Guest onedesertdog Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Today I was quoted a price of $1,200 to have the complete interior done on my 65 Rivi. I had already bought the carpet kit, so it wasn't included other than having it installed. One thing I don't have is the cardboard backing behind the rear seats to trunk. The guy doing it has done a lot of show cars and has been in the business for many years. Mine has the blue interior with the blue on blue velour/vinyl seats. He thought all vinyl seats would be better, but it's Az. and I like the velour. Do you think the price is pretty decent? It will never be a show car, just a Friday night drive to Sonic car and cruiser.lol. Thanks for the reply. Buddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 To keep it easy, he is doing the two bucket seats and the rear seat. To strip and recover is probably going to take about 10 hours each. Materials will be about $150 each and new foam is about $50 per section if he cuts it himself. The headliner would be about $200 plus 4 hours to install. Allow $50 each for door panels and 3 hours to fit. Figure half that on the rear side panels.That comes to about 43 hours of labor, a full work week. Materials would run close to $800 (that matches Clark's prices pretty close).Throw in time for fitting the carpet and it is almost "too good to be true".I wouldn't risk my car being torn apart at his place and not seeing it for years or having to fight to get it back.I would suggest taking the buck seats out and letting him do them while you keep the car at home. When you get them back in a timely manner and to your satisfaction put the driver's seat in and deliver the car for the final three days or so worth of work. He should be happy to have his shop open while working on your stuff.Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Riviera Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I would buy the seat material from Clarks and have it installed . Cloth or vinyl is offered I think . At some point you may want to sell the car and it will be worth more that way . Correct color and material is best unless you are doing a custom - if so , anything goes . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Today I was quoted a price of $1,200 to have the complete interior done on my 65 Rivi. Do you think the price is pretty decent? It will never be a show car, just a Friday night drive to Sonic car and cruiser.lol. Thanks for the reply. BuddyBased on what you said he is doing, for $1200 he apparently has no shop overhead and works nearly for free in his business. I think Bernie estimated the labor pretty close but admit I don't have alot of personal experience with interior work but have seen numerous interior restos and spoke with owners. For $1200 I'd expect the lowest quality quickie job. I guess it comes down to what you will be satisfied with. It is not uncommon to be quoted 3 times that amount for a total interior redo on a Riviera by a professional. In any event you should get a detailed quote on exactly what he is doing for $1200 so there are no surprises.I agree with Dicks comment to purchase the seat covers from Clarks and have those installed. At least you know those will be quality and fit correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 (edited) I know how much time it took to get from here:To here:It was not a quickie.I am going to do it all myself with a Clark's kit and new foam. I figure I will have about $800 in it. I have already replaced the headliner and carpets and my door panels only need the lower carpet pieces.I started monkeying around with cars when I was 12, 52 years ago. The reason I am doing it myself is that I don't want to hear some so called professional crying about why he couldn't do a good job, a '39 Buick cylinder head left for a valve job that sat on and oil drum for two years untouched, a pair of Model A Ford wheels I took home unfinished after another two year stint (when I picked then up the body shop owner said "I don't know why you are so antsy about it."), AND a Bentley convertible, not mine, that sat in a restoration shop in Batavia, New York for 27 years.My father picked up a term while in the Army during WWII, "Gemokes". Don't let these gemokes mess with your stuff.Bernie Edited March 22, 2013 by 60FlatTop (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool57 Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Did you get references on him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onedesertdog Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Did you get references on him?Actually I did. He does interiors on some nice show cars. Today I went to his shop because he called me to come see an old Oldsmobile that he was doing with similar interior. It was sharp. I only took him pictures of the 65, and told him it was stripped. I like the idea about taking the seats first. Even if the price climbs some, I'd be happy. This of course doesn't include the wood trim. We'll see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 (edited) As has been stated the price sounds VERY inexpensive by Chicago area standards. I would imagine there are quite a few interior shops in your area, and possibly an abundance of cheap labor, but I would certainly want to see an example of his work before committing at the quoted price.I agree purchasing the covers from Clarks should assure the "correct" material and pattern but what happens if the seats look terrible and the installer blames Clarks for the covers?? Hard to hold the installer accountable if someone else has made the covers and vice versa unless one has practical experience with upholstery work and can pass judgement as a result. I`m going thru that right now with a set of covers Clarks made, then modified (not Clarks fault as I picked up the project after the previous owner had the wrong carpeting installed), which an inexpensive upholsterer installed (at my cost), and now the seats are not right. I honestly dont know if it is the covers or the installer and I cant bust someones chops unless I`m sure so the seats will end up at a high end shop to get them right $$$. Lesson learned.....good luck! Tom Mooney Edited March 22, 2013 by 1965rivgs (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrlforfun Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 OK Desert Dog: Good luck with that cheap price. My upholstery shop just quoted me $1,700 to......1. Install their headliner, sun visors, package tray and sail panels2. install my Clarks carpeting3. repair the poor installation that another shop did on my Clark's seat kits4. Install Clark's carpeted trunk kit that i furnished5. Re-construct drivers and passenger's side door panels with my vinyl (Clark's of course), their carpet.6. Install rear seat belts.7. Assemble and install all components.I'm thinking that perhaps I got a pretty good deal. The first shop did a fabulous job on my standard saddle 65 interior but they went sour on this white custom 64 deal. They do all Donks now and it's a mess. I lost $600. and I figure I got out by the hair of my chinny chin chin. My suggestion would be to really check into that shop's reputation which no one really wants to do and put everything down on paper itemizing every component, where the parts source is from and the like. Cheap means nothing and I know because I'm heck-o-cheap. Mitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIVNIK Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Hey,Desertdog! My 65 has a black int. so it was a little easier to get good results on the cheap,but....I took my seats out and had a local shop install covers from Clarks($350 ea.to install,but perfect) A good molded carpet was easy to do with the seats out. My door panels were badly warped & faded...I removed the armrests,lightly dampened the cardboard, pressed them with lots of weight for couple of days & they came out surprisingly flat & stayed that way. Then I treated them with SEM vinyl prep & paint, & used spray carpet dye on the lowers. sounds sketchy but turned out surprisingly nice. There is a good pair of armrest pads on ebay if you need them.Like I say ,everything is black so color match could be a problem for you. As for your package tray,a club member has advertised repros in clear fiberglass for painting in the Riview for decades. I've always wondered what the quality was like. Why don't you order one and let us know! ( For God sakes, don't buy one from OPGI!) The headliner is where you might want a professional.From what I've been told it is a PITA but doable. I got mine from Clarks & aforementioned auto upholsterer put it in for $165. (If your dash is f'ed up, good luck is all I can say.)A show car deserves a quality interior,but dont spend show car bucks on your Sonic driver if you can help it! Good luck & let us know how things turn out! Drew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenugent Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 got the fiberglass packagetray from member-it comes with no gelcoat-is good for fabric cover.the following is what i did and it turned out nice.put another coat of fiberglass on the back to stiffin(this afected the final fit-too stiff)-then i worked down the face with bondo-primed and painted-used 65 sail panel trim on bottom-turned out nice-not stock just a driver.T.Nugent roa 12969... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool57 Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 Actually I did. He does interiors on some nice show cars. Today I went to his shop because he called me to come see an old Oldsmobile that he was doing with similar interior. It was sharp. I only took him pictures of the 65, and told him it was stripped. I like the idea about taking the seats first. Even if the price climbs some, I'd be happy. This of course doesn't include the wood trim. We'll see how it goes.Who is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onedesertdog Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Who is it? His name is Armando...between Phoenix and Tucson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool57 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Outside metro areas means lower overhead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool57 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 got the fiberglass packagetray from member-it comes with no gelcoat-is good for fabric cover.the following is what i did and it turned out nice.put another coat of fiberglass on the back to stiffin(this afected the final fit-too stiff)-then i worked down the face with bondo-primed and painted-used 65 sail panel trim on bottom-turned out nice-not stock just a driver.T.Nugent roa 12969...How 'bout some pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenugent Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 (edited) Here is the pics of the package tray Edited March 25, 2013 by tenugent (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Tim,Are the pictures of your '63? If so, are the chrome headliner reveal moldings "as built" or did you chrome them? The reason I ask is that most '63's have painted moldings.Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenugent Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Ed-these are pics of the 63-the moldings were in car when i bought it-problobly added somewere along the line.Tim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool57 Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Very nice! Did you have the seats done locally? (I am in Springfield.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenugent Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 cool57-had them done in oreana-asked price of leather he said 1400 and i thought ok then he said for front two-he did them in something similar to leather(dont know if its leatheret or not).he took them apart recovered(no new foam)900-the bad thing is hes out of buisness.my buttons are popping off-anybody know what kind of crimping tool i can get to fix them-if not ill post on main forum.heard theres a guy on beardsdale road by 121 doing int. work real cheap-havent seen his work but i have a friend who's going to have his 52 chevy done.if you want more info on him ill find out.PM you phone # and ill get back to you.T.N. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Here is a picture of the original button retainers. They are big and have a tenacious grip. I have not been able to figure out how to salvage them for reuse, still working on it. My guess is that an upholstery shop would have a lesser FitsAll version. Spring is here. I will be wading back into this.Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool57 Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Do you still have contact info for fiberglass package tray supplier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenugent Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 cool57-pm sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool57 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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