MrEarl

Wow, @Bloo that’s some great info. I take it you were in the business at some time. I might be able to talk with the upholsterer like I know something about what I’m talking about now, THANK YOU!!! I’ll try and get some pictures of my ratty seat bottoms so you can see better how the pillows currently are. Here’s a shot I just happened to grab on line of a 79 80k mile LeSabre, same upholstery as mine Btw one old guy that’s been in the business some 50 years took a look at my seats and immediately said nope, I don’t do cushion seats, period. Said to do them right, they’re some of the most aggravating work he ever did.

The three upholsterers I mentioned the fabric prices to were surprised at the cost. The one I’m going with commented “Well you for damn sure want it done right then don’t you” It does appear to be the same thickness and is a bit stiff. I’ve also asked the upholsterer to spare no cost in the foam padding. Any thoughts or recommendations on that.

👍Verified the width of 60” and Reet used that to calculate 🙏

Gotcha ordered a half yard more than what the upholsterer and Rita figured. Hopefully will have enough left over for Elvis a bed cover 😉

Got new samples from SMS and decided to just bite the bullet and go with having the seats fully reupholstered in lieu of using the seats from the Limited. I figured using the incorrect seats from the Limited would depreciate the value of the car probably about as much as having it done correctly would hopefully appreciate the value. Price had increased some 20% but asked for and received 10% discount with shipping expected within 2 weeks, we will see…

Somebody bought it

Ahhh, the rest of the story.

You’ve way underpriced that car my friend!

Thanks all for the very interesting comments. Never even knew about the museum.

here ya go @Buick35

Greg, if you want to email me the picture I’ll try posting it for you. 1954buick@gmail.com @Buick35

Thought I’d dust this off and bring back to the top. Some interesting dialogue.

Thanks Larry appreciate it

?

I’m considering that and that’s why I need a better sample, to see difference in fabrics or shades SMS replied they would send better samples 🙂

just joined. it is a heavy weight material, I would think typical of wagons

@NTX5467 two of the shops had a couple small books of fabric. One had 3-4 books but nada of anything close to the original. Going to another that’s been in business since before they installed roll and pleat in my ‘57 Chevy back in ‘66. 🤞

After purchasing and getting it home and seeing the two side by side I just don’t think they’re close enough to pass. I may still use them if I can’t find satisfactory material at a reasonable cost. mine. note the tops aren’t bad but the bottoms are bad! Also there’s the complication that the controls are in the door armrest on the Limited and in the seat bottom sides of my Wagon.

Tha's an understatement if ever.

Considering having the front cloth seats of my ‘79 Estate Wagon Limited reupholstered. The rears are vinyl and in perfect condition. The fronts cloth is tattered and foam badly deteriorated. SMS sent a sample but it’s not matching my existing nor the ‘79 color/trim book. I’m actually seeing some hint of green in it. At $140 a yard I for dang sure want it to be correct. My other concern is that they only sent the one “striped” sample and my seats have tan striped velour on top and plain lighter tan velour on sides. The trim book doesn’t mention this Im assuming the non striped material would be the Crushed Velour in tan as shown in blue below. I’ve been to three upholstery shops and none have samples close to the striped velour. The plain tan, maybe close enough. Are there any other fabric vendors that can come close to the original at a lower cost. I found an interesting vendor on Etsy that claims to have bought out a large shop that went out of business. https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheEstateStash?search_query=vintage+gold+plush+velour+auto+upholstery They have 2-3 of the '79 Buick striped velour but not in the tan. I've requested several samples of plain tan that I think will be close enough, we'll see. Their prices are less than half that of sms but have limited quantities

Sale pending but thought I’d post for general interest and discussion. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1440502076867270/?ref=browse_tab same engine as Grand National I’m thinking, great potential for E-engine Classic Production Blown Gas class at Bonneville. All it needs is an altitude adjustment, a roll cage, a manual trans, and a fully-built Turbo V6, and it'd be making passes... The production supercharged record was set in 2020, and is only 141.49MPH, as of the 2023 rule book. orrrrr…. I wonder how many of these have had a full correct restoration and what such value they might have compared to say a Grand National. I don’t recall seeing any at a National but then I haven’t been to many of those lately thoughts

pretty sure I sold them all, will check

looks like I was lucky in more ways than one Ronnie. The bridge itself is about to lose all its original 1930s character. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/cherokee/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD1123422

Going to pick up this 1980 225 with a 350 tomorrow for front seats for Southern Belle. Paid $750, sold to a friend for $500 with my old wagon seats swapped in. So 250 for the seats seems pretty good when SMS material alone is 4x that. Should be fun loading with no steering due to no keys. The 6way seat controls are in the door on the 225, in the seat bottom sides on my car so will have to retrofit that. Anybody care to share tips on how to remove the seats or swap switches, I’m all ears.

as they say