Gen I leather/vinyl kits, anyone interested?

[excidere]

Next week I am going to begin work on re-covering my seats in vinyl, in the Gen I.. if enough people are interested I would be willing to layout a pattern and begin making kits for the gen I for you to install yourself.

We would be willing to do contrasting threads in the stiching and colored vinyl inserts for very little extra. All kits will be make with quality marine/automotive grade vinyl... However if you want leather or leather inserts the kit would more expensive due to the cost of the materials. 800 shipped is the current estimate, we wont really have a good idea till we finish the kit for my gen I. We would need about 10 people to make it worth the time and effort.

The setup of my car, and the pattern we could make would be for the gen I with:
Both powered front buckets
Solid rear seat with fold down armrest

Anyone Interested?

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

So, is the $800 estimate for vinyl or leather?

 

[DDakRT]

Don't Katzkins have a kit for the gen I as well?

 

[excidere]

Price is for vinyl, and Katzkin does not have a kit for the gen I, atleast not one that my shop can buy... otherwise I would be buying one from them instead of sewing one ... besides most katzkin kits are usually pretty loose fitting...

edit: and if you ordered a kit from Katzkin it would be trimmed in leather, meaning only the inserts would be leather the rest vinyl. Todays manufacturing produces a great quality vinyl that from the top side is difficult to distinguish from leather... and the reason for the price is that this is a 100% custom job pretty much that would take about two full work days to sew one kit (with a pattern made up). Plus we would be doing this on the side on top of our regular work load...

 

[SolidState]

In most cases, I would rather have vinyl than the leather that is in my price range, or for that matter....what originally came in the SHO...

Either way, once yo have your interior complete, I would like to see how it has turned out. I'd like to redo my 94, but I'd likely start with some Gen 1 seats...

 

[excidere]

Honestly I would be willing to make the kit in whatever materials/colors you want, I'm doing silver/gray suede inserts with black vinyl and it is not much more expensive than vinyl.

 

[SolidState]

I was thinking the exact same thing, actually. I want black seats with dark gray suede inserts.

keep me posted. I am considering adding seat heaters at the same time.

 

[excidere]

I was thinking the exact same thing, actually. I want black seats with dark gray suede inserts.

keep me posted. I am considering adding seat heaters at the same time.

I should be able to provide seatheaters as well if you think you could install them...

Quick update: Working on the pasenger front, so far it looks pretty good, I am working on a pattern at the moment so nothing is sewn togeather yet... I think the adjustable side bolsters might be a little difficult for the novis to cover so I am thinking about setting up an instructional website... anyways hopefully I'll get some pics next week.

 

[SolidState]

righto....

I used to build teh seats for a Grand Prix, Regal, Century, and Impala, so I have a good grasp what needs to be done.

 

[Minnesho]

What brand vinyl are you using? when i ran my upholstry shop we used whisper, which was a leather imitation, very high quality. I think the other brand was horizons, both were very nice. The seats in my camaro were donw with whisper.

 

[excidere]

*update*

Finally got some slow time at the shop and started this thing, so far so good. I have pretty good faith that any person with basic automotive savvy should be able to install their own covers. I am going to post a website, with detailed pictures and instructions. You will need a set of hogring plyers and some hogrings, those can be had at any trim shop for less than 20 bucks.

We are using a high grade vinyl (not sure on the brand) it is the best I could find here local, I think it is great (otherwise I wouldn't be using it in my car). I'm doing solid with perf inserts, I toyed with the idea of suede but real suede is almost 90 bucks a yard which would greatly increase the price of the kit. Imitation suede can be had but I am unsure of the durablilty.

The best price estimate right now is about 900 shipped, that is for vinyl with whatever color stiching you want. For leather or suede the price will probably be closer to 1200-1300 b/c both are pretty darn expensive. We will offer a price break if you can get say 5 or so people togeather at the same time that want a kit. I probably will want something up front to cover some of the materials cost.

The pricing may seem a little high but I have talked it over with charlie, and for the amount of labor going into sewing a complete kit we see it as fair. This is not a Katzkin kit made in China, this is a kit made by a SHO owner, specifically for the SHO with combined of almost 17 years of experience... anyways if anyone is still interested I am planning on having pics up here by the end of next week, of the finished passenger seat and what it looks like wrapped on.

 

[SolidState]

will this include the head rest? and will there be the option for a different coloured insert?

I personally would like non-perforated dark grey inserts on black seats...

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Awesome. I look forward to updates an pictures!

Do I smell a Group Buy??!!

BTW, I too would prefer NON-perf inserts.

 

[IT-Purrrs]

This sounds great. I would be interested in the vinal and leather conbination because I could not find very good black leather seats for my '90, and once I was quoted for $3300 for re-covering the two front seats.

 

[excidere]

yes non perf/different color inserts would be no big deal, other than it might be kinda hard for me to get an exact color for you, one of the things you can do is get an idea off of the katzkin website, I have vinyl samples at the shop from them so I could match it up off of that.

Yes we are going to be making the headrests aswell. It will be a complete kit with both fronts and the back seat.

And we are using Spradling Softside automotive vinyl for the seats
http://www.samplemakers.com/productads/marinevinyl01.html

Today we tweaked on the pattern a little bit to get the covers to fit just right, hopefully by tuesday we will have it all completed with pics, that is if the shop stays slow *crosses fingers*

 

[Jarrod]

Sounds awesome man. Where in Oklahoma are you located? I'd be VERY interested in seeing the recovered seats in person, since my '89 is hurting for some new covers..

 

[platoribs]

What about Gen 2?

Would you consider doing this for the Gen 2 SHO's? If so I (and probably a lot of others) would possibly be interested.

 

[SHO Continental]

Would you consider doing this for the Gen 2 SHO's? If so I (and probably a lot of others) would possibly be interested.

katzkins makes gen2 kits in leather for cheaper.

 

[K-Dawg]

Yeah I'd be interested in a set for Gen 2 seats. Would cloth centers be an option?

 

[excidere]

Prolly not gen II, just because Katzkin can do it for cheaper with their awesome buying power and Malaysian labor. I am only doing the gen I because their is nothing avalible for it and we figured I was not the only one in need of covers

As far as cloth inserts we could do but again it would be verry difficult for me to match exactly the grain and colors and such.

Jarrod: I am located in Oklahoma City, pm if you would be interested in stopping by.

Today we had to do a Civic and a Megacab so I didnt get to work on the fronts any at all.