Upholstery Question

V

Visiblepump

Junior Member
My brother-in-law is close to completing the body work on his 29 Tudor and is asking for advice on upholstery. While there are upholstery shops in town none are totally familiar with Model A's but will do it.

His question is this; Is he better off to order a complete kit from Cartouche or Classtique and have a local shop install it OR should he just leave it up to the local shop to order the individual components and complete the job? Do you know if most shops end up ordering a kit or to they order the individual pieces of material and cut and sew it all up themselves? Thanks.
 
Visiblepump said:
My brother-in-law is close to completing the body work on his 29 Tudor and is asking for advice on upholstery. While there are upholstery shops in town none are totally familiar with Model A's but will do it.

His question is this; Is he better off to order a complete kit from Cartouche or Classtique and have a local shop install it OR should he just leave it up to the local shop to order the individual components and complete the job? Do you know if most shops end up ordering a kit or to they order the individual pieces of material and cut and sew it all up themselves? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I bought a used LB kit for my Model A from a Ford Barn member. The fronts were leather and rumble was vinyl. The vinyl was of poor quality and a royal pain in the neck to install.

The leather fronts were great and easy to put on and came out well.

I bought the foam padding and burlap from an upholstery supplier.

If I did it again, I would not buy the kit. I think I could have done it cheaper differently.
 
If you buy the material yourself, and make sure it is the correct material and of good quality...Make damn sure you do the research on the correct body panels to apply the new material on OR make damn sure you find someone who knows just what the heck they are doing...If not I garentee you WILL NOT be pleased!

Pluck
 
Purchasing a kit and asking an auto trim shop to install it is a bit like taking eggs to a restaurant and asking them to cook them up for your breakfast. A person should talk to the owner of a trim shop and see if they are game for installation of a kit. They may or may not want to do that. A kit, like the ones that Classtique and Cartouche put together, generally have materials that are the closest that they could find for replacement of original materials and some may not be authentic reproductions. These materials are not easy for trimmer to come up with unless they are experienced on the particular vehicle that you have so a kit would make their life easier even if they don't do all the sewing and research necessary so they may very well not have a problem with using a kit. They are going to charge whatever it takes to install the materials and perform corrections for perceived faults that they find so it will still cost a pretty penny.

If a person wants authenticity in this day and age, it's going to cost more depending on the rarity of exact original materials. Folks with the early models find this out due to rarity of some stuff. The trimmer would have to be well experienced to get it all original as it came from the factory so keep that in mind.

I would do it myself. Learning to use original tacking techniques and materials is easier than a person might think. Installing premade covers over seats and tacking or hog ringing them on is also easier than a person might think. Kits come with instructions and sometimes there are some good videos on U-tube so think about that as well. I learned to do it on my own so I know others can as well and especially if you don't have a sewing machine or skill for that. Kits generally come mostly pre-sewn and only require installation.
 
rotorwrench said:
Purchasing a kit and asking an auto trim shop to install it is a bit like taking eggs to a restaurant and asking them to cook them up for your breakfast. A person should talk to the owner of a trim shop and see if they are game for installation of a kit. They may or may not want to do that. A kit, like the ones that Classtique and Cartouche put together, generally have materials that are the closest that they could find for replacement of original materials and some may not be authentic reproductions. These materials are not easy for trimmer to come up with unless they are experienced on the particular vehicle that you have so a kit would make their life easier even if they don't do all the sewing and research necessary so they may very well not have a problem with using a kit. They are going to charge whatever it takes to install the materials and perform corrections for perceived faults that they find so it will still cost a pretty penny.

If a person wants authenticity in this day and age, it's going to cost more depending on the rarity of exact original materials. Folks with the early models find this out due to rarity of some stuff. The trimmer would have to be well experienced to get it all original as it came from the factory so keep that in mind.

I would do it myself. Learning to use original tacking techniques and materials is easier than a person might think. Installing premade covers over seats and hog ringing them on is also easier than a person might think. Kits come with instructions and sometimes there are some good videos on U-tube so think about that as well. I learned to do it on my own so I know others can as well and especially if you don't have a sewing machine or skill for that. Kits generally come mostly pre-sewn and only require installation.
Click to expand...


Youtube was my go to. The instructions in the kit were not very helpful I found.
 
If your brother-in-law is not concerned with originality, fit or appearance then let a local shop use their own discretion. If he does want it as close to original as possible, order the kit from Mike at Classtique. If he needs help with the the installation Mike is more than ready to help with a phone call. I have installed several of his kits and they are equal to LB in material and workmanship. They fit well.
Have seen some Cartouche installations. Material was OK. The fit was not. That was mostly due to the seams in the wrong place.
 
I have Installed complete LB interiors in two of my own cars, a 29 rdstr. & a 29 Briggs leather back. I have also helped three friends install 3 LB kits in their cars, a 31 SW 4dr, a 28 Briggs 4dr, and a 29 Murrey 4dr. These were all LB kits which are no longer available. I also restored a 30 tudor for someone else who wanted an upholstery shop to install an LB kit. The shop wanted a $200 charge just to order the kit. So I ordered the kit for the guy at no charge. If your brother in law has any skills at all a tudor kit is not hard to install yourself.
 
There's more to it than simply ordering the fabric and asking a commercial shop to "make" an interior. You will need the patterns for the headliner, door and side panels, and seats. There's a lot that goes into upholstering one of these cars, especially with the front jump seats. As suggested above, go with a reputable source for a complete kit like Classtique. You will save in the long run and be happy with the end results.
 
Last edited:
Gary Karr said:
There's more to it than simply ordering the fabric and asking a commercial shop to "make" an interior. You will need the patterns for the headliner, door and side panels, and seats. There's a lot that goes into upholstering one of these cars, especially with the front jump seats. As suggested above, go with a reputable source for a complete kit like Classtique. You will save in the long run and happy with the end results.
Click to expand...

Agree with you Gary. Here in the PNW it depends on the shop your dealing with as far as using COM (customers own material). You are asking the trim shop to work for wages. 20 plus years ago I was given a 1962 Austin Healy challenge. I had no idea what went where so I had to do tons of research to get it correct. In the end my charge to install the interior and top was 4k. The customer was so pleased he never bated an eye. IMO your best bet is ordering from Classtique. They have the knowledge and patterns to do it right.
 
By a kit from Classtique and have it installed by on old guy in the trim shop. Worked out fine with my ‘29 Tudor !

Henk
 
MAG said:
If your brother-in-law is not concerned with originality, fit or appearance then let a local shop use their own discretion. If he does want it as close to original as possible, order the kit from Mike at Classtique. If he needs help with the the installation Mike is more than ready to help with a phone call. I have installed several of his kits and they are equal to LB in material and workmanship. They fit well.
Have seen some Cartouche installations. Material was OK. The fit was not. That was mostly due to the seams in the wrong place.
Click to expand...


Just so we are all clear, the material that ALL of us who are sewing interiors use is from Cartouche. Trying to imply that one kit manufacturer's material is superior to Cartouche's is pretty much false.


Mike Francis & I are good friends, -and his predecessor (Elizabeth) and I were great friends too. With that said, there really is several others who can (-and do) fabricate "closer to original" than those mentioned above. (This definitely includes the former LeBaron Bonney's kits.)

As far as 'fits' are concerned, I have been an authorized installer for both L/B and Classtique, -and from my perspective, Mike's fit & finish exceeds what L/B was producing. As far as seams incorrectly sewn or placed in incorrect locations, ...again most kit manufacturers are not interested in producing 100% authenticity, however, often times the blame needs to be placed on the interior wood kits for being incorrectly shaped, -or the seat springs not manufactured to the correct original sizes.

Adding to what Gary was saying above, there is definitely more to correctly installing a 55A interior kit than watching what is available on YouTube. Most restorers incorrectly install the covers, incorrectly install the wadding, and the list goes on. Experience is definitely your biggest asset.

Bob/Henk, I think prices have kinda gone up some now. To professionally sew and install all of the trim inside of a 55A will generally run about $7,500-$8000. Even a kit today will be $2700-$2800 range by the time it gets to your installer. Then factor all the time needed to do the top and interior, you are looking at 70-80 manhours if you want a quality job.
 
I have installed two LB kits, a 30 Town Sedan and a 32 Coupe. I did not have any experience with interiors but I was motivated to do a good job. It is just one more facet of old car restoration. If you are patient and persistent and careful you can do an excellent job. I have one more car to do, a 31 Cabriolet. I just kit myself for not getting a kit from LB but I kept putting it off because I wasn't ready for it. What is great about doing this work is that if you don't don't like the way it looks, you can dismantle it by removing the tacks and hog rings and start over again. Also, when you finally get the job done and are showing off the car, it is a lot of fun telling folks that you did this yourself. Ed
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top