History Carson top/interior restoration on Valley Customs 40 Ford

Tom Sewell
Was hired to do the complete restoration on the Valley Custom shop built Ralph Jilek sectioned 1940 Ford convertible. The car was owned by Tom Gloy at the time and most of the rest of the restoration work was done at SAR by the great team of Steve Frisbie.

Tom not only did an increadible job on the interior and top but he also documented the whole story with a large number of photo's. 257 to be precise, to much to post them all, but you can watch them all on my website at the link listed at the end of this post.

The original Carson Top Shop created interior was done in leatherette, but Tom recreated it with leather. It took some time to find the right color and above all the leather with the excact right texture as the original upholstery material.


First few photo showing the completely restored Ralph Jilek Ford at Peabble Beach are by "KustomBuick" http://public.fotki.com/Kustombuick








(photo by Mark Drews)






Ok and now on with Tom's Photo's

 

All the photo's that Tom took can be seen on my Custom Car Photo Archive Site here:

http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_car_photos/customcars_i_like/custom-car-interiors/tom-sewell-interiors

 

That's pretty neat Rik. Any idea what the three wood blocks at the rear of the top are for?

 

That must be interesting rebuilding a custom car, your work looks good!

 

amazing

 

Great set of photos. Thanks Rik, and thanks to Tom for this excellent record.

 

Totally amazing.. Thank's Rick.

 

what a job... what a car!!! i LOVE that thing. amazing work by all involved, no doubt!!

 

That's fascinating Rik. I'm an upholsterer and was fortunate to be trained by a couple of old school craftsmen who solely concentrated on high quality restoration work. The workmanship on that 40 is just brilliant. Great photo's and thread topic.

 

thanks for posting these!
Zach

 

Very cool, thanks for posting these.

 

Baddest 40 on the planet.

 

Rik, you continue to amaze me with the treasures you continue to mine! Wow, your knowlege of this American craft is just simply amazing. Thank you for sharing with all of HAMBers.

 

Isn't that Duane Spencer overlooking the proceedings? Kinda neat.

 

Amazing work...thanks for posting!

Bryan

 

Rik, Thank You for sharing these photos of Tom's work. That interior is nothing but amazing. It's nice to see all the pieces put together and matching the original as close as possible. Using leather for the top seems unique as I'm not sure how it handles the elements, but sure is a thing of beauty! I'm definitely in awe of the color choices for the interior, That blue and grain is perfect and everything about this Custom is PERFECT! I'm taking as much for these photos I possible can. I was intrigue on how the seats were done now know. Knowledge I can put to use when doing the ones on my 40 Merc. Thanks Again!

Ken

 

Thanks Rik! This Is Exactly What I Have Been Searching For, As You Can See, It Will Be The Next Step On My Merc.
Palle

 

johnny carson top

 

Ken,

I was not refering to the top material when I mentioned leather. The interior is done in leather now while the original was done in leatherette. But the top material is the same material as Carson has been using, or a similar modern version. So the top is not upholstered in leather.

 

OK, I'm an idiot. referring to them as doing the interior as well (I know, Carson shop did tops and interiors). I know that the type of grain to match what was used for the top had to be painstaking. I need to see this Custom live and in person now! Thanks again Rik, your site and info is the best thing since slice bread.

Ken

 

i had no idea what went into a carson top! hell of a lot of work, & you do an awesome job!

 

Thanks for the pictures Rik. That is an great car. You continue to amaze with your archive of pictures!

 

I had no idear so I asked Tom,

Here is his reply

Look at pics. of the old headliner,the blocks are for the male part of the snaps to screw into to raise back curtain, were they clever or what.

Tom


In the first photo the back curtain is opened and moved inwards at the botom and secured on the inside of the top.
The pins to do that where inserted into the wooden blocks visable in the second and third photo.








The last photo shows the pins.

 

Hey, that's pretty neat. Thanks for asking Tom about that.

 

Did you put that metal tag with the Carson Top logo on it back on?

~Jason