Interior Parts Not Reproduced for a '65

I am about to order all the parts to redo the entire interior for my '65, from Clarks Corvair. I noticed there are a few items they don't carry and was looking to see if anyone was aware of other options. The parts I need to replace are:

• Front Door Panels - I have a standard interior and they discontinued them. They sell extra vinyl I can use, but it does not have the stitching pattern like original (see picture)
  
• Rear Quarter Panels - again, I can buy the vinyl, but no stitching pattern (see picture)
  
• Rear Seat Cushions/Buns - anything work from another vehicle. Can another set of front bucket cushions be modified to work
  

Also, I wondering if anyone has installed new seat covers, but skipped the seat buttons. Wondering how it looks and whether the covers work without them

Thanks

Doug

OK Doug: A suggestion. When you get the Clark's covers take a piece of vinyl to the paint shop and most places can computer match the color and sell it to you in an aerosol can. The color is 90% of the battle. If you want to go further, you can purchase a pair of cardboard door panels from Clark's. They're heck-a-cheep and are a quality product. A decent upholstery shop can put your fabric on these cards. The color, the straightness of the door panel and a freshly chromed arm rest base and vinyl will go a long way to improve the looks. OPGI? No, no no!!!!!

As far as your seats go I made a very unpopular remark that a home made job really didn't look that good. I had mine redone twice (the 1st shop changed hands, for the worse) and the second shop was a quality shop and now they are fine. They were able to fabricate really nice cushions from foam stock they had in stock. I did another car (65 standard saddle like yours) and used the Clark's foam. They seemed satisfactory.

One other problem is that new cushions will decrease legroom by a bit. The standard seats ate cramped for me (5-11) so keep that in mind too. Mitch

I too have standard interior. I used seat buns from an early 60's Impala. I bought on ebay for less than half the price of Clark's. Be sure to go to an automotive paint store to inquire about vinyl dye. They can mix a custom color and load a rattle can. Or SEM make several saddle or tan products. Prep is key for a good job. They have products specific for vinyl prep. Stay away from Duplicolor or other part store dyes. Spend a few dollars more for a quality product. http://www.semproducts.com/automotive-flexible-coatings

Thanks guys

I should have clarified I am switching over from saddle to black. I don't believe I will need to dye anything as everything will need to be replaced, as nothing is in good enough condition to be reused. I will be doing as much of the work as possible. I have done an entire interior before, but all replacement covers, buns and panels were available. For the door and quarter panels, I will buy extra vinyl and see if an interior shop can recreate the stitching. I wonder what the panels would look like if I skipped the stitching and just used flat vinyl (I am not concerned about exact original).

I will look into the Impala seat buns - did you use these for the rear seat, as those are unavailable?

I just replaced the front seat foam. The rear seat weren't a mess like the front seats were.

Just noticed OPG is now offering rear seat cushions (see link). I can't vouch for the quality, as I just dropped off my rear seat and covers at an upholstery shop to have them make me a cushion two days ago. I did not realize how expensive having an upholstery shop work on my car would be. Glad I am doing the fronts myself.

https://www.opgi.com/riviera/1965/interior-accessories/seat-accessories/BRSF007/

Doug

Ditto on the seat buns, OPGI just started selling them. I'm sure they are just fine. I ordered some OPGI interior parts (63 with standard interior) recently and was very pleased. For years, I've been skeptical about their quality and fiercely loyal to Clark's, but I'm starting to open my mind. Clark's is still top shelf, but I was really surprised recently when a very expensive console vinyl kit arrived and was very poor quality. Conversely, their carpet kits are stellar. You've got to be open to using different vendors for different applications and mixing vendors is OK. Not all vendors offer all the products we need and their quality does vary. They are all cross pollinating anyway. A week ago, I ordered a brake pedal pad from OPGI. When it arrived, I inspected it and guess who was stamped on the back? CARS Inc. PRL

Just so you know, SMS auto fabrics can do the heat press to replicate door panels where

nobody is offering a repro. A friend of mine has had several sets of door panels and rear quarter interior panels replicated by them for his frame off restorations of 1961 Pontiac Venturas. If you send

them your old door panels as a pattern they can replicate them. They are not cheap, but they do nice work.

OK Doug: Black upholstery? Dye your door panels with the SEM dye/paint. Follow directions carefully. Use those Clarks door cards and have the upholstery shop do the carpet on the bottom. This isn't a hard job for a decent shop. Follow directions and you'll have a nice job. No sense to have SMS repro the door panels. I have door cards that were done by a decent upholstery shop and they look great. I also have another set of standard door panels that were re-done and even though they aren't horrible (my definition of horrible is luncheonette booth vinyl, cockeyed seams, poor color match, etc) they leave much to be desired for someone that wants their car to be as close to original as possible.

I did forget to mention a few things in my first thread. Any decent upholstery shop can use stock foam and do a great job with the cushions. This is standard operating procedure. Next, there are replacement buttons that are available to upholstery shops at a nominal cost.

Finally, don't forget to factor in the height element in your process because it is horrible to drive a car that the front seat is heck-a-uncomfortable. Mitch

Thanks all. Unfortunately, the OPG rear seat cushions came a little late, as I already have the upholstery shop making the cushion for me. Wish I would have seen them a couple of days earlier as I would have done everything myself, but did not know where to begin to make a cushion. At $65/hour to make the cushion and install the rear covers I bought from Clarks, I probably could have saved myself $1,000 by purchasing cushions from OPG. I expect the end result will be much nicer with a professional doing the work.

Next up will be the door panels. Unfortunately, they are in terrible shape so dye/paint won't do it. I will look into SMS. My original plan was to buy everything from Clarks and have the upholstery shop replicate the stitching with real stitches

Doug

Here are a couple of ads that I found using Search Tempest that could bear looking into.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/pts/4831119980.html

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/pts/4831119980.html

Ed

OK Doug: Those door panels look pretty good. I would reconsider the $900 expense from SMS PLUS the wait! If you still aren't satisfied with them send me pictures and perhaps I might purchase them from you. I have ALL the trim and rails (65 Standard) which you'd need even if SMS did a set for you. Mitch

I've got a pair of the wood inserts for a '65 with standard interior; I'll never use them, they came in a box of other 1st gen. stuff I bought some time ago. You might be surprised what the one you have would look like if they were cleaned, attached to new backer boards, and dyed.

Ed