Hi, I am looking to find a good, relaible, and reasonable, upholsterer to completely re-upholster my 1942 series 6719. Hopefully I can find one in the Seattle, Tacoma area or even Portland Oregon?
Any leads will be appreciated.
Gary Griffin
garygriffin@Q.com
253 838 9900
SMS, a well know supplier of original type upholstery fabrics, is in your area:
SMS Auto Fabrics
350 South Redwood St.
Canby, OR 97013 (Map)
Phone: (503) 263-3535
Fax: (503) 263-3525
Mon-Fri 8:30-5:00 PST
They don't do upholstery work, but I'm sure they could recommend a shop
in the area that does reputable work. BTW, heard many good reports about
their fabrics, vinyls & leather that they supply -- in case you don't yet have
your materials.
Mike
I've used SMS three times and their fabric is fantastic, I can't , however, say the same about their service.
Phil
Phil:
First of all, let me say that I have no stock in SMS or any interest.
However, what they supply (reproductions of vintage materials) is
a tough business. I had some experience in my former life in the
textile / leather industry. Scheduling relatively small runs of a special
custom product with a leather or textile mill is extremely difficult as to
timing. They'll promise you a one month delivery but when they get
"busy" with a long run of material to load their plant your order gets
pushed to the back of the line.
This is part of SMS's difficulty -- promising and keeping a delivery date
and keeping the customer happy. I'm not excusing the problem, just
wanting to give some background.
Mike
Thanks for the insight, Mike. I'm sure they do the best they can and life has a habit of happening. thanks, Jeff in CT
Gary,
Jenkins interiors has some kits that are pre-made. I'm almost certain that he has at least a complete trunk kit for your car. He's on the east coast (one of the Carolinas). I got a kit from him for my 41 coupe and you can easily install it yourself and save some $. There are also pre-cut headliners and kick panels out there and high quality carpets that are pre-sewn. Getting this stuff, whether you install it or not will save you some bucks and time when you find a local upholsterer as that should only leave the seats and the door panels and package tray to cut, sew and install. Just fyi...I'm assuming you have the glass out of the car. You should leave it that way until the headliner is installed. It will make that job much easier and faster and again should save you money and time. With all of that said, my upholstery guy (a good friend of mine who has done other cars for me) won't be able to get my seats and headliner done before Nationals, so while I'll be going, along with my wife and Rick Payton (and his 58 brougham), my 41 will not make it. I'll get it done this summer, but it will have some driving miles on it by the time next year's Nationals roll around. I've really busted my tail on this car to get it done in under a year...bummer.
Ken Karrer 1941 6227 D coupe
Mike,
Thanks, but I need to private message you about this. I am happy to put my experience on the forum, but I realise it may be removed. Credit where credit is due - I can't fault their fabrics, but when I ordered and paid up front for my door panels is where my problems began......
Phil
Phil, I had the same experience. It took about 1 year to have the door panels ready; however I have to say that once delivered, the final result was excellent.
Roger, it took a bit over a year, but it was a lot more than the time taken that was the problem. My door panels are good but there is one major detail that they got wrong.
Phil
Oups Phil! As they never do a mistake (I got 2 wrong headliners), I can imagine the problem.