Vinyl Or Cloth????

[55 Fargo]

Hi all, got a quote yesterday by a free lance upholsterer, this quote is for both front split bench seat and back bench seat. These are in my 47 Chrysler Coupe.

The upholsterer, suggestred he do the seats in vinyl, with bark blue back on the fron, as well as the bottom on the seat frame, the fortns and the bottm seat to be in grey, the factory pleats will be sewn in as well. For the back seat he will do the upperback in grey vinyl, the bottm will be grey also, with the front of the bottom seat portion in dark blue. The is will be a somewhat 2 -tone look, the dark blue will match my dash and window garnish, the door panels will be grey vinyl, with dark blue arm rests, the head liner will be ordered in and will be cloth, the carpet on the floor will be dark blue or black.

The quote for both seats, is $600 to $700, which is a very good price, as most shops here want $1200 to $1400 , this is this gentelmans side line/hobby.....Fred

[Normspeed]

Sounds like a good price Fred. Have you seen any of his work in other cars?

I have some very tough vinyl on my front seat. Rugged, easy to clean, but in the summer your back tends to sweat a lot on vinyl. I use one of those ventilated seat thingies from Auto Zone, helps a lot. In everyday use, the ventilated seat lasts about 6 months before it wears out. So twice a year I spring for a fresh one at $10.00.

[55 Fargo]

Have not seen his work, but will soon, the vinyl he sues is UV ressistant and good to -40, to guard against premature cracking, will use something like you have mentioned or will throw over my seat blanket. Like the idea of vinyl, easy to wipe off as I live ona very dusty road....Fred PS, my car ain't pure stock anyway, and wasa real wreck of a basket case, she is just an old driver at best.....Fred

[Normspeed]

If I could find someone locally who does quality work at that price, I'd probably get mine re-done in heavy vinyl. Here's the color I'd want, in my black wagon.

[Norm's Coupe]

I like the heavy duty vinyl too. Mine seat covers are very heavy vinyl with double pleats, made by AutoCraft and ordered through JC Whitney, made from original seat patterns for the cushions. You have to order flat stock to match for the seat frame and door panels. Or, you can go with different colors. You can also order custom two tone seat covers from them on special orders.

The AutoCraft pleated covers are also padded and lined so nothing goes through the cover to the seat. The vinly has a leatherette pattern to it. For just the seat covers to do both back and front I think the price is around $300 today through JC Whitney. It's in their catalog. Of course, then you have to install them yourself, or pay someone else to do it. I did not do my seat frame. Believe I have enough flat material left to do it with, but I decided to leave it just like it is with the old patina on that part.

Norm, this is actually maroon, but you can get red if you want. If you guys are interested you can order swatch samples from JC Whitney in the colors your interested in. They use to send those out at no charge.

[Normspeed]

Those look nice Norm. Pretty slick engine compartment too.

[Norm's Coupe]

Thanks Norm. As you can see, the engine compartment is far from original colors. But, then again, it was meant to be that way.