This is a shot of the back of the front seat. Turns out sewing in this little panel was harder than I thought. When you have a insert that is going in a 360 degree cutout, you have to cut the hole to the perfect size or it won’t fit. You have to sew everything inside out and things stretch and others don’t. Fortunately I cut the hole too small the first time and was able to rip out the stitching, open up the hole and re-do it. Head liner is in and drum tight! Front seat complete. This shot shows the completed interior. This is a shot of the front seat without the front side cover installed. I drove the car around to a couple of show like this. You can only see this when the doors are open. A few months later I finished the covers, its a big improvement don't you think? I made these kick panels from scratch. My car did not have them so I just made them up. You can see the patent leather binding around the carpet. The patch below the pedals is held in place by Velcro so it can be removed so I can work on the pedals if needed. This is a shot of the front seat frame. The stock setup was carpeted, so I made mine the same. This is a shot of the carpet mats that I made via Gill Gonzales post. I used clear spiky carpet runner plastic on the bottom & ribbed vinyl on the top to protect the high wear sections under my feet. You can find all of this stuff at your local hardware store. Check out Gill Gonzales post on how to make these. I covered the floor with chopped foam carpet pad. I did this to add some extra cushion to the carpet. Now I thought this would be cool place to place some tuck n roll on my visors. I used wood for the visors, but it would have been easier if I had used the stock cardboard. I did some test stitching on bare wood to see if my machine could handle it. It did, but only just. My speaker covers are really cool. I looked at hundreds of custom cars and saw, stock covers, music note covers, or holes in the vinyl, and very very few handmade grills. I designed the oval logo off a round RCA record logo in CAD, then sent the file to a local water jet company to cut out. I used my wood router to radius the edges, and polished them afterwards. I bought some gold amp speaker cloth off of Ebay to complete the look. Shot of the front speaker grills, most people do not even notice them. This is a shot of the completed headliner. It's drum tight, but looks rippled due to the tuck n roll refection. Like a bone head I removed the stock head liner and bows without marking anything before I started the chop. 7 years later I was lost trying to figure out what went were. I did keep the un-damaged headliner and that was helpful. I extended my roof when I chopped the top so I had to move the bows and also shorten them. Once I got the bows placed at an even spacing, I made a paper template by taping sections to the bows and body. The paper, like the vinyl does not stretch, so I figured if I could get the paper to fit I could also make the vinyl fit. This by far was the most difficult part of the interior, but its done and I never have to do another one. The headliner looked like crap when I first put it up. I thought I would never get it right. I just kept pulling and stretching till it looked right. I had to take it down twice to take it in for a good fit. I did not use any heat, some guys do, but I was afraid that I would damage the shinny finish. About a year later I did the trunk. For part I follow this link: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=827517
Man that is the most guady but super cool interior it looks like a juke box what a mixture of cool colors gotta hand it to u great Job. Wish u were near Baltimore for the Hot Rod Revivle its a great show Anthony
Not a bad skill to have... Looks great, that's an awesome accomplishment! I will say, I noticed you used The Eastwood insulation, I used the Lowes Peel and Seal, works just as good if not better and it'll save you a couple bucks... My 2 cents...
Hey Chuckt6 what a great job you did on the interior, very impressive but how about some pics of the chop and the outside of the car? I just saw it on Speedhunter's, gotta be one of the best 50 Merc four door chops i've seen, it deserves some recognition!
Ok I'll pull together some pictures I have on doing the chop. I did not take that many but I'm happy to share what I have. Thanks for the compliment, feedback can be mixed some think it's too tame others think it's should slope down. In the end I did the best I could and I'm happy with the result. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Totally respect that feedback, I knew I was picking colors and materials that were out there Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Yeah guess you can't please all the people all the time. I personally think you did a great job man, look forward to the pictures.
got a mid-1950s gangster feel to it - kool as hell! wish I could do any damned thing with upholstery besides just vacuum the stuff! nice!!!
Chuckt6 I think it is cool as hell.Especially since you did it yourself. Be proud of your accomplishment. No matter what anybody says , what really matters is if you like it that's all that matters. I have respect for anybody that can do upholstery. I watch the pro's and shake my head because they make it look easy.
You should be proud , looks very good. As others said , not my choice of materials, but I'm more conservative. Again nice job. Jack
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