Customs Wagon hunt may be OVER!!! 1952 DeSoto wagon is HOME!

The thing that really galls me is that I have an industrial machine, and was going to do this myself, but we decided we'd have it done by a "pro" to save some time in the build, and have it look a little better. So, it's taken longer, and all I have for my money is some windlace around the door openings. I'm getting pissed, mostly at myself for allowing myself to let this get out my control. Which is why I learned to do bodywork and paint...

 

I feel for you...I've met and worked with some fantastic craftsmen over the years. They've done great work when they're sober, or not on drugs, fighting with their wife and girlfriend (often at the same time), dealing with their financial mismanagement or just incredible at procrastonating etc.. The frustration of dealing with the drama has resulted in my learning many new skills as it was easier to avoid the excuses, and just take it on myself. Though as you've said, it often slows the project, and the newly learned skill is not always the highest quality work available.

Your doing a fantastic job...and, once the car is on the road and earning smiles, your current frustrations will melt away. I'm enjoying your build threads, thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Sounds like the same issue with your glass people. You are way more capable than the professionals.

 

Just found this thread, your work is beautiful. Keep it going!

 

Well, we FINALLY are in possession of the complete (nearly) interior. This is after 6 months, and a surprise trip to his shop last week by my wife and I, where we discovered, as I suspected, he had done NOTHING since the photos he's shown me in March of the sewn, but not installed seat covers. Carpet cut but not bound, front seat frame stripped, but not upholstered (which he'd told me 3 weeks before he had it completed but didn't like how it looked and was going to do it over), he clearly had just started on it as it had the original cotton batting on it. Door cards not done. Headliner, which he'd told me had to "custom order" the ultra-suede fabric for, not done, and the material was laying on the floor along with my unfinished carpet. The seat cushions, which he'd told me were "re-foamed" were stacked on the floor with the original batting and burlap still on them.
This was all the day after he'd assured me he was "all finished", and would be down that day to deliver the stuff and install the headliner.
He then demanded $2500 more, on top of the $6K I'd already paid him, to finish. We told him no way, we're unhappy we'd been lied to, mislead, stalled, and materials on hand were NOT the high end stuff we'd paid for. He then demanded $1,000 to finish, and said, "But, you can see I'm working on your stuff!" He was cutting leather for the armrests. Kim asked to see receipts for the 4 hides we paid for, he said, "I bought 3 hides." I told him he'd told me many times he bought FOUR hides, and we started picking up our material and headed for our truck.
He told my wife we were not being fair to him, to which she came unglued. "Don't talk to me about being fair!", she said, "This is MY car, I'm supposed to be driving it now, not up here finding you've taken our money and lied to us."
Loading material in the truck, she said we should pay him the remainder of the money he asked for, as we had so much invested, and a job not 1/4 complete, and who would we find to do the job, on short notice, at this point. I agreed, and she went back inside and we did a "good cop, bad cop" routine, where she told him she'd convinced me to let him complete the job, but he had to be completed by today, and we wanted progress photos by (last) Friday, or we would be back and pick up the unfinished work.
He did, and showed today at the agreed time with a decent, but not high-end job, and asked for his money. I said, "I thought you were going to help me install the headliner?" He said he didn't think I wanted it done today, and didn't bring a stapler or adhesive, but would make another (one hour) trip here to do that some other time. He also didn't cover the "B" pillar cards, claiming he didn't know where to break the material, cloth and leather, to match the door cards. He'd made a trip down in February JUST to do that, and the chalk marks were on the cards for the pattern. I told him we were done, I don't want him back, don't want any more of his work, that he wasn't doing the roadster, which we'd talked about initially.
I'm just happy now to have the stuff here, I feared we'd never get any of it. It's not a bad job, it's just the job I paid for, and one I now have to complete. I guess I'm putting a headliner in...

 

Should have broke his hands...he's not using them anyway. What an AHole.

 

The extra $1000 is extortion,plain and simple

 

Brian, if I ever get in the same bind can I borrow your wife?

 

My local guy who's shop turns out fantastic work wants 50% up front and full payment on delivery. He doesn't seem to be the fastest on big projects either though. He had a chopped Merc in the shop for months but I'd put the interior on a par with a lot of work from big name shops.
I think with upholstery shops just as with body shops and machine shops the quick easy jobs tend to push a lot of seriously involved jobs off to the side. I took my boat cushions into them and the turn around wasn't bad except it took a while to get the correct foam in but that was worth the wait.

 

Y'all are encouraging me to do my own interior work.

Sorry about the snafu, Brian.

 

Time to name names so another Hamber doesn't get stuck by this douche bag.

 

I don't recall if you ever said who this upholsterer is. Why not give us the schlub's name, so no one else on here has to go through that B.S.?(BJR beat me to it!)

 

Rex Parsons in Grand Rapids MI. If it hadn’t taken him 6 months to to a job that he finally (almost) finished in less than a week, hadn’t lied about being “almost done”, tried to keep one full hide, and used fabric from JoAnns Fabrics that he told us he’d “...custom ordered...” and made us wait additional weeks for, I’d be satisfied.
But, he did, and I’m not.

 

Lol, that’s just it. I CAN do upholstery, admittedly not quite this good, but we wanted it better. I’m doing the roadster.

 

Well, if it's any consolation........it's going to look great!

I pay my guy as he delivers. Back Seat, cash. Front seat, cash. Etc.etc. He is slow but towards the end of the month, he gets motivated. He eventually turns out really good work. You just have to give him time. Which sometimes can be very frustrating.

 

That DOES look good, though. Glad you got what you got.

Sounds like the guy in my car club here that had my OT early Bronco forever. Supposed to do all the body work and paint it.
Decided he was tired of working on it and quit, refused to paint it. So I picked it up and he got less. Still pissed. What happened to a man’s word is his bond?

 

I have never understood what does on in the head of some of these guys. They have talent, could be in magazines but for some reason can't sit down and do the job.

I wanted the head liner in my 36 re-done as the material I had used when doing it the first time had rotted (old sheet strips for the bows) and the head liner was sagging. So, one of the infrequent visitors at our Saturday morning breakfast was an upholstery guy that had a bad reputation for being a liar and thief. He is there telling us how he turned over a new leaf and was serious about doing the right thing.

So i give him the job plus cover the "new" seats that were going in. Had the material, delivered the car and material to him with a two month dead line. As the time I needed the car back to get ready for the season I decided to visit his place. Car is there, doors wide open, head liner on the floor boards, seats in the corner covered with dust. He is asleep in his office. Wake him up..."I just finished lunch" (it's almost 3PM).

Long story shortened up, he got the job done after promising to take the job some where else and not pay him for the work completed and I would put out the word that the same ol Danny is back at it, so look out!

 

Today I went out to start pulling the original birch cargo floor in order to replace it, and as I looked in the car, only then did it dawn on me that the upholstery guy didn’t make the damn wheel house covers. We specifically talked about them, I’d originally thought carpet, but he suggested leather, since, in his words, “I have a whole hide I got you that I haven’t had to use, so there’s plenty.”

Then, later, when we confronted him in his shop, he said he’d only bought three hides, not four as he’d told me. He didn’t make them from that nor carpet, nor did he make the floor mats he told me he’d make from the extra carpet.

I’m pretty sure he was going to keep that hide.

So, I made a pattern, cut them from the chunk of carpet left over and sewed ‘em up. They’ll fit perfectly plumped up with some jute padding.

The fourth hide, which he returned to me, saying, “I gave you all of your stuff now.”, is more than enough to do the interior of the roadster. Which he is NOT going to be doing.

 

You are too nice. If he pulled that shit in my shop he would have found out what the fear of God feels like.

 

I'm over him. He wanted to do the roadster, that is OBVIOUSLY not happening now. I think we'll do it in the same houndstooth and burgandy leather as the DeSoto. I plan on painting the car dark blue, so it'll look good. And, we'll have the satisfaction of getting two interiors for the price of one. And, FUCK THAT GUY.

 

I wonder how the upholstery guys learn their craft. Way back when, furniture would get reupholstered and the trade would be passed onto the next generation. Doesn't seem the case now. Seems guys just figure it out by themselves and get into business. Newer cars generally get reupholstered.

 

I meant newer cars Don't get reupholstered.

 

I put the carpet pad in, the cheapest stuff he could get, super thin, and discovered I’m shorted by at least 2/3, maybe half to do a good job of it, and set the back seat in so I could get it out of the way to cut the new birch plywood for the cargo floor. Then I went to bank to mortgage the house to pay for two sheets of birch plywood...

 

This is a motivational tool, to expedite slow progress, and to be a gentle warning, to "NOT "to ask for an extra $1000.00 !

 

A lot of newer cars with leather seats get panels replaced instead of recovering the entire seat. My 99 pickup has had a couple of panels on both front seats replaced. Easy to spot, they aren’t cracked like the rest of it....

 

Today I pretended I knew what I was doing, and armed with my new pneumatic staple gun, got the headliner 2/3 done. Despite assurances from the upholstery guy that he wanted to install it, I don’t want him back, and honestly, it went pretty well.
I should be able to finish it up tomorrow and get the seat belts, carpet and front seat in.
If he made the carpet correctly…

 

You don't need him, looks like you've got it handled well by yourself!

 

At least when you finish it's going to look fantastic! Hopefully this past episode will not be remembered while enjoying such a cool wagon!