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48 Chevy Coupe Interior

6K views 15 replies 5 participants last post by  H_A_S_R 
#1 ·
I am at the point of doing my interior of my 48 and am looking for ideas for my color combinations and anything else I may have forget in this thread. The exterior color of the car is Charcoal, interior dash and all the interior window trim is the same. I will be using Roddoors interior door panels (Hollywood AR) with there molded armrests and will probally modify them to house speakers & a map pocket (hopefully the speaker and map pocket will be all molded as a single unit (suggestions or possibly know of a current vehicle that I can get this from and modify it to fit). The seats are coming out of a 99 GrandPrix 2dr Coupe (front & back) current seats are leather and camel color, doesnt mean they are going to stay that way. I will also be making a center console. I have a friend that used to do apholstery years ago and has agreed to help me when he is around, currently his job keeps him n the road usually about 3 months at a time, currently he are expecting to start his end the end of december, from now till then I am trying to get things layed out. I have seen his past work as well as helped him back when he had his apholstery shop. My current thought on the door panels is possibly multicolored, not sure at this point as the door panels and seats are all due to come in today. Somewhat current pictures of the project are located in this thread http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=777355 I am not looking for the easiest route to go, I am not interest in exotic materials like snake skin, Iguanna belly patterns etc. Material considerations are ultra leather, vinyl, Cloth, wood, carbon fiber. I am planning on keeping this car, it is not going to be a trailer queen, I am building the car as somewhat of a show car and will be driven as a cruiser. I am sure there will be more discussion as I proceed with this. Sorry if this post is a little long.

Headliner:
Door Panels:
Carpet:
Seats:
 

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#2 ·
Are you sure that's a '48? I have one too, and the grille is a lot different. I suppose it's possible mine had the grille replaced at some point.

My only suggestion would be that you use lighter colors on the interior because of the darker color of the exterior. Also, Ultra leather is great to work with and looks fabulous, so if you can afford it, use it over vinyl. Good luck.
 
#3 ·
DanTwoLakes said:
Are you sure that's a '48? I have one too, and the grille is a lot different. I suppose it's possible mine had the grille replaced at some point.

My only suggestion would be that you use lighter colors on the interior because of the darker color of the exterior. Also, Ultra leather is great to work with and looks fabulous, so if you can afford it, use it over vinyl. Good luck.
It is deffinately a 48, the grill is minus the center peice, the original was badly damaged and didnt like that peice in it, the car was completely original and only two previous owners. I actually prefer the 46 grill, but at the same time I wanted to keep the car somewhat looking orginal in appearance.

Ultra leather was my orginal thought, but over vinyl? I have built many cars, trucks and motorcycles and for the most part I have always kept the interior to pretty much simplified stock so I am not really experience with apholstery, that will be my buddys part when he is around and ready to sew.
 
#7 ·
I'm bad, I forgot that I havent updated my project pictures in a while, Dan, it still could be a 48 grill, the only difference between the two is the center piece, here is a good pic of a 48 grill setup. I like the 47 layout much better. If you wanting to see a bunch of 46-48 pics, checkout my48chevy.com, he must have about 300 pics.
 

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#9 ·
You need to find a local supplier with a good reputation. Ask your local upholstery shops where they get their leather. Do not buy closeouts. You want full grain leather. You will need about 10 hides to do the entire interior. A hide is equal to about 3 yards of fabric. The headliner eats up large pieces in a hurry.
 
#10 ·
DanTwoLakes said:
Do not buy closeouts.
This man speaks the truth! I just posted in another thread about being careful purchasing leather. If leather is on closeout or is discounted for some reason or another, there is a reason why. Probably because they are seconds. They might not have consistency in the grain, they may be loaded up with scars, they may be too thin in certain areas, the colors might vary from hide to hide, they might be super stiff. I once did an interior years ago that the customer provided me with "super nice" Caddilac leather that he purchased. There was a reason Caddilac didn't use this leather in there cars.....this stuff was so stiff, I probably would have had an easier time covering his interior in construction paper. Ever since then, I am super picky about the leather we use at the shop.
 
#11 ·
Shawn is absolutely correct, all leather is not the same. A good, high quality, full grain hide will not be cheap. It will also make a fabulous, soft, comfortable car seat. I did an interior on a '49 Packard and when I delivered the car, the guy also had the most gorgeous '38 Packard convertible you've ever seen. Cream colored exterior with a black top and black leather interior. Turns out that the guy who owned it originally had owned a shoe company and had the seats done out of leather shoe blanks from his factory, which are very thick. I pitied the poor guy who got that job.
 
#12 ·
Thanks Dan,
I am not looking for the cheapway out, I have invested quite heavily into this project and just looking for sources for materials and pricing. The local guy in the next town can do good work when he wants to but he is way too unpredictable about the job your gonna get, he has some bad habits that usually dictate when he needs money and how bad he needs it dictates usually how the work is gonna turn out (usually half-a55ed). The next guy around is a 30 mile one way trip and preffers doing OEM work and I just saw a 37 Buick that he did the headliner in and wasnt impressed. Most guys I know in the area that have nice interiors have usually purchased the car aready done or shipped the work out to another state. I just got off of the phone with the guy that is going to do the aphostery work and tells me that he has enough material in light grey and charcoal to do my whole interior and will give me a real descent price on the lot, I will be stopping down tomorrow to check out what he has. After discussions of interior color with my wife we both agreed that medium graphite would make a real nice choice.
 
#13 ·
`99 GrandPrix seats??

Hi,

I too am building a Chevy coupe (`47). I am looking for a seat that fills the rear seat area. On most street rods I've built (`35-`40 Fords), Grand Am seats work well. However, I built a `48 Chevy coupe using the same seats, and the rear seat was narrower than I would've liked. Do the Grand Prix seats fill the area better??

John
 
#14 ·
I am using a seat out of a 2003 Chevy Monte Carlo in my '48 coupe that is exactly the right width (56"). It will require some modification for the seat bottom because it sat right on the floor of the Monty which would be too low in the '48.
 
#15 ·
The GP seat requires some deffinate mods to make it work, I havent had much time since this posting of working on my 48, the Apolsterer that is to do my 48 is going to redo the orginal rear seat to look like the front GP buckets. He is supposed to start on it the end of this month. Oh, in case your all wondering I have been working on a 50 Chevy Coupe that my 16 year old son picked up, the interior will have to be re-done in it as well but it will be one of the last things to be done. The orginal 216 was in it but is coming out and being replaced by a modified Chevy 250 with 3 dueces.
 
#16 ·
Rear Seat Mods

When I installed the Grand Am rear seat in my last coupe, I had to build a framework under it. I don't have any good pics of it, but basically I built a 1" square tube frame that held the front of the seat up approximately 3" off the floor. I designed the frame so that the seat fit over it so it was supporting the cushion, not the edge of the seat. Under the seating area itself, I used 16 gauge flat steel to support the passengers and give the seat a "base". It wasn't hard to do, but took some time to give the seat the right support...
 
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