Projects Custom Interior Questions

I am getting to that point with the Legacy '36 project (a chopped Fordor Touring Sedan, being built in my late dad's memory) that I need to start thinking interior. I have a relatively simple design in mind for the bench seats, door panels, kick panels, and headliner, but need to farm this out, as I have neither the talent or tools to complete this task. Although I am not building an AMBR or RIDDLER Award candidate, I do want a good quality finished job. I plan to drive this car often, Power Tour, Route 66 events, GoodGuys events, vacations, etc. More outdoor cruises than 'velvet rope' shows. I do not have unlimited funds, but know quality costs.

With this criteria in mind, here are my questions:

1. LEATHER vs. LEATHER SEATING AREA vs. VINYL: pros, cons, cost considerations. I want to save money, but don't want to 'cheap out' on this vital part of the build.

2. CHOOSING A SHOP: Going to a nationally renowned upholsterer means a top notch job...at top shelf prices. How do I find an 'up and coming' shop trying to make a name for themselves? I don't want to pay top dollar, but I also don't want inferior results, or worse yet, have the car trapped in 'it's not done yet, we need more time' jail.

Any advise is appreciated, thanks for the thought and consideration you offer for my questions. Hopefully, others can benefit from these answers as well.

 

Leather is going to cost at least 5X what vinyl will cost. My brother is an upholsterer, he did a love seat about the size of a car bench seat in quality red leather for a customer, the leather cost $700. Luxury cars like BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes that advertise "leather seats" only make the seating surface of leather, the sides and back, door panels etc, are vinyl.

Cloth is about the same as vinyl or a little cheaper depending on what kind of cloth.

Good luck finding ANY upholstery shop to do the job let alone a good job cheap. There just aren't enough auto upholsterers around.

If you live in an area with a lot of boats and marinas there may be a guy who does boats who has a slow spell in winter, right after new years, who may be able to do the work.

There is a real shortage of auto upholstery shops. Guys who do sofas and chairs don't do cars because it is a lot harder work. Yet upholstery work is easier and cleaner than body work or rebuilding engines.

 

A friend just had the 2 seats from a 40's 4 door Chrysler done in leather. He told me the cost was just over $4500. He is a man that builds nice cars and knows how to get the best bargain for his money. I have not seen them, but if they are in his usual style they will nice but not overly fancy.

 

Thanks for the reply. I haven't considered cloth, really trying to choose between vinyl and leather. I figure that I will probably have to travel some distance to get this done. Luckily, I live in central Illinois, providing pretty good access to a wide area of potential shops.
Ed

 

What's your budget? That will probably answer the leather/vinyl question. My guess is it's going to cost a lot more than you think. Automotive upholstery work is very labour intensive and good supplies are not cheap.

 

Hey K13,
I think you're right. I WANT leather, but probably can AFFORD vinyl. I think i would prefer a well executed interior in a decent grade vinyl (I know, it's still not leather) than a poor quality install of all leather.

Does anybody do like many of the car companies, and combine leather SEATING surfaces with vinyl on the secondary surfaces (edges, seat backs, etc.) to save money on materials?
Ed

 

I am sure someone would but then you are probably dealing with custom dyed hides to match the vinyl so probably wouldn't save a bunch in the end. Maybe if you went with a basic color like black you could get away with it but it would probably involve hunting through vinyl samples to get a grain that matched the hype. None of which would be cheap. Some.upholsters probably have that all figured out but probably not guys working for cheap.

 

A friend of mine does the leather where you touch and vinyl everywhere else.
You can not tell by looking at it and he places a few scrap pieces of leather under the seats for that leather smell.
On my next project, I'm going to use recycled leather. Guy at the store gave me about 25 samples and it feels and looks just like leather. Cheap
https://www.libertyleathergoods.com/recycled-leather/

 

Should've mentioned, looking at all black, maybe pleated inserts where you sit.

Thanks for the input.
Ed

 

Thanks, I had not heard of recycled leather, but it makes sense.
Ed

 

Bonded leather is essentially vinyl. I was told by a number of upholsterers when I was looking for material that it is not great in cars because it doesn't deal with the extreme heat or cold very well that car interiors face.

 

I don't know but from the video, I would think someone would want the 25% to 50% Varity. They said NIKE uses it for it's shoes and I would think that their shoes go thru extreme heat and cold.

 

There are some excellent synthetic auto upholstery materials available now, some you would have trouble telling if they are real leather or not. Speaking of recycled leather, a friend did his roadster using the black leather he had "skun" from a roadside leather couch someone had dumped. He bought an industrial sewing machine and learnt how to use it.

 

Are there any upholsterers working for cheap.?

 

My Pops had a couple of brand new bucket seats stitched up about 8 years ago. He provided the leather & the cost was about 2,200$ per seat to upholster them. Guy charged more as he said "leather is tougher to work with".
Man, they were super comfortable & smelled great too. We used a matching vinyl to do the door panels, headliners ect ourselves.
If you were local I'd make you a good deal on the leftover hides. We collected several during that process.
I can't see myself ever using as many as I have.
Cool project you have there. Good luck on the rest of your journey.

 

Ok, you're building the car so you got skills. Can you cut sheetmetal nice and straight? Then get some door panel material and make all your inside panels. Get the froglegs all squared away, holes punched for the door and window handles. Time is money. That takes time and some medium/heavy duty sheetmetal shears. Most upholstery guys wanna sew not dick around fabbing up panels and shit. Leave them just ⅛ shy of the edges so you have room for the material when it's wrapped. Build your seat frames. Springs, cotton batting and foam, boom, seats ready. Having a leg up on the job gives you what you want and makes a more attractive prospect out of it for a trimmer. Raw thoughts...

 

All good points, thanks!
Ed

 

I'm in the school of ideas,that if you can build a car,you can do almost anything,if get a little help!
I did some tech notes,that could help ya?.
Give them a look> It free
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-sew-at-home-upholsrety-hot-rod.604077/

 

My friend just bought a new Toyota a couple weeks ago.
During the negotiations, the salesman claimed the interior was leather. My friend researched the manufacturer's web site and found it listed as "faux" leather, with their own brand name. The salesman later confirmed the info.
Anyway, it does look like leather and is very comfortable. The new car smell was not as strong as I remember from back in the day.

 

I see the pic of your sedan shows it in bare metal. Shouldn’t you be worrying about upholstery after the car gets out of paint jail? Might be a few years out still.

 

...so, it's genuine faux leather! Synthetic leather has come a long way from the old Naugahyde days. Although I would love to have an actual leather interior, there are reasons that top builders choose synthetic leather for applications like boat and motorcycle seats. I look forward to talking to potential interior shops to start putting $$ amounts on the different options. THAT may ultimately be the deciding factor.
Ed

 

I did consider that. I have heard that the better interior shops are booked out 6 months, 12 months, and longer. Many are taking deposits to hold future spots in their calendars, so I need to look sooner than later.
Ed

 

In my mind, customs have vinyl interior. Be it tuck and roll, diamond pleats, whatever. @Moriarity is into the vintage custom vibe. I see vinyl in his rides, maybe marine vinyl, in his cool ass cars. If I am wrong, maybe he will correct me and fill us all in. Leather is sweet but spendy and harder to sew (more money). And leather is harder to care for.

Don't get me wrong, I love the feel and smell of leather interior. But vinyl fits the genre IMO.

 

That's about the equivalent to taking a car you have prepped yourself to a painter and expecting him to work on it. Other than door panels themselves all the rest is going to vary from one upholsterer to another and like paint the foundation makes a big difference. There is a lot more to it than slapping some foam on a seat frame and you probably end up paying more for the guy having to correct all the stuff he won't put his reputation and work over top of.

 

Thanks, Moriarity. Your examples and experiences helps me think of vinyl as a choice, not necessarily 2ND choice. 50k miles and 26 years of use are a pretty strong endorsement of vinyl. I appreciate your sharing.
Ed

 

In my own personal yet worthless opinion if it's going to get used use a quality vinyl. Leather looks and feels great when in good shape but worn leather tends to look worse than worn vinyl. And anymore leather tends to wear faster

 

Remember the old Chrysler commercials where Ricardo would boast about the Corinthian leather. Turns out it was Chrysler's name for Naugahyde.
Bing Videos

 

I had a buddy that raised Naugas back in the 80's. Stupid creatures, tasted like spotted owls. Made good seat covers.

 

Too bad they're now extinct. Dang old rodders used them up so fast my generation doesn't even know what a nauga looks like