Upholstery Questions/Ideas??

[55 Fargo]

Hi all, later this winter, I plan on tackiling some of the interior. Now how many of you have revovered your old seats, made door panels, etc. The door panels from my parts car are beyond recovering, but will make good templates. What is a good backing board for door panels. I was thinking of using, 1/8 inch masonite panel, or laminated artboard.As far as the seats are concerned, I have a very talented sewer, who will sew up the seat covering,using the existing as a pattern. I will install, the new foam padding etc. The seats still have the material on them, but it is beyond cleaning, the springs and basic frames, are in really good shape. Having had a good look at the seats, It does not look like rocket science to me. The headliner I will order, and install my self also, at some later point. I will also need to make kick panels, as I am not going to use the kick panel heater vents, they are too rough in my opinion.

So just kicking around some ideas, this could be a good winter project, when the mercury drops below 0 for a good part of January and February............Fred

[greg g]

Fred as noted before, My wife and I freshened the interior of our car. Doing door panels, Package shelf and kick panels. and fashioning seat covers for the seat. Of course the Biz coupe has the advantage of having only one seat.

Went to an car upholstery shop and bought a piece of their standard backer board card board. Using the pold pieces for templates cut and covered the new stuff. The stuff they sell has a leather embossed finish on it. I left it plain and painted it for the kick panels. For the doors, after they were cut, I covered it with cotton batting from the sewing store using hot glue. then covered it with household upholstery material we found in the clearence bin at Jo Anns fabrics. For the seats, we dissasembled them into their basic pieces and used some pattern paper to trace the basic shape of the upholstery pieces. then using the standard seam allowance from basic home ec sewing course transfered the patterns to the fabric, cut the pieces and sewed the covers into shape with a special thread and needle from the fabric store. These we installed over the existing original upholstery. I also did the package shelf and trunk partition. we used just shy of 9 yards, The fabric store also had vinyl in about the same color as the kick pieces on the door bottoms. You want to be careful when you dissassemble this area. thee are metal pieces that recieve and clamp the edges of the material and then mount it to the door panel.

Revcently at a cruise in, I met a fellow who had a Dodge pickup. He had redon his interior, including the unupolstered inner roof panels. I asked him what the materail was and where he got it. He said he picked it up free from Home Depot. Apparently it is stuff they regularly throw away. He said it was stuff panel manufactureres use to seperate and protect the panels in shipping.

Said the stuff is easy to cut, can be wet and formed into compuond curved shapes, will take paint if needed, is resilient enough to screw through, etc.

You need to ask the employees who deal with interior panels, plywood sheets etc about it. He said a couple guys set some aside for him he went over and picked out the best pieces, they even cut it for him to facilitate handling. The rest went in the dumpster.

[Norm's Coupe]

Fred, I also did all my own interior work. I did buy fitted seat covers. I then made the door panels, kick panels and sewed my own door panel covering by hand using matching material. Sewed the door panels over the winter months. Sat in my recliner sewing the panels by hand while watching TV. I then covered the package tray to match the panels and seats. Not a hard job, just time consuming, but......what else are you going to do on those cold winter nights when it's too cold to go outside. OK, there may be other things to do, but that might cause a population explosion.

[bigred48]

Where have you found your interior pieces such as a head liner and seat covers. i need to do mine as well but the car only came with two bows and no cover to use as a pattern. does anybody have any ideas? it is a 48 4dr special deluxe. thanks

[Norm's Coupe]

Where have you found your interior pieces such as a head liner and seat covers. i need to do mine as well but the car only came with two bows and no cover to use as a pattern. does anybody have any ideas? it is a 48 4dr special deluxe. thanks

I bought the seat covers, extra material for door panels etc., and headliner from JC Whitney. The seat covers and extra material came from Auto Craft who has all the old seat cover patterns. The headliner was shipped from California. I believe Atlas Headliner Co. You can buy direct from Atlas though. You can also buy headliner bows from Atlas, if you need those. My carpet came direct from Auto Craft.

[Ed Griffin]

Norm, does Atlas Headliner co. have a website of their own? If not where are they located? I tried a google search and could not locate a direct link, only other sellers for headliners.

I've been eyeballing Kanters headliner for awhile but have seen you mention Atlas in the past. How can they be contacted directly to compare prices etc..?

[bob_amos]

For the board to use as door panels try looking in your Yallow Pages under automotive fabric shops. They sell fabrics as well as a heavy cardboard that is almost exactly the same as originally used. It is easy to work with too. If they do not carry it, and some places don't, just ask if they can refer you to a supplier. I purchase my headliners from Acme in Long Beach, Ca. We are an Acme approved seller and I have even sold some headliners to the upholstry/trim shop in our complex. They sell great products and there is a guy out in the shop area that has a head full of answers on the original types of interior parts. I needed a headliner for my '53 Cranbrook. The adviser for the Plymouth Owners Club said that taupe or gray was original. This guy said that a light green was used in my car, Catus Green outside, and he had some of that in the wearhouse. They made up the headliner and it was a perfect match. I actually found an old piece of headliner under the rear seat.

[Norm's Coupe]

Norm, does Atlas Headliner co. have a website of their own? If not where are they located? I tried a google search and could not locate a direct link, only other sellers for headliners.

I've been eyeballing Kanters headliner for awhile but have seen you mention Atlas in the past. How can they be contacted directly to compare prices etc..?

Ed, they don't have a web site. Not sure if I still have their catalog, if not I have some old invoices from them. So, it may take me a few days to dig through and find the info. That said, I don't believe you can buy the headliner direct any cheaper than you can from JC Whitney. No harm in checking though. I do have a toll free number for them.

[JerseyHarold]

Here's a link to another upholstery supply company. Might be worth a look:

http://www.perfectfit.com/default.asp

[47heaven]

Rockwood-

I made my own door panels with the vinyl strip on the bottom using the old stainless strip that separates the fabric from the vinyl (that was a b**** to do, but it paid off and looks original). I used 1/8 inch thick pressboard that I got from Home Depot with white vinyl backing to keep any water or moisture from penetrating through and warping the panel. I don't know what route you are taking, but I went original classic style. There is a fabric shop near where I live in Rialto, California that has the "close to original" material that was used on the doors and back of the seats. It's soft to the touch, too. As far as the seat interior...I had to scout around for 40's style striped material. The Le Barron Bonney material was way out of my affordability, but I didn't want to resort to "new car" material either. I got the headliner from EZ Boy Interiors for a very reasonable price and it fit like a glove, not to mention, looks like the original stuff that was there before. They have assorted colors, too.

http://www.rodinteriors.com/headliner-bow-type

Darin

[55 Fargo]

Here is apioc of the front seat, the back is more or less the same, the material and padding is till on the seats, just very dirty and rough. I plan on doing what a few of the others have done, make new covers and install with new foam and padding...........Fred

[grey beard]

Fred

I needed seat upholstery for my B1B. After kickicking around several ideas, I went to my favorite junk yard and looked for upholstery - in my case it had to be a garden variety bench with no headrests or arm rests, etc. Found what I wanted in the right color in a 97 Ford F150. Just stripped the covers and foam off the frame - the guy gave it to me, and I am amazed how well it fits over my stock seat cushions.

We all know that a blue million cars are scrapped each year - and in each of our home localities, too. Nearly every one of them still has the upholstery and foam padding still ihside when they are crushed, so it's not a very high priority item for yards to sell.

Here's my suggestion for your winter project - start now looking for that perfect 4 door interior - or whatever your needs dictate - and don't settle for anything other than the color and material you like best. When you find it, buy it. It'll be cheap. Don't try to buy the seats - they sell them for real money. Just get the covers and pads. With a little sewing machine magic and some hog rings, I'll bet you will have the nicest interior you could imagine.

Somehow I never thought of junk yards as a source for material and padding. The stuff sure costs a lot to buy new, and it's not likely you or I could afford the qualaity of the material used in cars today - it's good stuff.

Give the idea some thought and see what you can find - you might be surprised how nice it can look. JMHO:)

[55 Fargo]

Believe or not Dave, I was thinking about this already, now the creative juices are flowing, and it doesn't have to be a permanent thing, it could be used for years as temporary, till I can afford the real thing. Now to find a yard that will let me strip of the interior. How to I remove it, do I cut i out carefully, or will it remove very easily, any ideas.........Fred

[Norm's Coupe]

Fred, most covers are held on by hog rings. Take a nice pair of heavy duty lineman wire cutters to cut the hog rings. Also, some of them have zippers you can just unzip.

[47heaven]

Believe or not Dave, I was thinking about this already, now the creative juices are flowing, and it doesn't have to be a permanent thing, it could be used for years as temporary, till I can afford the real thing. Now to find a yard that will let me strip of the interior. How to I remove it, do I cut i out carefully, or will it remove very easily, any ideas.........Fred

Fred, I'm not sure if this was meant for me, but I didn't see a "Dave" that posted on this thread, so I guess it may have been.

Anyway, I didn't see how the seats were done. I just dropped them off and picked them up. I didn't understand what you meant when you said.."Now to find a yard that will let me strip of the interior." Maybe you can clearify it. If you want the name of the the place that sells the interior, let me know. I'm sure they ship and the material is good and very reasonable.

Darin

[55 Fargo]

Darin, Dave is AKA Grey Beard

[Norm's Coupe]

Fred' date=' I'm not sure if this was meant for me, but I didn't see a "Dave" that posted on this thread, so I guess it may have been.

Anyway, I didn't see how the seats were done. I just dropped them off and picked them up. I didn't understand what you meant when you said.."[i']Now to find a yard that will let me strip of the interior[/i]." Maybe you can clearify it. If you want the name of the the place that sells the interior, let me know. I'm sure they ship and the material is good and very reasonable.

Darin

Darin, if you check the post Dave made on the Pilot House forum it explains what he meant by getting the seatcovers from the yard. He got them off a newer truck in the junk yard. Not a bad idea since a lot of those seats are still in good condition. He also got the foam padding from seats at the junk yard.

[47heaven]

Darin, Dave is AKA Grey Beard

Oh...okay...it just sonded like it was relating to what I had posted. LOL

[Rodger S-11]

Class

The roof liner of yester-year was made from what was called "Brushed Cotton". In today's language this same type material is called "Flannel". Now go ye to the nearest faberic shop in your home town.

Rodger & Gabby

COS