Cost to reupholster an old car 1940s era?

[marcapra]

I will be seeking an upholstery shop in the coming months for my 48 DeSoto business coupe.  I looked up a guide to auto upholstery on the internet, and it gave a ballpark quote for the cost of upholstery today.  Does this sound accurate?  

 

How much to reupholster a classic car?

On average, you can expect to pay about $2,500 for a full reupholstery job and upward of $350 for an individual seat. Choosing leather rather than fabric or vinyl could more than triple that price. It's a good idea to request quotes from multiple professionals to make sure you get the best value for your money.Jul 3, 2023

 

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

$2500.00 is what I paid in 2009.  That was in small town, MO.  I would expect somewhat more today, depending on location.

 

  Ben

[marcapra]

I would be thrilled if $3000 was just the cost of labor.  I've heard people say it costs between 8K and 15K to reupholster a car!  The other question I have is should I acquire the materials form a supplier, like SMS, myself rather than give that job to the upholstery shop.  They have a brushed cotton headliner kit custom sewn for my car, leatherette for parts of the seat and door panels, and wool broadcloth.  I wonder if what they call wool is really an imitation of wool, or just part wool?  I doesn't have the quality feel or thickness of the original material and they want about $150 a yard for it, but my car only has one seat.  

[MotiveLensPhoto]

I did my 1973 Riviera with original fabric from SMS in Oregon. $7K for the seats and carpet. Headliner and the door trim, etc. were fine so I didn't do those. Depending on the complexity of the design, etc. of your car.

[Tom Boehm]

I had some upholstery work done on my Lasalle recently. I strongly suggest you talk to as many upholsterers as it takes to find the one you want to work with. Does he have the same level of quality that you want? Does he want to do it the way it was done originally and preserve details? Don't just pick one on price alone. You will have to work out your questions about who gets materials with the upholsterer you select. 

 

I talked to many both local and out of town. I wanted to preserve many original details. The guy I selected had experience with prewar cars and was willing and able to do the details I wanted. From my own experience and what I hear from others 8-15k is not out of the question. 

 

Local guys I talked to only had experience with street rods. If there is existing upholstery, that will save the upholsterer time making a pattern. A headliner kit may save the upholsterer time also. 

 

My point is to get what YOU want. I wanted originality. 

Edited June 25 by Tom Boehm (see edit history)

[bryankazmer]

Authentic wool broadcloth is not a third the price of leather. That quote seems based on generic rather than authentic materials

 

you only have one seat anyway. Labor is the biggest part. Use the right material even though it costs more

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

I did not do "authentic".   I did do nearly so as far as pattern and color..  Picked a good, modern fabric from the trimers stock.  Made a slight change in the front seat back.  Wide pleats instead of just flat on the seat surfaces. And mine IS a four door.  30,000 miles and 15 years and I am still happy.

 

  Ben

[John_S_in_Penna]

1 hour ago, marcapra said:

I've heard people say it costs between 8K and 15K to reupholster a car! 

I think your $8000 to $15,000 range is accurate.

Don't ask an internet search engine and believe $2500--

you'll get the "taxi-vinyl" job that you sometimes see.

 

Nicola Bulgari's upholstery man told me it would cost

$20,000 to completely redo the interior of a large 1933

Buick 96 coupe, including seats, door panels, headliner.

That was doing it the right way, with cotton padding sewn

in individual pleats, and the correct wool cloth.

 

Your business coupe has only one seat, but I'm sure

you want to do it right.

[trimacar]

49 minutes ago, bryankazmer said:

Authentic wool broadcloth is not a third the price of leather. That quote seems based on generic rather than authentic materials

 

you only have one seat anyway. Labor is the biggest part. Use the right material even though it costs more

Leather can be cheaper than broadcloth.  A yard of broadcloth, about 12 square feet, runs $80-100.

 

I can buy quality leather for $5 a square foot, so that 12 square feet would be $60.

 

Of course, some leather is two to three times that price.

[edinmass]

A big CCCA Classic can easily run 60-125k depending on materials and how complicated it is. Do yourself a favor and book the appointment a year out. It’s usually that long of a wait for people who do decent work. Finding correct materials today is a big challenge. About 89 percent of stuff that has been commonly available has disappeared in the last five years. 

[DFeeney]

The most important part is you want to "Be Happy" after the bill is paid.

[Andy J]

Two months ago I paid a man $6100 to upholster my '51 Pontiac Chieftain Deluxe four door. I thought it was kind of high,but he did an outstanding job.He used materials just as close to original as he could find. I was well pleased and I will use him again.I don't mind paying premium price for premium work.

[37_Roadmaster_C]

The materials alone for my 37 Buick Roadmaster Phaeton, including all leather seats, door panels, kick panels, full convertible top and padding and front and rear carpet and padding was just north of $25K. I do not have a separate labor cost as the work was included in more big invoices. Very expensive, but looks fantastic!!!

[marcapra]

Does anyone know of an upholstery shop in southern California that does good work on 40s and earlier cars?  I got some samples today from SMS of mohair material.   I wonder if it's really a synthetic imitation of mohair.  SMS doesn't say in writing if it is from the Angora goat. It's so fuzzy that I think it would be a big dirt collector!  If you weren't in your Sunday best suit with long sleeves and jacket, you'd have to keep a sheet over the upholstery just to protect it from dirt. I don't think Chrysler was using mohair in the 1940s anyway.  I guess that's why seat covers were popular.  

[hook]

10 hours ago, DFeeney said:

The most important part is you want to "Be Happy" after the bill is paid.

I agree. Remember the old saying, "The quality lasts long after the price is forgotten"

[bryankazmer]

I believe wool broadcloth, possibly striped, was original. Do some research before you buy

[Xander Wildeisen]

Don’t forget you are not just placing new fabric on a seat. The seat frames and all of the material used to form the seat, foam, padding other materials used at the time of manufacturing. Are most likely rotten. I have seen new material used on nasty rusted seat springs with lumpy half mouse eaten padding stuffed into the spring packs. You are also paying for the restoration/replacement of interior components. Start with nice seat frames and you will save a little. So much comes down to the quality of the car you decide to restore.

[TAKerry]

Fortunately I can buy ready to use, correct seat material for my trans am. They are ready to hog ring to the frame out of the box. There are 2 manufacturers I know of, one great, one good. Even buying a pre-made cover and installing on the frame as a d i y will cost more than $350 a seat! The one Im working on now is about $2k for the covers alone for 2 buckets and a rear seat. Thats just the product, no foam, batting, fasteners etc. I have been lucky that I have not had to have an upholsterer custom make interior components but I would expect to pay at the minimum $5k-$8k as a base.

[Trulyvintage]

15 hours ago, DFeeney said:

The most important part is you want to "Be Happy" after the bill is paid.

 

[Trulyvintage]

It depends on what exactly

the scope of the work is

and who who does the work.

 

Another example of applying

shopping for a service like it

was a good - the cost is

determined by many factors.

 

 

Jim

 

[Hans1965]

16 hours ago, Tom Boehm said:

Does he have the same level of quality that you want? Does he want to do it the way it was done originally and preserve details? Don't just pick one on price alone. You will have to work out your questions about who gets materials with the upholsterer you select. 

Tom, you are absolutely right with this statement. I had an original back seat in my 1949 Roadmaster Riviera and I showed it to the upholsterer. He agreed to make the new absolutely the same. When I got it back, after paying him in between for the material, I had to realize that he took numerous short cuts and it was not at all as agreed upon. Questioned about that he argued that with the material he had it wouldn't be possible to do it correctly and I should be happy with it. Silly answer. It looks good, really good, but just not as the original. I wanted my interior back so badly that I accepted it and probably only the real expert for this kind of car will ever realize that. But overall a bad experience. 

As I am working in procurement, of course I negotiated the price down as good as I could and maybe that was his revenge. Worst case I would have not negotiated it, paid the high price and still get back a non original interior. So it could have been worse.

My learnings from this is I will never buy a car again where the interior needs to be redone and I would never pay again a dime before I see the end result. The money is the only leverage you have.

 

Btw, first lesson already not followed. 🤣

 

 

[John348]

10 hours ago, marcapra said:

Does anyone know of an upholstery shop in southern California that does good work on 40s and earlier cars?   

The low rider scene is pretty huge out your way and those guys are very much stock when it comes to interiors especially on the pre-cars of the early 40's and late 30's. maybe start asking around in those circles. I cross paths with those guys often and to tell you the truth I was very impressed with some of the quality work I had seen done, it was not what I had expected. They seem to have no problem getting quality work done, but if it comes down to cost that might be another issue, I have a feeling they pay a good price. The one time I went to Pomona the work was impeccable. That would be a good place to go and ask around. Some of the friendliest guys I meet in this hobby were there that Sunday morning. Not at the swap meet section but where the cars were gathering near the track. 

[prewarnut]

I just DIY'd (replaced) the lower seat cushions on my daughter's modern car. I had to also disassemble and swap over the heated seat elements which required removing all hog rings and reattaching. It was well over 2 hours per side. Granted you wont have to disconnect the battery, disassemble stacked/locking electrical connectors, remove and reattach the side electrical panel with seat position switches and avoid tripping the air bag circuit or destroying the passenger airbag sensor, retorquing certain bolts...but labor adds up.

[DFeeney]

I also am impressed by the overall quality of the workmanship  done in the "Low Rider"  cars.

[marcapra]

I don't think I'm going to need major work on the seat.  There are no mouse nests or rotten padding.  It was upholstered in the 70s and looks like a quicky cheap Tiajuana job.  But the cushsions are still good and the springs also.  I have a collection of pics that I took of other cars, including some pics of a car just like mine with the original upholstery back in the 80s.  There are some variations.  Some cars had cloth on the seat frame and others had leatherette.  Below are some pics of what my upholstery looks like now and other cars upholstery of the era.  Here is my seat the way it came when I bought the car in 1980.

This an original seat back from a car the same make and model as mine.  46-48 DeSoto.  I plan to make a brochure of these pics to show the upholstery shop as a guide to what I want.  

 

This pic shows a kick panel on a 48 Dodge with the windlace.    

 

These are windlace and headliner swatches from SMS.  

 

This is from the old late LeBarron Bonney.  

 

This shows how complex the rear seat would be to do on a 48 DeSoto.  My business coupe will be much simpler than this, which should make the price lower.  

 

These are windlace trim samples from the old LeBarron Bonney co. followed by broadcloth samples.  

 

This pic from an original 48 DeSoto shows valuable details on how the seat back was done.  It had leatherette on the back and the seat frame.  And it had this beige transition broadcloth with a lip on the corner that the hand is showing.    

 

This front seat is from a 46 Dodge.  

 

This is my seat which got a cheap upholstery job sometime before I bought the car in the 1970s.  Followed by the springs which look good.  

Edited June 27 by marcapra (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

14 hours ago, Hans1965 said:

Tom, you are absolutely right with this statement. I had an original back seat in my 1949 Roadmaster Riviera and I showed it to the upholsterer. He agreed to make the new absolutely the same. When I got it back, after paying him in between for the material, I had to realize that he took numerous short cuts and it was not at all as agreed upon. Questioned about that he argued that with the material he had it wouldn't be possible to do it correctly and I should be happy with it. Silly answer. It looks good, really good, but just not as the original. I wanted my interior back so badly that I accepted it and probably only the real expert for this kind of car will ever realize that. But overall a bad experience. 

As I am working in procurement, of course I negotiated the price down as good as I could and maybe that was his revenge. Worst case I would have not negotiated it, paid the high price and still get back a non original interior. So it could have been worse.

My learnings from this is I will never buy a car again where the interior needs to be redone and I would never pay again a dime before I see the end result. The money is the only leverage you have.

 

Btw, first lesson already not followed. 🤣

 

 

That wasn't "revenge". That is how you learn to make a living off chiselers who expect something for nothing. If you negotiate the price down 20% he has to make up that 20% somewhere, by taking 20% less time, or by taking the bread out of his children's mouths so you can have an expensive play toy. It sounds to me like you got what you paid for. And you paid the minimum.

[Rusty_OToole]

On 6/25/2024 at 7:40 PM, trimacar said:

Leather can be cheaper than broadcloth.  A yard of broadcloth, about 12 square feet, runs $80-100.

 

I can buy quality leather for $5 a square foot, so that 12 square feet would be $60.

 

Of course, some leather is two to three times that price.

I don't question your prices but should mention, a lot of guys don't like to work with leather because you cannot make a mistake. With cloth you can rip out bad stitches and try again. Once vinyl or leather is perforated it goes in the garbage and of course, leather is a lot more expensive than vinyl. My brother, an upholsterer, told me the most nerve racking job he ever did was a Victorian love seat in red leather, where he had just enough material to do the job and no chance of getting more.

[Hans1965]

1 hour ago, Rusty_OToole said:

That wasn't "revenge". That is how you learn to make a living off chiselers who expect something for nothing. If you negotiate the price down 20% he has to make up that 20% somewhere, by taking 20% less time, or by taking the bread out of his children's mouths so you can have an expensive play toy. It sounds to me like you got what you paid for. And you paid the minimum.

Oh my god, "take the bread out of his children's mouth", come on.

 

I tell you the story. He wanted 6000 Eur for the job. I wanted to understand what's behind the number.  1400 Eur for the italian leather and the other stuff he needed, nothing to argue. Leaves Eur 4600 for the labor and his profit. Then I asked him how much work it is? A weeks work in his garage was the answer. Eur 920 per day. Sorry, but I consider that a lot. At least here where I live. I know you guys in the US enjoy higher wages than here in Europe. Btw, we agreed and I paid 5000 Eur. And one important consideration here, I didnt force him to take the job.  His kids got plenty of bread. Don't tell me I am using people. 

[trimacar]

4 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

I don't question your prices but should mention, a lot of guys don't like to work with leather because you cannot make a mistake. With cloth you can rip out bad stitches and try again. Once vinyl or leather is perforated it goes in the garbage and of course, leather is a lot more expensive than vinyl. My brother, an upholsterer, told me the most nerve racking job he ever did was a Victorian love seat in red leather, where he had just enough material to do the job and no chance of getting more.

I agree, my comment was more a cost comparison.

 

I’m the opposite, I’d rather work with leather than any material, and hate working with vinyl.

 

Age has pretty much solved the problem, crawling around in a closed car just doesn’t work any more.

 

I understand the angst of making a mistake, one can work on a door panel for hours,one mistake and have to start over.  My mentor on upholstery told me go slow, make every stitch correct, and whole job will be correct.

 

I’m only doing tops now, the orderly progression of steps to make a top from scratch and install appeals to my engineering background.

[Rusty_OToole]

3 hours ago, Hans1965 said:

Oh my god, "take the bread out of his children's mouth", come on.

 

I tell you the story. He wanted 6000 Eur for the job. I wanted to understand what's behind the number.  1400 Eur for the italian leather and the other stuff he needed, nothing to argue. Leaves Eur 4600 for the labor and his profit. Then I asked him how much work it is? A weeks work in his garage was the answer. Eur 920 per day. Sorry, but I consider that a lot. At least here where I live. I know you guys in the US enjoy higher wages than here in Europe. Btw, we agreed and I paid 5000 Eur. And one important consideration here, I didnt force him to take the job.  His kids got plenty of bread. Don't tell me I am using people. 

It may sound a lot but it covers overhead and sundries as well as the pay of a skilled craftsman. I expect he still got his 920 E per day and you got a cheap job and both of you got what you wanted.

[Hans1965]

47 minutes ago, Rusty_OToole said:

It may sound a lot but it covers overhead and sundries as well as the pay of a skilled craftsman. I expect he still got his 920 E per day and you got a cheap job and both of you got what you wanted.

Rusty, I can agree on that. Have a good one.  😊

[TAKerry]

17 minutes ago, Hans1965 said:

Rusty, I can agree on that. Have a good one.  😊

If the fellow accepted the terms that Hans offered its on him. I am self employed and yes there is usually wiggle room in my pricing. I do not gouge but I like to make a fair wage for my skilset that has taken 40+ years to learn. If I have a customer that wants to beat my pricing down to an unacceptable level I simply wont do the job.

And yes, there are many other expenses in running a business than simply paying the labor rate that the average consumer does not realize.

[John_S_in_Penna]

On 6/25/2024 at 7:44 PM, edinmass said:

A big CCCA Classic can easily run 60-125k depending on materials and how complicated it is. 

Ed, can you explain why?

I can picture more complicated door panels,

and maybe imported leather (as if cows in other

countries had better hide quality), but I can't

see the high price considering Bulgari's estimate

of $20,000.  (That was for correct wool, not leather.)

 

And even larger cars than CCCA examples--such 

as mid-priced Chrysler 7-passenger sedans--

should still be far less than what you estimate.

Let's hear from your perspective.

 

On 6/25/2024 at 7:13 PM, John_S_in_Penna said:

Nicola Bulgari's upholstery man told me it would cost

$20,000 to completely redo the interior of a large 1933

Buick 96 coupe, including seats, door panels, headliner.

 

Edited June 27 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Matt Harwood]

I just paid about $2500 for the carpets alone in my 1935 Lincoln. I thought that was a reasonable cost. It took about 3 weeks to get the job done, also reasonable in my opinion.

 

When working with skilled tradespeople on car stuff, I find that accepting the "intangibles" is the shortest way to success. For instance, I don't haggle, I don't complain, I don't stiff them on the bill. They tell me what it costs, and I pay them and I let them work at their own pace. No hassles. Everyone goes home happy, even if I'm not 100% sure if I got a "bargain." The upside is that whenever I need these people, they are usually more eager to help me out. My cars often go to the head of the line and I get favors that others may not (like "I need this by Friday, can you make that happen?"). I certainly don't abuse the situation, but being someone who is known to pay his bills and not complain opens a lot of doors and keeps them open. In a world where skilled trades are vanishing at an alarming rate, that's priceless. Could I shave a few bucks here and there? Surely. Would doing so change my standard of living? Unlikely.

 

I have so many people in this business constantly looking into my wallet to make sure I don't make "too much" money. It's none of their business. If a job costs $X and you're willing to pay it, who cares how profitable it is for the shop? I doubt anyone is getting rich doing trade work, but if they can make a decent living, I'm OK with that. Why should I worry about their finances? I have something I want done, they can do it. Let's get busy--time is the only thing where I can't buy more.

 

I have also learned that when it comes to interiors, quality really matters. I never used to care about the interior very much, focusing on the external appearance most of all. I think a lot of guys are the same way, given the vast number of cars out there with cut-rate interiors that look like junk. Eventually I realized that I spend ALL my time INSIDE the car. Shabby or incorrect work here bothers me as much as shabby paint work or deteriorated chrome or an engine that misfires. My personal cars all have high-quality, correct interiors and the cars bring me much joy, partially (or even largely) because of this. I don't have to make excuses and it simply looks right. It's also more comfortable--we had a nice early '40s sedan that needed new seat upholstery and the seller had it done by a bargain shop. They used correct fabric, but the upholstery was baggy and the seats were lumpy. Did it hurt the car's value? Maybe. But I know I didn't want the car anymore. As soon as you sat on it, you knew it wasn't right. Can you live with that?

 

My all-time favorite adage applies here just as much as in buying and selling cars: the bargain hunter usually screws himself.

[Hans1965]

34 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

about $2500 for the carpets alone in my 1935 Lincoln. I thought that was a reasonable

That is a fair amount of money just for carpets. Got it, I am greedy. 

 

How do you guys make sure that you get what you have ordered?  You sign a detailed contract with pictures with the details on how is it supposed to look?

 

I thought I am in an ideal situation as I had an original seat.   

[TAKerry]

Greedy and bargain hunting may not be the same. I think everyone wants to think they are being treated fairly inclusive of the person having the work done and the person doing the work. Thats all we can ask of each other. 

 

I built a deck for a fellow a couple of years ago. We had an agreed contract price. We were both happy with the details of the job and the contract itself. My workforce consists of my son and myself. An old guy and an up and comer. This was a rather large deck that we finished in 4 days. When presented with the final invoice (I only bill when the job is complete) the homeowner was a bit disgruntled. His statement was ' I know how much material you used, and the price for that was around X. It was only 2 of you working and you completed the job in only 4 days! I think you are charging me too much and I want a discount'

We busted our humps to have it done in 4 days. The name of the game is making a profit. The quicker/harder we work the more money we make. I did not negotiate as we had an agreed upon contract.

 

My comment to him was, If we had taken 8 or 12 days, would you have felt  bad and paid more money?  I am sure the answer would have been no.

[Matt Harwood]

There's that old joke about the nuclear reactor repair man called in by the Navy to repair a submarine. He comes in, looks over the equipment, taps it once with a hammer, and boom! It's fixed. He submits a bill for $20,000.

 

The Navy accountant is outraged. "All you did was hit it with a hammer! This is completely unreasonable!"

 

The fixer resubmits his bill:

 

Hammer tap to repair reactor: $100

 

40 years of experience to learn exactly where to hit it and how hard: $19,900.

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Back in the 1973 era I had Detroit Diesel Allison as a major account for our foundry.  DDA’s approach to the cost of a pattern and multiple core boxes to be in the $15-18,000 range for just one sand cast Class 30 part.  One day I received a nasty phone call from their Director of Purchasing demanding to know why we quoted the tooling for a modest $9,000 range.  He emphasized that DDA expects the highest quality tooling and will pay accordingly.  Told him we quoted the highest quality, jacked up the price of all current jobs and future jobs in the $19,000.  They paid the increases with no complaints.  Today the same tooling is around $30-35,000.  

[TTR]

This is not rocket science.

Like anything else in rebuilding/restoring any vehicle or its part, the cost is determined by time and materials multiplied by how authentically/correctly/thoroughly it’s done.

 

[bryankazmer]

10 hours ago, Hans1965 said:

That is a fair amount of money just for carpets. Got it, I am greedy. 
 

no, just expecting a better deal than anyone else because…?   Over negotiating the price says that’s what’s really important  , more so than the other things you ask for. I dealt with automotive purchasing people for years