Thread: First ride in 11 years!!!!!

Tweet

I've editted my original post to take out all the unfair things I said about the way my interior was coming along. I'm a dummy, what can I say????? It will be fine when finished.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I've said a bunch of times that the only problems we have building a car is when we involve an outside tradesperson to do something like paint or upholstery...........I'm still batting 1,000.

The guy who is doing my 27 upholstery called last night and asked if I could come to his shop today to sit in the seat before he covers it to see how it feels. Today I took the 75 mile drive to his shop to do that. To say I am a little disappointed in the job is an understatement. His workmanship is ok, but instead of him doing the traditional hot rod interior we discussed, he got artsy on me and took some liberties with the black side roll at the top. He said "I thought I would dress it up for you a little."

I didn't want a street rod interior, I wanted a hot rod interior.........there IS a difference. I thought every upholsterer in the world understood old school rolls and pleats, but evidently not. The guy who did my 23 screwed the first interior up to a fairtheewell, and I made him redo it. Now I had to tell this guy that I am not happy with the one in the 27, so he is having to tear up his work and start over.

The two issues I have with it are:

1) The black roll around the top of the sides should NOT dip down, it should be straight.

2) The pleats are 2.75 inches wide, I wanted narrow pleats. I can live with the width thing, but am going to ask him to cut them in half with stitching to make them narrower.

Look at these pictures and give me some opinions, please. I had a lot of time to think on the hour and 15 minute drive home, and I am not very happy right now. I called Don and sent him pictures, and he agrees. I also know Dan will NOT take his car to this guy once he sees these pictures. Dan is super fussy about every bolt in his car, and a top can make or break a hot rod. If this guy didn't understand rolled and pleated, what will he do on the top?

Aaaaarrrrgggg! You will have to excuse me, but I am just a little frustrated now.

Don

4 words

NOT TRADITIONAL

&

BUTT UGLY


I'd pull the car and find a REAL trimmer

How do you really feel about it? Well, Dan came home from work and we have decided to drive the 75 miles each way right now to let him see it and give his opinion. We'll see what happens.

Don

Well, you asked for it, so here goes. I think traditional pleats are 2", if I remember correctly. Sooo to me 1 3/8" pleats won't look right.
The other thing that doesn't look right are the rear corners. Did you ask for that to be two pieces? I think it should wrap all around out of one piece and much smaller like you said. The pleat in the corners really look odd to me.
Sorry for all the negative but I wouldn't accept it, you are probably going to see this everyday for a long time, and it will eat at you.
Ken

Sorry Don,I'm with Ken on this one also. The rear corners screamed at me more-so then the wide pleats. It just doesn't look professional enough and I absolutely dislike the top side panels curving down to a point in the middle. If anything that should of followed the body line as he did across the rear.I wouldn't pull the plug on the guy yet but let him know that you aren't happy and want it sorted smartly at his cost and a much improved job done the second attempt otherwise you will be pulling the upholstery job of Dan's roadster and giving it to some one that can visualize and then create the trim job you are both after and prepared to pay for.

You asked, here goes....
I'll call the black part the bolster; the pleats wouldn't look quite as bad if the bolster were about half again wider(or even a tad more than that). It would visually reduce their impact in a small car like this. You understand proportion, the proportions are all wrong here. And if it goes to the wider profile it will need a bit more crown to look right (flat looks double ugly). As a general commentary, when dealing with a new trimmer that may not be as well known to anyone, drawings and/or pictures go a long way toward making the point of what the expectations are. It's a communication thing. He's wrong in free lancing styling without knowing you better, and at the least should have bounced the idea off of you before committing to cut and stitch. If cutting the pleat dimension in half is a compromise to save the labor/material already expended, don't do it. You had a picture in mind, you need to communicate that better, AND insist on it! What the rest of the guys have said will fit too............if it's consistent with your original intent.

As for Dan's deal, if you're going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt because of his workmanship, then make sure there's ABSOLUTELY no question in his mind what Dan's expectations are (pictures, sketches, beatings, whatever it takes). Especially when it comes to the top. Tops seem to be more difficult for many upholsterers to get. I don't know if it's because they often don't have to do a custom top, if it's the difficulty of the material compared to what they normally do, or if it's that many of them are just lazy. Whatever the reason, communicating top style, detail, finish, and fit seems to be more difficult.

Don,
You don't need any more advice here. Ken hit it on the pleats and wrap at the corners, and I agree with Bob on the bolster proportion. Hope you get it sorted out.

Well, I'm an idiot. Dan and I just got back from his place and while it isn't exactly what I had envisioned, I am going to go with it. In person it really is different than the pictures show, and even critical Dan said he would accept it if it were his car. The more I looked at it the more I realized it had to be the way he did it.

The proportions are thrown off by the camera shots I took, when you view it live it is not the same. He offered to do whatever I wanted to make it different, even starting from scratch, but we couldn't come up with anything we would change. Even the pleat width seems ok now, and he and Dan agreed it would be too busy if it had lots of narrower ones. He slipped the seat bottom in and it changed the look too. He taped up some white pleated material to simulate what a straight side would look like, and I had to agree the little dip in the black broke up an otherwise boring side view.

As for the seat back being split like that, yep, that was my call. This car has no doors to break up a large, boxlike interior, and running the bolster around the whole interior with no interuption would have made it look T-buckety. Nothing wrong with that in a bucket, but for this one it looks better if the seat seems to be separate.

I really appreciate all the feedback, and while the interior isn't what I had in my mind, I had to accept that with the deep channel, no doors, and me needing every inch of space so I can drive it, the interior had to be this way.

As for the workmanship, he is doing a great job. His corners have no wrinkles, the stitches are totally invisable, and generally it just fits nice. He is also not finished, has to put piping around the entire edge. I had to apologize to him for my first reaction, and he said that didn't bother him, he just wants me to be happy when I leave.

So...........I am an idiot for lighting a fire where there shouldn't have been one. This interior isn't perhaps totally traditional, but the rest of the car isn't either, so I will just enjoy driving the wheels off of it and quit second guessing myself.

Again everyone, thanks for the totally honest feedback. This car is a driver, and I left some of the old scars on it when redid it on purpose, so with this interior I can get it wet and dirty and not sweat it.

Don

Oh, and Dan is very willing to let him do his car too, after seeing the quality of the work.........so that is nice too.