I would guess that a lot of these cars that turn your stomach did not start out as complete cars. The builders found something they thought would work and went with it. A lot of cthese old cars are built by average Joe's on a modest budget. The body and drivtrain get most of the cash (earlier milestones in the build-up) and the interior gets done cheaply to get the car on the road. The $118 Mercedes death rod came with some kind of mini-van back seat in it (complete with fold down outside arm-rests!). I am cheap, but not that cheap. Something else will go back in. I doubt I am going to find any original seat. Old something or other would be cool, but I will have to see what I can find for cheap. Oh yeah, the chevy truck (?) column is going too (welded in off center and crooked)
I will keep the tilt Column and get a different wheel for now. The Column I have does not have a shifter so I will have a swanm necked shifter. and it has a tilt lever and turn signel and thats it. Maybe down the road i will change it. If I dont make it semi safe my Mom wont let me build it, drive it or have it in the driveway.
I too can understand the no money situation and getting newer **** parts for cheap, but I personally think you see the stuff on total high budget old timer cars. I can't figure out why you would buy an old car to try and make it new. If I can't tell the difference between driving some whatever with bucket seats and a stupid column or a mid 80's GM, why not just have the "new" car? Deke
I tried....I really did! I was going to stay out of this, because I'll probably just piss off a lot of people. But when has that ever stopped me? Not when the "big kids" told me they didn't like the way I built my bicycle, not when the other kids told me how screwed up my first car was (a '56 Ford, when everyone else was drooling over tri-five Chevies), not when the "outlaws" gave me **** for riding a non-HD, even though I put my heart & soul into that ****in' thing, and rode three times the miles they did, not when bikers gave me **** for building a V6 trike with seats for four, so I could take my kids with me to show them what great people bikers are, and not now when I've got a pile of stuff I've collected to build my car. That's right.....MY car. It's going to be driven at least fifty miles daily, every day, to & from work, the store, the race car shop, wherever. It's going to be my car, my only car. If I want to put a tilt wheel in it, so I can shift these old bones around into different positions on the way to VLV or wherever, then I will. If the stock seats are too gawdawful uncomfortable to deal with, I'll swap 'em out. I've got an idea of what I want this thing to look like, but I'm not going to be tied into some "period correct" ********. I never signed up to have a totally period correct car. I never put in a show application with "period correct white trash daily driver" written on it, so I don't give a hoopin' funt what the "judges" think. If they get too close, nit-pickin' my taste apart, I'll just poke 'em in the eye. There . I got that off my chest, so I'll go take a double shot of Geritol & calm down.
ive done all my own interiors except the seats..here a cheap way out..most uhpolstery shops will sell you the material i buy white preformed tuck and roll for 23 bucks per sqare yard and staple it to 1/4 inch plywwod drill some holes and stick the chrome thru. you can even use body side chrome to break it up,, screw it to the doors and your done.
I hope this is the best place to post this...I searched for tacky interiors... so here is my ,too ugly for most people, but in my price range, interior..I used these tacky motel d****s for seat covers and arm rests... $25...I like it now but was unsure at first..
The Jalopy Journal
