Featured

Oldsmobile Not So Old and Sad Thanks to New Foam and Fabrics- Better than Factory!

This 2-door Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Coupe’s interior fabrics can only be sourced from USA. A combination of NOS and remade cloth and vinyl has helped to make this Oldsmobile feel like a holiday car again. The seat foam that has been wrapped up in BOTH factory trim and retrim presented itself as tumeric powder by the time we stripped EVERYTHING back. There was enough “tumeric” to make a wedding banquet!

Regarding foam: Factory used a combination of what appeared to be polyfoam (that has become tumeric powder), and blanket-like filling/padding (not quite crêpe-thin, but not plesant to sit on either). The “blanket” used in the front backrests is flat and compressed (maybe this was considered or felt plush and luxurious in the 50s?), and we replaced it by making up a new foam kit using Dunlop foam. Mock up seat skins for BOTH front and rear were then developed over the new foam already fitted onto the factory seats. We then made the actual seat skins.

Featured

Valiant VG 770 Sedan Leather Interior

  • The VG seats have had some springs made to replace broken and fatigued ones.
  • The reclining mechanisms also needed to be thoroughly serviced to be made functional again after this many years.
  • All new foam has been made according to factory spec for all front and rear seats.
  • The original seats were done in vinyl from factory and were glued down to foam instead of hog ringed using listing wires. In order to change to leather, extra listing wires were used during fitment.
  • Headrests and dickie seat were also refoamed.
  • Door trims were done in matching leather. Factory used plastic chrome strips which could not be re-used. To recreate the chrome strips, we used aluminium strips.
  • A number of interior parts were recovered in matching leather, such as arm rests, parcel shelf etc.

NZ VJ Charger with Leather Seats in VK Style

Since moving back to NZ we have been busy bees. In a recent trip to Whakatane and Opotiki to see family, and a customer to whom we supplied complete leather seats to a few years ago, we had the pleasure of seeing this customer’s NZ VJ Charger in person.

This VJ Charger’s interior is fitted with reclinable seats that we retrimmed in cow leather, and vinyl door trims done by Richard Kirby from Gore.

It is our absolute joy to see our customer being so happy with his interior. As a huge bonus, we found out this interior won an award this year!

Valiant VH Hardtop

This is a new model for us, so we’re very excited. As development is needed to make and test the new foam and ensure new seat skins fit like a pair of gloves, we can only work on development jobs in the background. These jobs take us longer as we must have access and reference to the original seats. This is the only way to ensure everything is done right and well. This page will be updated as we progress.

Customer’s original tan interior, which will be changed to a black vinyl interior.

One of the issues that the customer has spotted is how saggy the backseat is when his grandchildren sit in it. Bad / worn out foam and/or potentially broken / fatigued seat springs. This will be inspected when we strip the back seat down.

VH hardtop front seat patterns getting made:

One of the issues we have spotted in the front seats is that we can feel the metal of the seat. This indicates that over time, the foam and skin have shrunk so much so that the foam is essentially crêpe. The seat skin hugs and wraps around the seat as if it were fitted over bare frame, without much in the way of cushioning / padding. What should have been 25mm thick foam when new, for example, would look about 10mm thick by the time we strip the seat down and inspect the foam. This is why we find it extremely inaccurate and pointless to copy from shrunk vinyl skins. Fitting that back onto seats means you will either have to use old foam, or deliberately use a smaller / slimmer foam kit.

Inspections of the factory foam show what’s lacking:

Valiant VH hardtop seat: common problem shared by seats of this age is that you can feel the metal frame through the trim. Foam padding is virtually non-existant, and the seat skin is not reliable to copy from.

This part of seat foam breaks down more quickly from wear due to the lack of foam.
The edge wire of the seat has also cut through the foam.

Door Cards:

Meanwhile, we’ll be sourcing the backing panels for these door cards. The door trims will be recreated using a sewing machine. So the heat pressed stitches from factory will be real stitches. Door trim backing panels will also get test fitted to the actual doors before the door trims get made.

To be continued…

NZ Suppliers, and NZ Made VH Pacer Seat Foam Kits

We’re so happy with our move back to NZ! It’s been a much bigger and more difficult move than anticipated, but all is done now.

Suppliers

So happy we met in person with our new Auckland suppliers. Both Reid&Twiname, (NZ distributor for Novatext) and Textiles Direct (NZ distributor for Daleys) are wonderful in helping us obtain materials that are similar to what we used to buy in Melbourne. For rare / specially ordered factory materials, we would still be sourcing direct from the USA supplier, SMS Auto Fabrics.

NZ Made Foam Kits

We thought it might be good to show some shots of the foam types that we now use. Any feedback is welcome. If there’s special requests regarding how soft or firm you want your seats, we may be able to accommodate as there is a very decent selection of foam.

Supply Runs and Whatnot…

We would be doing supply runs to Auckland approximately two times a month, and would be able to pick up, deliver seats/interior parts, and/or bring you samples to check against your seats etc. Feel free to get in touch to arrange a meet 🙂

Thank you for your support, patience and understanding.

Ying & Richard