1957 Chevy 2 door Hd top

Hey there guys. I thought you guys might like a look at the 57 Chevy I got today. It is a customer's car that I am going to do a full custom interior and trunk. I have done auto upholstery for the past 11 years profesionally. I relocated 1 year ago for my wife's job career, and have since been working just a "job". I have done a few jobs on the side, but this will be the first big one since leaving my previous uphosltery career. I hope to open my own shop in the future.

I'll have to get details on the engine and etc, but it is a sweet car. The owner's name is Mark and is a friend of a friend. I hang out with him at my annual springfield MO car show trip. Mark has had this car since he was in high school and he is now in his 30s. He works at a body shop and it shows. The paint and etc is going on several years old and needs a little touch up here and there, but everything he installs on the car is either new or very nice. Hence the reson he has also been working on it since he was in high school. It is a semi pro street job with tubs and etc. I even had the pleasure of riding in the car as it was photographed and used in HotRod Magazine a few years back on a pro street cruise!

Anyway.. I Kinda have free reign on the interior with the exception of fabric. I am going to use Graphite Rave. The whole interior will be black and Graphite Black. Maybe a little chrome and who knows what. I am not sure if I will do any sculpting in the doors and trunks or go with a more mainstream look. But anyway, here are some pics of it in my garage.

nice looking car, I have ALOT of respect for you "true" upholstery people, doing a full custom interior like that, is alot of work, but looks BAD AZZ once it's all done.
Congrats on the job, and good luck getting the shop up and running again

BTW don't be putting genuine Honda parts on that car

What, you don't think it'd look good with a rice burner honda wing???


I really don't know that it will be too custom as far as fabrication goes, but it sure wont be stock. I'm debating on throwing in just the slightest amount of yellow suede into the seats or something, but not sure on that idea yet. The owner just wants it nice and does not really car how it happens. He has seen my other work and followed me down to my new town from my old one 3 hours away. So that makes you feel good just starting like that!

I think it would take 2 rice wings to go across that trunk

By custom, I mean, not buying a Katzkin kit, and just recovering the seats although, there isn't anything wrong with that, it just seems to remind me of the DIY tint kits on ebay

That's cool, he followed you 3 hours away, having a reputation like that is good

SWEEEEEET!! That car has the same effect that a banana "now and later" has on me .............my mouth waters profusely!!!!!! I LOOOOOOVE the classics!
I always love having them in my shop to work on.











OK......I'll stop now.......

nice car

Badass!!!!
I see you have some old T/A seats in the corner..... I've stretched more than a few skins on those frames....

Front seats in the car look like they're from an Infinity or Lexus..... A nice tuck and roll would look great on that....

BTW, tell him to loose the bug catcher style breather, looks kinda queer....

Good luck with the project, keep postin' your progress....

It's nice when you can start from the bare basics. No having to tie into someone else's brain fart.

That thing looks like the Harrison Ford 57 from American Graffiti, only hopped up on some 'roids.

Rave is going to lay nicely in there. Pleeeeease, if you do any scultping, just make sure you're careful and it doesn't bubble off after a few months. That is so embarrassing for the trade to go through a car show and see the "Gabes" style cut in, glued down pleats and half of them have pulled and bubbled up. I'd rather look at a smooth door panel than that crap.

I like your idea of adding in a splash of yellow. Of course, I'm more on the Kustom side, so I like color. Maybe a single 1" - 2" bar across each seating area, or even some welting in yellow.

So, what are the back seats from? The flip-down console will be a nice added t ouch back there. I extended one out longer on a pair of T-bird seats that were in a Merc. Made it lay all the way out to the edge of the seat base when down, and fit the contours better.

Good luck. Have fun.

First, I aint telling him anything on his car needs to go... Hes a big built guy!

The TA seats are mine out of a 77 TA. I was going to paint the exterior yellow like this 57 and so I incorporated yellow stictching. Here is a pic for kicks and grins. heck a before and after!!

sewing guy... the front seats are a mystery. I am not sure what they are out of. The salvage the owner bought them from told him they were from a firebird, but that is definatly not true. The F-bodys are my hobby!

The rear seat is out of a 57 Pontiac of some type. It had a speaker in the top center and I am going to eliminate that.

Looks good...

Well it has been a little while since I last posted but here are a couple of pics for an update. The headliner was done in a one piece style and although the pics make it look grey, it is very black rave and black imitation suede. The seats were decided to stay simple and incorporate the trunk emblem that looks like a V or triangle, and the doors were flamed. I have a fabricated armrest to install still, but all in all progress is going on.

VERY, VERY, COOL......

Looks good, you've got some talent

awesome

just thought id throw up some more pics. Been kinda busy lately with the kids and christmas, but here are a couple with the finished doors and arm rests and such. The trunk will be all panels and trunk lid. I mostly just have the seats and some side panels to do now.

You freakin guys are awesome. I wish you or Shady were closer. I want some work done for my harley and have a few other projects

Mail me your seat, I'll hook it up and have it back in a flash...

Thanks dude

No problemo....

Tell me what you want, I'll hook it up.

will do

coming along great looks good bro

Well my goal is to have this car done by the end of this week. So I made good progress today on the trunk. Mark decided he wanted all the amps and such to be hidden, so I made panels to box everything in. The rear of the trunk ( behind the rear seat area) is a narrow area located between the wheel tubs. From what I understand, Mark has a bass speaker that looks like a Nos bottle. He painted it up and applied the lables to look like the real deal and it is going to be located in the boxed in area. I think he intends to encase it with clear plexiglass later.. so thats what the boxed area is for

The trunk lid will be covered in the same material and as of tonight, I plan on sculpting the old Chevrolet script that looks like the emblem on the trunk lid.. and also a bow tie. Hopefully tomorrow I can post up a finished pic of that too.

The fit and finish in that trunk is beautiful.....

coming along nicely

So today I got the trunk lid done and also a few panels on the inside ready to cover. I did the package tray also, but really did not like the way it turned out, so I am gonna try a differant route later. I then started on the rear seats. Here is the trunk lid and the rear area inside with the seats out.. By the way, those tubs barely allow for the meaty tires they hide

Very nice looking inner deck lid. I like the script. It really makes the panel pop out at you.

wow

As always... Lookin' good...

Well he picked it up and loved it. Here are some pics of the final results. He is going to build some kind of console to cover or paint and other than that, it is mostly done. Enjoy.

Very nice job took ya long enough though J/K I wish I had some talent like that

looks great dude

nice job

Your right,, It did take me long enough A little back ground. I did the pro upholstery thing for over 10 years and relocated about 1 year ago so my wife could pursue a new career. Since then, Ive been working a reg. job in the daytime and doing some side upholstery work out of my garage. This was the first cull job I have done out of my house and I realized that my time frame extends BIG time with family on the other side of the door that doesn't consider afterhours, a real job But it worked out !!

Glad you all like it.

Nice job dood.
If you ever decide to get back into trimming, look me up...

Thats awesome!!!!!

Nice and clean job. Did you keep track of hours??

Thanks guys. No I did not keep very good track of hours. I kinda wish I had, but I know I have 40+. Long story short, he is a friend of a friend and wanted me to do his car after seeing my TA and a couple of other close friend's cars. He came by the shop where I worked and the owner bid the job. His wife lost her job and he could no longer do it. Fast forward about 2 years and I relocated about 3 hours south of him and he asked me to do it. I explained that it would be out of my home and a little longer time to do the job because of that. I bid it at a fair price and he actually paid me almost a third more than my bid because that is what my previous boss had bid the job at, and he knew I would have been doing the work there anyway.

Needless to say, I wasn't going to charge him any more for extra labor or etc. I just tried to do the best I could for him and I think he loved it. He took a bunch of business cards and has a few guys he's gonna recomend to me. I cant ask for more right now.

In the future though, I think I am going to hang a clip board or something up and sign in and out as I work. With family on the other side of the door, it gets hard to keep track of my time.

Dude, awesome work and awesome attitude

LOVE the seats as well as the rest of your work