Projects Nice to Have: A New Story About Old Upholsery

Hello,

It was our first trip to TJ to get all white tuck and roll upholstery in one of our teenage hot rod cruisers. We had never gone to TJ, other than rolling right through the border check point at 3 a.m. To not have the guards ask us for teenage ID or a letter from our parents allowing us to cross the border. The guards were usually asleep or too tired to check, so if they were awake, we drove right by them with a wave from their salutes.

The experience surfing south of the border had given us an advantage in learning how to cross the border for surf trips and not get hassled by the local police or border guards. USA minors were supposed to have permission letters certified by their parents and notarized to be legal to cross the checkpoint, back then.

But, that was very late at night or very early in the morning, however you see it. For us, there was another hour to drive south, so we did not fiddle around in TJ on those surf trips. It must have been my experience going across the border so many times to extend our west coast surf trips locales. Experiencing places where no one else had surfed was challenging and definitely a new discover feeling.

We even discovered a place that had great surf and nice lines, but later on we noticed no one else was paddling out where we were surfing. Soon we saw the reason why. There were some black fins circling around near the entrance to a harbor nearby and not directly where we were, but where we paddled out and had to paddle back in to shore.

Jnaki

With those multiple border crossings, my teenage hot rod friends thought I had it “wired” for the new city experiences and wanted me to come with them to get the upholstery done on their custom cars. The first on was the 53 Chevy Bel Air. The owner was fidgety and he wanted to stay to watch the whole thing. Someone back in our area told him that “those” shops stuffed the upholstery with straw and horse manure. Wrong… to satisfy him and the rumors, we stayed for the front bench seat work. The shop workers were wondering if we were going to stay for the whole thing, about 4 hours…

We walked around the city, walked to the beach and had a nice street taco lunch to pass the time away. The nightclubs were not in full service shows as yet, but some were open for business. There was no way we were going to get free beer, or low cost beer and then expect to drive back to Bixby Knolls almost 150 miles away.

So, we kept busy walking around the packed city. The smell of fresh naugahyde and the feel of real tuck and roll was a nice different way to sit and relax all the way home.

For the next two cars, I was the middle man as I was friends with a variety of teenage friends. They wanted me to come along with them to get new upholstery. For some reason, they all got white, about a 2 inch pleated seat pattern. They also got white Naughahyde roof panels with a designated bead roll. The doors got pleats, as did the rear panel tray and so did the trunk.
(A 46 Ford Purple Coupe and a 56 Chevy Sedan Two Door Post.)

Sitting in the drive-in parking lot in Bixby Knolls, the white tuck and roll stood out under the parking lot lights. If I had a choice, the new white tuck and roll upholstery from TJ looked just as nice as the all white tuck and roll upholstery in the red 40 Ford Sedan that got his locally in Bixby Knolls.

But, the cost was almost ten times less, worth the scenic drive down across the border and also to see different areas along the way. YRMV

Note:
a similar look
The two tone paint was not to the owner’s liking, his parents liked it, but it looked too family car-like. In high school, one of our friends had a two tone 53 Chevy sedan. It was a first time car and was cool to ride around in our cruising area. But, the look of the two tone was like driving your dad’s family car around with a bunch of teenagers. So, he did the custom thing. All white tuck and roll upholstery, roof/trunks, etc, and a nice new one color paint that instantly made the car a cool looking design.

The 53 Chevy Bel Air was the first in our group to get the full treatment of all white tuck and roll while being a daily driver to high school and to the beach with the rear seat out to accommodate the longboards.

When we took the longboards to the beach, it was used as a surfboard transport carrier. No one else wanted to take out their back seat and store the longboards for a bunch of eager teenagers. So, my friend and I were the only teens in the car, but we took most of the boards. It was a day when all of our friends in sports all came to the beach to try their hands at surfing. My friend and I had already gone several times and we were “old hands” at riding waves.

The athletes were from football, basketball, baseball and even golf. They all had a great time and no one drowned… yes! But, from that group of 12-15 athletes, only one continued on in the surfing world after high school. Something made that kid continue on in the sport.
similar in looks and color
The contrast of the all white tuck and roll upholstery made the one color custom paint stand out like no other. It was plenty of miles of happy usage of this once two tone factory paint into a custom car for a bunch of teenagers’ weekend escapades. It was lowered, but with several teenagers inside, it got lower to the point of CHP stopping us for a safety check. Of course, we knew the low limit and when all of us got out of the car, it was raised back to the legal measuring limits. Ha!

 

At a much younger age putting my 31 Chevy 5 window coupe together, I purchased a 32 Chevy 3 w coupe that was a victim of a garage fire, while the car was totally consumed various pieces & parts stored in an adjacent area survived including fenders/hood/grille/radiator & a rolled & pleated seat assembly. While smoke damage was evident the seat cleaned up well enough with several of the other pieces to find a second life on my 31, where they reside 60 plus years later.

 

cool story,... in 1960 having a 348 motor means someone knew someone running a chop shop..that or a wrecking yard... but a quick run of the motor numbers would most likely trace it back to a stolen car... a kid having a motor out of a brand new car would raise cops eyebrows, 348's came out in 1958,... and the 409 in 1961 ,.. some where around 1962 people started trying to sell 348's as 409's... so you had to know about the little "X" on the block to keep from getting burned... to this day this practice continues , but now you have to watch out for the guys that try to make there own "X" with epoxy... she's real fine my "409".... ahhh thats a 348 lol

 

Hello,

Not to disparage anyone, but you are slightly off in dates/years and implications. The 348 came out in the fall of 1957. My brother bought one of the first 58 Impala 348/280 HP motor powered sedans from our local Chevy dealer in Long Beach. They were so advertised all over So Cal and were the "fast car" to have at the local Lion's Dragstrip in the always popular A/Stock class. The stock 348 motors were abundant with 280 advertised horsepower.

Since the Bel Air Sedans and others also had 348 motors, the popularity grew. Similar to two seat sporty cars, our search and most hot rod folks knew scrapyards or junkyards close to where we all lived. (bucket seats were popular items due to the abundance of sporty cars in accidents or insurance cases.) In our case, the Westside of Long Beach, near Wilmington and Lion’s Dragstrip from 1955 when it was built.

So, with the abundance of junkyards within a mile or so of our houses, there were plenty of old wrecks and motors available. When something is popular, obviously they are also popular in the said local junkyards. Accidents being what they are in driving around.

Jnaki

I had known the owner of the sedan delivery with the 348 motor since junior high school days. He lived closer to Lion’s Dragstrip than our house and was a great mechanic. The bantering always was there and he moved on to further his involvement in record setting FED race cars with our friend from high school. The name of Bivens and Fisher is well known in So Cal drag racing circles.

Their connection to the Baney family and Tom McEwen has been documented over the old historic articles and here on the HAMB. Teams come and go and history does leave an imprint on those that were there.

Note:

Jerry Bivens and I go way back to our 1959-62 Bixby Knolls and Long Beach Poly High School hot rod/drag race years. His mechanical/pit crew partner, Doug Fisher and I go farther back to the Westside of Long Beach Junior High School days. Add in Tom McEwen (Bixby Knolls and earlier, LB Poly HS) as a part of that team and sooner or later top results started showing up at the drags. (Doug Fisher was the one that built the 348 powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery back in 1960)

So, as the years rolled on, jobs change and businesses get started, teams change hands and sometimes, things just start clicking for great results. Jerry Bivens from Bixby Knolls, racing with his team of Doug Fisher and Tom McEwen was featured in an advertisement for a Neil Leffler supercharger and support. It is and was a small world in So Cal drag racing circles.

and still here:

 

The interior on my Merc was done in the mid 50s and it still has the same interior.