Mint original upholstery underneath old ratty looking seat covers

[central52]

Took off the old seat covers on my 47 Plymouth I bought last year. Beautiful original gray upholstery staring at me. Wow! One of the previous owners did me a big favor by putting on the tacky seat covers.

Headliner had a silver dollar size hole right in the middle. Put in a dome light from a junkyard car to cover it.

Headliner has a small tear underneath the back window. Any way of repairing it, without a major overhaul? It's about 3 inches long, half inch wide. Ed P.

[55 Fargo]

Well aren't you the lucky one, good go, nice surprise...........Fred

[daddyo23]

Some people must just live right.....

[greg g]

I believe that if you remove the window trim, you will find it retains the headliner material. With the trim removed you should be able to get behind teh fabric. Go to a sewing shop and see if they have any selfadhesive repair tape. Then you can place the tape on the back side of the tear and effect a repair so the hole won't be so visible.

They make an Iron On seambinding tape in various widths but don't know how you would get it hot to activate the adhesive.

You might need to remove the package shelf for better access also. If the sewing place doesn't have anything apropriate, go to a boat place and see if they have any sail rip repair tape. Same deal adhesive is pressure sensiive so you need to clamp it somehow. But applied to the back side should take care of things pretty well.

[BobT-47P15]

Hmmm......you can see the two-toning of the original seat where the

top part of the cover protected better than the woven part. (Or at

least that's my guess). Evidently the covers were installed when the

car was very new. That's how it was done back then. Luckily they

saved them just for you.

[Alaska48]

Those seats look fantastic, very nice.... I have the same situation with old old old seat covers on the original seats, I haven't gotten that far in taking mine off, I just want to get my car running first

[David Maxwell]

I remember having the same luck with my first P15 although that was back in `79 and the car was only 31 years old at the time. Anyhow, after removing piles of trash and the original seat covers, it was pretty much just like yours. It's a great feeling and I know you're stoked!

[central52]

Thanks for nice comments, guys. BobT, the upholstery is all one color, what you thought was two tone was the shading from outside light when I took the picture. Ed P.

[BobT-47P15]

Oh, OK, Ed......I sorta wondered if it was a shadow thing.....

Congrats on your lucky find.

[central52]

Hi, BobT, No, you were right. I went out to check it again, and it is a two tone, very subtle shade. I stand corrected. Ed P.

[Norm's Coupe]

That is a stroke of luck. My original seats looked great after having them cleaned too, all except the back cushion of the rear seat under the rear window. Guess the sun must have dried that section out and the material was split on the top a little there. Thought about just recovering that cushion. However, don't like the feel of the original covers so recovered all the seats.

[David Maxwell]

...about dying the lower portion of the front seats. Doubt it would come out perfect, but might come close to what it should look like.