Thread: Does this qualify as a Hot Rod?

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Exciting news today.
I can get new synthetic leather seat covers with a custom VR logo from these guys Welcome to the Interior-innovations! for a great price.

Just gotta decide on colors. Some photoshop magic using a couple of their sample colors. I like the high back Z seats with the two tone european style...

EuroSeatComboSml.jpg

The covers look great, Wes! You didn't ask, but as I look at the six photoshop shots hands down I like the black on black best, and the dark grey on black (upper right) second best. The other color combo's distract the eye too much for my taste. Whichever you pick, it's going to look fantastic!

I like the black/black too or the gray/black (middle upper right). Two tone can let you play with carpet and side panel/dash color more, but classic black is always elegant.

Yeah What "THEY" said - - - - loooooookin' gooooooood, Wes !

There's actual progress to report on several fronts.

1. I simplified the mods to the center console and heater facia. The way I originally moved the stereo forward, to accommodate its iPod dock, covered up the emergency flasher switch, eliminated space for other switches (most likely for the seat warmers) and gave the whole console a bulky look. Tacky!!!
console.jpg As for the heater facia, I filled in the seat belt warning light and the corresponding empty box on the opposite side of the map light, and smoothed out all the textured surfaces in preparation for the hydro-printing process. Still a lot of sanding to be done.




2. I stripped the seats to their skeletons, disposing of the ripped vinyl upholstery and broken-down smelly foam underneath. Disassembly was not an easy task! I had to heat at least two bolts on each seat to break them loose. Where ever there was adhesive, there was rust. And where ever there were moving parts, I found thick gummy grease. What a mess. The nooks, crannies and springs got sandblasted... the seat-back shells got hit with the grinder... the bolts and reclining mechanism pieces went into the vibratory cleaner for a couple days... then, after a coat of rust treatment, everything got a couple coats of black paint and reassembled. skeletons.jpg
They look good and operate perfectly. New foams, butt warmers and custom seat covers (still haven't decided on the color combo) to be ordered next week... barring unforeseen circumstances.




3. Picked up my fiberglass door panels with speaker pods today.PA200204.JPG
Nice, quality pieces. So, as soon as I got home, I went to work on the drivers side panel. The metal top piece was a mess. Just like the seats, there was rust everywhere there was glue. No problem for my trusty grinder and a flappy disk. More rust treatment and some primer later...
doorcap.jpg
...and behold a solid, like new base for a custom interior.
PA200213.JPG

4. And lastly, I've begun the process of title/registration with Ca. DMV. I figured I'd get the ball rolling and have everything in order when the new year rolls around so I can get one of the 500 Certificates of Sequence issued each year for special built vehicles. If you don't know, a Certificate of Sequence (COS) allows the vehicle owner the choice to title a "special built vehicle" as the year of the engine or the year that the body most represents. Thus exempting it from the current years smog requirement. I know from other owners of replica cars, that DMV usually runs out of COS's in the first few days of the year.
I made an appointment, gathered all my receipts and required forms and marched into DMV feeling pretty good. That feeling didn't last long. The poor guy who helped me had never done this procedure before. He spent a lot of time referring to a DMV procedure manual and consulting a supervisor. Eventually he informed me that there was good news... and bad news. The good news is that there are still COS's available for 2012. It seems that there have been changes in the law concerning the way custom shops go about registering their creations now. They no longer need COS's, leaving them for home builders like me. The bad news is that I've lost bills of sale for a couple of the major components used in my project. Since I can't prove ownership of these parts, I'll need to get a motor vehicle bond in order to title the car. The word that flashed into my head was "EXPENSIVE"!!!! I left DMV pretty depressed.

A few hours later I began researching bonds on the internet. As it turns out, a motor vehicle title bond is easy to get and not expensive at all, at least not for the fair market value of my car. And it actually simplifies the title process by substituting for all those receipts.
With the mystery that is the titling/registering procedure fairly clear now, I'm feeling a lot better. I don't have to rush toward a deadline of January.

Good progress, Wes, we were beginning to wonder what happened to you and the project!!!! Had to do that bond deal a number of years back for a non-titled drag car I sold to a buddy out in Riverside, Ca. who wanted to title it and run it on the street. Wasn't that bad of a deal. Sure seemed to make the titling project go smooth for him! The console and panel came out nice, what are you planning for upholstery on the seats?

Thanks Dave. I'm still undecided on the seats. I'm leaning toward this blk/tan combo. Gives the japanese seats a european flavor.

euroseatTan.jpg

I'm hoping it would compliment an exterior color like this Cobra.

PPG Copperhead.jpg

What do you think?

Good looking covers, for sure! If they have really good color selection, might be nice to have some of the exterior color in the seats. The guy I used to use for upholstery is retired now, but he always liked to at least match the thread color to the outside color, or one of the outside colors as the case may be! To me, the seat you have pictured looks great, think they'd be even better if the thread was the lighter color instead of white.... For me, the 3 colors make the seat look a bit too "busy"......

Just like so many other things that can be personalized when you build a car, just go with what you like!!!! The little details really make a car!

I can get the stitching in any color. If I don't go with matching the tan, I'll go with black thread.

I think in the long run you'll be happier with black on black, with black thread. It's a rich, subdued look that compliments any color. That said, colors are a personal choice, and you're the only person it needs to please.

Black on black certainly goes with just about any color combo, and has been in sports cars from the beginning of time, but as Dave said, it's your build, and these custom details make it true to you, and you alone. I imagine after all this work, this is a lifetime keeper and not a resaler, so personal taste will work. If for some reason you do want to sell in the future, then more normal is usually easier to sell quickly.But you know all of this anyway! When did you decide on the copper/gold brown color for the body. It seemed the last choices you put up were leaning toward green, red or black?

The copper/burnt orange has been a favorite of mine since the beginning. I just can't get it to render very well with my image manipulation program. It's very hard to convert the flat grey primer to anything shiny.

About three computers ago I had a microsoft program that made it easy to play with imaging. Since then I'm outta luck, not sure what to use or how now! I like the color, just have a hard time visulizing it on the Ferrari! I grew up with Italian import cars, that my dad would buy used in Italy, and ship over here to sell. He had a vast assortment of ones you'd never see over here on any regular basis. Lancias, Alpha Romeos, Maserati, and Ferrari. My favorites were the Ferrari Boxer, Lancia Zagato, and Citreon Maseratti. He used to drive a Lancia Beta Scorpion for most of my teenage life. All of those cars for the most part were that beautiful red Italian cars are so popular for, except the Citreon, and the Beta Scorpion they were either grey or a metalic blue. A few of the Alphas seemed to be something close to british racing green. Never saw a brown one, which make this a unique color to me, but I like it on the cobra in the photo above! I think the reds probably aren't good because they make you want to floor it every time you step into the car!

I just caught up on your thread. It looks like everything has been going well. I felt your pain on getting the shift lever to clear everything around it in all gears. I bent one up myself because my shifter comes out so far back. I wasn't sure anything I could buy would work.

On the seats I'm with the others...all black looks best. For it to be two tone I think it needs to be bigger sections of one color instead of the alternating rolls. It's nice to have the option of quality made to order covers. I have 4th gen camaro seats in my car and figure I can do the same thing.

I just saw this thread.. hot rod or not.. it's cool. And I admire any type of ride that someone puts an effort into making their own.