1964 International TravelAll Ambulance

Why does everyone feel a need to re-upholster everything in that cheap 1980s velour?? It's really not difficult or expensive to find/use period-correct materials!!
 
Why does everyone feel a need to re-upholster everything in that cheap 1980s velour?? It's really not difficult or expensive to find/use period-correct materials!!

Unfortunately not everyone is into period correct items/materials.
I have a neighbor who is in the process of restoring a 1954 Mercedes Gullwing,one of 670 made.....it was handed down to him from his father...he has spent 175K on paint and body,tires,glass..another 85k on engine (Back to factory stock/specs)...and now he is doing the interior and when i saw him last week-end he asked me to look at his material choices...he was looking at $35.00 a yard stuff !!!...I told him to step it up a bit and his reply was " Well I dont know...that leather is soooo expensive" HUH?? did I miss something here??...he is looking at a 1.5 MILLION dollar car and is being cheap on the last IMPORTANT detail........I dont get it.....:eek::confused:
 
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I have an excellent upholstery guy that has always done my work both antique and late model he is 80 now so picks his work. That said he told me years ago he could never understand a customer wanting vinyl instead of leather or the wrong cloth and so on. As he said "its the same labor cheap or correct and cheap comes back to bite you when you sell". The guy with the 300SL MB needs mental help.
 
….and leather really isn't that much more expensive than vinyl, if you are willing to shop around a little. I have bought a fair number of full leather hides from a Tandy Leather outlet store in Ft. Worth very inexpensively. There are a good number of upholstery shops that won't do anything in leather anymore. Those aren't the shops that you would want doing your work anyway.
 
Sewing leather requires a very strong sewing machine, and you only get one chance to get it right. If you make a mistake with leather, it can get costly to make another piece. Also, matching hides is a tedious job in order to keep the grain looking correct. The nice thing about leather, is that if you take care of it, it will last the life of the vehicle.
 
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