the same sort of pattern that mine does.  I would expect the colors to vary, but maybe not the pattern so much?)

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2 hours ago, DrDoctor said:

Eneto-55,

   I’m sure you noticed that the garnish moldings aren’t wood-grained, but instead black. We didn’t like the black trim, and we hated the brown steering wheel. So, I redid the window trim in a light grey that matches the color of the upholstery very closely. To avoid “dash-board glare”, I painted it, along with the steering column, shifter parts, and the steering wheel in a grey that was abit darker. The “blue-ish” panels on the dash-board were then covered with a floor tile cut-to-fit that has a grey marble appearance, and texture. I used a heat gun to soften it so it’d conform to the contours of the glove box, the panel immediately to the right of the glove box, and the panel on the left-most panel where the starter button is located. The pieces were allowed to cool, to ensure that each piece “took a set” to its respective final position. Obviously, it isn’t original, but we like it better than the “beige-ish” wood-grain, and much better than the brown steering wheel (did I mention how much my wife hated the brown steering wheel with the grey interior???). The rubber matting was replaced with cut-pile carpeting vs loop carpeting, and it really nice, but it looks “green-ish” in the photos (???). Best regards. . . . .

Dr Doctor,

Thank you for putting up the photos, and for the explanation.  Actually, I was concentrating so much on the upholstery that I hadn't even noticed the interior molding & dash colors.  My brother did a brown woodgraining on my dash back when we were both working on our cars, side by side (early 80's), but by now the paint that he had mixed up for that is all dried up.  I may try to get mine looking like it was originally, but will experiment with woodgraining first.  A wood shop that I do business with gave me a few pieces of Sepele (the African wood which the original grain pattern is said to be emulating), and I think it is a quarter-sawn pattern.  If I don't like what I can get with my attempts at woodgraining, I will choose some solid color as well.  (I can't see the dash well enough to see the pattern in the tile veneer you used, but that's an inventive idea.  I've thought a bit about trying to cover mine with leather, but it would have to be able to stretch some places, as you know.)

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S M S Fabric company is also a source of vintage cloth.....but pretty pricey.    

 

If there are any fabric wholesale suppliers in your part of the country, (where local auto shops buy their goods) you might 

take time and visit them in person.  Sometimes when you explain what you are working on, they may allow you to look in

the warehouse or back room where they may still have some old style fabrics.  It might be good to find some pictures of 

what you would like to use...for their benefit.   My son in law got the two colors and materials he used on my car from a 

place in Kansas City, MO that went out of business.  I visited there once and they had a lot of old stuff.... the place   had been 

around since just after WW II.  Otherwise, try to get acquainted with some local upholstery shop owner who may be able to

help in various ways.  It seems pretty impossible to find the rubber mats for the floor, so I just went with loop pile auto carpet.

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I regard working on upholstery as part of the hobby, like working on engine, body, or paint. Sewing is fun, and is not too difficult to learn. Right equipment is the key. Professional walking foot upholstery machines are unfortunately pricey, but classics like Singer 66 can be had for about $50, and, with few modification, they are suitable for occasional upholstery tasks. There are excellent youtube tutorials on various aspects car upholstery. 

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11 minutes ago, DrDoctor said:

Eneto-55,

   I never tho’t of the leather idea, but I really like it!!! I do a lot of leather work, mostly making kidney-belts for motorcycle riders (which included me when I rode one nasty-@$$’ed chopper), holsters (for belt and shoulder rigs) for handguns, as well as full-coverage “slip-covers” for long guns (both contemporary and black powder muzzle-loaders). With the handgun holsters, the leather must be wet in order for it to conform to the shape of the gun. The same would apply to the dashboard. As such, I’d think it mandatory for the dashboard to be removed from the car (you’ll most likely wind up with a royal sopping mess in the car if you didn’t . . .). Remove everything from the dashboard, use a good quality  thin leather that’ll work the contours of the dashboard (do the glovebox door separately, and allow ¼” minimum for “wrap-around” on it, and probably ½”   for “wrap-around” on the dashboard itself). Once you’ve got the wet leather conformed to the parts to be covered – let it dry completely on the parts, so as to let the leather “take a set”, which will make final installation much easier. Used a good quality contact cement, enlist the help of a friend, take your time, and you’ll wind up with a stunning product. And, as for sourcing the leather, I’ve used Tandy for 40+ years, and have absolutely NO complaints. Best of luck, and should you take this path, I’d be most interested in hearing about/seeing your results. I bet it’ll be stunning!!! Best of luck, and warmest regards . . .

DrDoctor,

I had 1 semester of leather carving in HS, back in the heyday of Tandy Leather, I guess.  That was vegetable tanned leather.  Is that what you would use?  I hadn't thought of doing that - I was thinking of thin upholstery leather.  Now doing a carving on it would be REALLY different, but it would sure take a lot of time to draw it all out.  I always wanted to do a saddle, but couldn't afford it.  I think the only thing I have left from then is a wallet I made. I still have the carving knife & a few tools, but I never had very many.  Mostly just used the ones they had in the HS leather shop. 

 

If you used upholstery leather, would you pad it at all, like roll & pleats?  (I'm visualizing the way the dash looked on my first car, a 62 Chrysler Newport.)  I'm thinking that it would be more 'forgiving' (in terms of wrinkles) if it were padded.

 

Just saw that you posted again while I was writing this.  About the vinyl tops, yeah, bad idea.  My younger sister had a 67 Olds (442 maybe?) that my younger brother tore the vinyl top off of, and painted as a two-tone - after repairing the rust damage.  It was really rough under the vinyl.  The top bubbled under the vinyl on my 72 Coronet, too (my second car).

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Daniel L...….click on this link which should take you to a website done by a fellow in California a few years ago.  He had a super

nice restoration of a P15 four door.  He went to a  lot of trouble to determine the correct upholstery materials.  Hopefully his work will be helpful to you.        http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bojeta/indexpage2.html

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Earlier in this thread it was talking about new stuffing for existing cover.  What works well and just as good as new,,,find a couch by the curb and unzip the seat covers and peek inside.  95% of them are pristine.  Use the stuffing from a free couch, recip saw whats left of wooden frame to fit in your stove, fireplace, or trash can(Little at a time).

 

Never done any, just watched my parents do it as a kid.  Think you need to cut foam 2-3"s large on every side so it looks right fastened.  You can always trim but cant glue it back on.

 

I always used free cushions for shingling a house.  Everything  (air gun, shingles,nails, other tools like square )slides off the regular 4/12 roof but not if put on a foam cushion, it grips.  AND 1 or 2 of them make a great place to set on softer material.

Edited by Grdpa's 50 Dodge
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