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Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 18 Mar 2016 07:43
by subwoffers
Hello,

Was wondering if anyone knows of any decently priced Upholstery guys to redo the vinyl seats in my car. Been quoted about $1,500 to redo my three tiny seats in my 1000.

Anyone I should ring up?

Cheers

Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 18 Mar 2016 10:06
by bertvorgon
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Fiji+I ... c4!6m1!1e1

This is who James and I use. He re-did my race seat to my specs, totally happy with quality.

Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 18 Mar 2016 11:31
by subwoffers
Thanks, that's one of the guys I talked to. I can't really tell if $1,500 is high or low. Mind if i ask how much you paid for your one seat?

Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 18 Mar 2016 13:17
by bertvorgon
I just looked back in my records, he charged me 450.00. This was a complete re-foaming of the seat, fixing the seat belt guides, and, helping to determine where I wanted some extra lumbar support. He also supplied me with an appropriate piece of the seat material first, so I could get the Turbo Turtle embroidery done, then he recovered the seat with new material.

I cannot fault anything he did. He even matched the original red trim just like it was originally.

Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 18 Mar 2016 16:03
by subwoffers
Thanks for the info. I'll check them out.

Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 19 Mar 2016 06:33
by zKars
Good lord, is that a Paddy Hopkirk seat Keith? Memories! I loved how that thing felt to drive in. And the laughs generated from letting friends try to crawl in and watching them get tangled up getting legs under the steering wheel!

Thanks for having it re-done and keeping it alive. The upholstery workmanship looks great.

Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 19 Mar 2016 08:51
by bertvorgon
That’s right! Back in the Boundry Bay days, we had HUGE sweepers across the width of the runway, so as tire technology ramped up, it did not take long to figure out that something better than the stock seat was needed to counter G-force.

You cannot use the steering wheel to hold yourself in the seat, and I was trying to keep myself from sliding into the passenger seat. The quest was on, finally deciding on the Paddy Hopkirk as it was NARROW enough for my small frame.

This seat has had major mods over the years. The side bolsters originally went straight down, interfering with my elbows during violent slalom maneuvers. We cut those out and made up the bent ones. As I fined tuned my seating position, I made a new seat cushion with more lift for my thighs, thus getting my feet in the right position. You don’t want to be trying to hold your legs up either.

The Paddy Hopkirk has a very solid frame, both as the main structure and where the seat bottom is, so, it was easy to weld some cross bars on, then mounted the stock 510 sliders onto it.

I also moved the seat belt guides down, again as I was quite thin and need the belts to really be across my hip bones.
Besides tidying things up on this last go round, putting newer denser foam in there has sure brought back what was a very comfortable seat, for our long, 12 hour days in the saddle.

So, when you are buying a seat, there are a lot of things you should be thinking of, one of which is surface texture. A slippery type is really no good if you drive hard. You want something that has good grip. Take the time to sit in it and play with lifting the front, to see what support you get under your thighs. You want to have some bend in your elbows, not straight arm when you drive, this way you will have some good leverage in corners. And then of course is the lateral support, more important for your bottom than the side of your chest in my opinion.

Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 19 Mar 2016 11:54
by McShagger510
Yeah talk to John at Fiji and him James sent ya. Awesome quality at a great price! Been using this shop for years on all kinds of projects, always happy. :mrgreen:

James
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Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 19 Mar 2016 22:43
by Byron510
Another guy to talk to is James at Klassic Thredz, based out of Abbotsford.
I have use his for both headliners and seat upholstery on the Greg Terry car. He seemed to have access to an incredible resource of fabrics and materials. And in the end his work was absolutely top notch and on time within his quoted price. One can't argure with that! He also did the entire interior of Ralph D's VG30 car, and recently worked on Glen B's 2 dr here locally - did an awesome job on both. And to boot he is a great guy to talk to and do business with.

Another option for you.

Byron

Re: Local Upholstery Guys?

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 22:04
by dcuplover
there are a couple guys in the local VW scene that do fantastic work. Their work has made it into magazine quality cars many times. PM if you want their numbers.