Folks Of Interest I have freaking had it! A rant about people not following through

The all mighty dollar. Still not an excuse for no progress. If he's that good, he could've knocked your job out in less than a week.

 

In normal times, the big fabric stores put on sewing seminar classes, usually on the weekends. Itll get you started. A friends mother has been teaching classes for years - every other weekend.

Learning your machine is a big one, theyre all a little different.

 

In the first picture is how I do all my pleats since I do not like the thread showing,now on the second picture that is how the Germans like to do it. Fixed many old Mercedes with seats like that and I would probably charge 3 times the normal rate for those.

 

I'm one more who owns a small portable machine. Everything on my rods is by me. It's not as good as the real experts but I only have me to be mad at. We all have to deal with our skills and desires. Communication upfront seems to be the most important part of taking on a job. As we all know, not everyone stands behind their word. Makes no difference which side of the fence.

 

Drywallers, or "professional sheetrockers" as they are referred to in SE Tennessee and NW Georgia are, without a doubt, some of the most procrastinating SOB's in the world. The only person I can think of who is worse is a fellow claiming to be a car builder in NW GA who has had my friend's father's '26 4 door T for coming on 7 years. My friend just found out last week that after paying the guy up front, the builder didn't have the specs for the top of the car and all the wood he put in was the wrong dimensions and the doors don't line up. This is after the car has already been painted. Does anyone else see the problem here?

 

Every contracter I,ve used lately except 1 has used Covid as their go to excuse why stuff isn,t done.
They want the money but not the job

 

The guy I'm talking about used my buddy's money to finish jobs that he'd already run over budget and then had to come up with more jobs to pay for stuff he's already been paid for. Namely my friend's car. My friend's father owned this car and drove it until about 1957. It got stashed away when the father died and my friend and his brother made a pact with each other to get it built. Several years later, most of the older members of the family who looked forward to riding in this car have passed on. What do you do here? Do you move to another shop and start the whole process over again or do you hope that this slimeball gets his act together and finishes the car to my friend's satisfaction? From what I've been led to understand, when the guy who's supposed to be building the car was younger and "hands on", things got done. Since he got older and has to rely on other help, things don't get done.

 

when I learned auto trim 30 years ago, what you're calling "real tuck n roll" was called "French pleats"
try that term with your next trim guy

 

Mikey's Custom Upholstery in Indiana does great looking work, he also builds some killer looking 60's cars, you can Google him for info.

 

I think I may give it a try. I hate having to work around other people's schedules. This is why I learned to do my own body and paint. It may not win a Ridler but at least I won't get the run around.

I have done a lot of sheetmetal work on aircraft. Laying out rivet patterns, patch layouts etc. Surely this can't be too much different.

Worst case scenerio, the wife has a really nice sewing machine to make curtains.

 

Hey Wired-Spider , did I see your avatar in Dayton, Ohio?






Bones

 

Looks like the inside of @Moriarity 's house.

 

I try to do it all myself. If it doesn't turn out the way I want, I say "well at least I didn't pay for someone to screw it up"

 

Sadly IMO in the car hobby dealing with paint/upholstery/engine/parts suppliers/builders can be a buyer beware deal. You can check with any city better business bureau and the 2 top complaints are housing contractors/repair/builders and automotive repair/sales/dealers. I have met some good people and some bad in my time. I'm an Old Timer, ran a successful small business for 36 years and through the years the honesty/integrity level of the clientele has gone in the crapper. Back in the day you looked someone in the eye, shook their hand and that meant something, not so much anymore again IMO. Hopefully you can find someone to finish your upholstery job, Good Luck.

 

Not upholstery, but bodywork.
I announced at a club meeting that I was looking to trade a car for bodywork on my OT Early Bronco.
One guy who owns a body shop and had done good work for several members volunteered.
He came and looked at the car (36 Tudor) and we came to an agreement on what I wanted and what he got in return. Being friends, we shook on it. He was finishing up another member’s 39 Chevy and I was next.
We’re now entering the FIFTH year and it is still unfinished!
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
Pulling the plug Jan. 1. Not much of a friendship to lose, imho.

 

You are spot on. I am an upholsterer and I like to say the craft of upholstery is "soft fabrication". Accurate patterning and precise measurmemts are a must. Yes, there are a multitude of "tricks of the trade" which are readily learned through web based tutorials such as offered by The Lucky Needle and Cekaflo. If you can do aircraft sheetmetal involving compund curves, you are on your way. A used industrial machine, a bit of training and patience is most of what you need. PM me if you want to discuss.

 

I think I will start watching videos first. That way I won't jump off and buy a machine I regret.

 

I talked to one of my salesmen and he said : 50% of the upholstery shops he calls on, he wouldn`t take his box truck too to have his seats done. Example. When he bought his box truck. It didn`t have a power seat which is what he wanted. So one of his customers saw him sitting on his coat. Cause it sat to low. No power seat. So the guy sews him a cushion to sit on. A blue cushion for a black seat. Another one of his customers see`s the blue cushion and sews up a black cushion to match the seat. Worked good but had cheap foam. So back to the blue cushion. So I see him sitting on a blue cushion. He tells me the story. So I said why don`t you do it right. Get a seat with a power mechanism. Which I did for him. A true crafts man should have a minimum of 6 months of work to do. If not. Ask yourself why. Time schedules never work out the way you want them. Everything takes longer than expected. Some jobs need to be completed before others. It`s a fact of life. Like the power seat above. He shouldn`t have to wait 6 + months. But a complete interior is in the longer wait category. And should have an upholsterer notified well in advance. One major project should be done one at a time. And work on it should be steady. I guess our trade is the less liked in the automotive industry. I wish more people did this kind of work. I`m the only top 50 % tile of good shops in a 5 county area. So I`m told. So you can imagine my back log.

 

@ryno has a guy near him in the joplin mo area who does a great job and seems to be pretty quick. Did the seats for my pops lincoln and was very pleased. Maybe he’ll pop in and share some contact info

 

X2 for Aaron. Here's his facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FastALs/

@drdave bought a machine and taught himself upholstery when he made his '59 Cadillac and '56 Olds sofas for his orthodontic office. You might also check with him on some pointers if you try it yourself.

 

Just thought about something. When a vehicle hobby person is looking for the good qualities that they would like to see in their future spouse and soul mate that they plan on being married to .... one quality being that, can they sew? People are always are concerned about other qualities in their significant other, such as being able to cook, raising a family, etc. Yet, ask yourself, does the love of your life have the skill set, to upholster your future hot rods?

 

Root;
Time to name the clown, so's no one from the hamb goes thru this. Don't need more/additional cover for problem people. The Lost Opportunity Costs are too high, esp for folks getting up in years.
Marcus...

 

I did not know that drywall people were a world wide issue.

is that metal flake red or? I really like that

 

Truth.

I just fired the electrical contractor that was supposed to wire my new shop.

He is too busy to show up for appointments.

I will do it myself.

 

Hold on a minute. As a contractor (glazing / metal fabricator), I take exception to the 'tar with the same brush' approach of your comments. I have highlighted the one word (virtually) that redeems it to some degree. Admittedly, there are a lot out there that operate as you have described, but there are also still many honest, proud contractors plying there trade. You just need to find them.

 

On my first ground up build I had a upholstery shop do my 41 Ford pick up interior. I supplied the material which I bought from him , the door panels , kick panels , headliner panel and mint stock seat. He took way longer than he indicated and ran more $$$ than agreed on. It turned out fair but for $1,700.00 35 years ago it should have been better. After , I went out on a shopping spree for a commercial sewing machine which i found and bought. I have not had a chance to use it yet but soon I will be getting it out and play with this bad boy.
Vic

 

What you call contractors,we call Tradies I think, most now days are “Have ago Harry’s). Go buy some shirts, put your name on it and bingo, you’re qualified.
It used to be about skill, now it seems to be about attitude, bad attitude!

 

At the risk of my wife ever seeing this, I will tell you that sewing, cooking and raising a family were NOT on my list of qualities I was looking for when we spent our first weekend in Ensenada, BC. That's Baja California for those of the Canadian persuasion. The fact is, she still can't cook worth a damn, she can't sew and the only reason she qualifies as a housekeeper is that she lives in a house. If she just hadn't been so damned good looking in a mini-skirt

 

You know, I had the same thing happen and after 20 years I am still piss about. While station in Korea (2nd D) I would fly people down to Camp Humphreys about once a week. There was this little snack bar stand out by the air field run by some Koreans. So I went in one day and order two hot dogs, 25 cents each, steamed hot dogs. Killing a little time and there was no around, I gave the Korean guy who was doing the cooking, a lesson on how to grill a hot dog. and the fact that he could charge 25 cents for a steam hot dog and 50 cents for a grilled hot dog. He seam really to like the part where he could increase the price of the hot dog. So about a week later I am on my way to Camp Humphreys, I am telling the guy that I am flying with that he should try the hot dogs at the stand at the air field. Flew in, landed and reported to base ops. The SGT at the desk, gave me a dirty look when I checked in. Well I blew that off, thinking that he is having a bad day. In fact the guys that refueled the A/C also gave me dirty looks. Blowing all of that off, I took my buddy to the snack bar only to find that a hot dog, any hot dog, cost 50 cents. So, I am thinking, man, this grilled hot dog really caught on and that they are only selling grilled hot dogs. Well it turn out that they were not grilling hot dogs, because it took to long, but did increase the cost of the steam hot dog to 50 cents per dog---STEAM!! In my conservation with the guy selling the hot dogs, the same guy who I trained how to grill a hot dog, got real excite after about 10 minutes with me and started yelling at me in Korean. I had to asked what he was yelling about; he was telling me if I wanted a grilled hot dog come around to grill it myself and it would cost me 75 cents. To top everything off, as I was leaving, I ran into the Air Field Safety Officer, a Major by rank, when seeing me, asked if the cost of the hot dogs were going up again.

 

Since when did traditional become perfect? Perfect isn't any fun...