The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Custom Interior Help?

Hi all! My 1957 Chevrolet truck is moving on along, and now that I've painted it, I'm starting work on the interior. Only problem is, I have absolutely ZERO knowledge of interior work!

I'm cheap, and I've elected to do everything myself but I can't seem to find any good guides. I called the only classic custom shop for a ballpark quote but he was too busy and never got back to me. I'm willing to learn sewing and all that, I could just use some guidance.

Basically, I want to cover the doors. I don't want them all metal. Here is the look I want for the doors (disregard all the other stuff): Custom Interior

I am doing a different color scheme, so everywhere on the doors and floor that is red, it will be black, and everywhere in the picture that is black will be a bright blue.

How hard of a project would it be to get doors similar to that? Where could I find the materials? I've googled it a bunch of times whenever I'm not at work, but can't seem to find anything. I may even be biting off more than I can chew, I just don't know it yet!

Any advice, guides, suppliers or whatever you guys can offer would be great because again, total interior noob. Thanks!

any upholstery shop could supply the materials and prolly give you some hints, I'd say vinyl with a bit of padding on thin board of some kind, hidden "plug in" fasteners or fancy screws - check around your area for places that do boat or RV work .... good luck on the learning, but finish the metal work first

Bill

Haha, that RV / Boat idea instantly worked, there's at least 3 right near me. Their websites say Classic Auto Upholstery and Restoration, and yet I had been searching with those terms and got nill! Thanks!

Metal work on the interior is actually done, I'm just shooting the last few coats of paint before I clear coat the dash.

Once I get some quotes, I'll have to decide if I should try it myself or pay for it. It's flat metal all the way down, so it shouldn't be TOO hard. The sewing and fastening + supplies is the scary part for me.

study the doors again, they're not quite "flat metal all the way down", aside from the rumpled pattern below and the ridges on the cover plate, there's the handles to consider, they're quite flush with the existing metal, adding upholstery will need to accommodate all that .... and there doesn't need to be any sewing, contact cement works well, or you might get the shop to make up the fabric cover and work out gluing it on some mounting board yourself

Bill

I got some quotes but they weren't very helpful. One guy quoted 1000$ per door, the other quoted 50$ total. I guess I'll just wait until I can bring the doors in and see what their shop is like. Seems a bit too big of a price difference to take either of them seriously.

you can use the pvc plastic that you buy at lowes in 4x8 sheets to make the door panels it is about 1/16 " thick you can get the trim tabs to hold the pannel to the door at autozone help section. use card board to make the pattern then trace it to the pvc

Interesting idea, and cheap! I like using hard plastic when I can for things like that. No rust, no rot. I'll look into that as well.

Be careful using plastic it's brittle.I think most door panels are made of a hard board like Masonite. $1000 per door what would he use? Gold.
I tried making seat covers years ago on a 67 Camero they came out OK but I wasn't proud of them. Sewing is hard,a lot to know.You will need a heavy duty machine. Not your wife's Singer.

X2 on that. I spent 5 years in a trim shop working my way through school. The boss would not let me sew anything for at least a year and then only repair VW seats which he hated. This was in the 60's. Pros make it look easy but it is not. If you sew your own get lots of practice on everything you can think of, your shop stool, bicycle seat, tractor seat, etc. Do your research, get a good machine, practice, and you will do well. Good luck with the project