Has anyone had their entire interior redone? Im wondering roughly how much it is for all new leather and if they have done it themselves.

Ive priced some kits out online, and for materials alone its well above $2k (and the prices only go up from there). I was hoping to find something for less. I dont really feel like screwing up some nice leather hides, but if someone has done it and they felt it was fairly easy to do it themselves than I would definitely do that and save some labor costs.

 

I've recovered a couple sets of seats. If I recovered another half dozen I might get pretty good at it :-).

My experience is that it's more art than science. It's very frustrating getting the padding just right, knowing when to stretch the material and where not to, tucking the corners "just so", etc etc. In the end I'd say the results were decent but not perfect by any means. I simply haven't yet developed the knack for that kind of work.

If it comes up again I'd be very tempted to pay an experienced pro to install the new covers. It's a shame to spend $2000-$3000 on new leather covers and end up with only a "decent" result.

If you wanna DIY I'll add that new foam is an absolute must.

Others will chime in....probably reporting better luck than I had.

The rest of the interior work is much easier. Carpets, recovering door panels, and such.

Cheers
DD

 

That is a good point and something I considered. I wasnt sure how easy it would be, and if I could do it.

Trying to save money where I can, but its never worth cutting corners.

 

Hey Alex, just a thought here, but is it worth checking around Ebay / similar for maybe later versions that have been written off etc etc but have an immaculate interior??
I'm sure they must be out there somewhere, see them on "wheeler dealers" picking up write offs with excellent interiors / wheels etc for £500+.....If you can get one with a really good interior that you'd like it could prove a winner? Especially as there'd be other parts available for salvage I'm guessing.........as I said, just a thought Alex

 

Yeah, I periodically check ebay and salvage websites. They seem to have various bits of interior trim. I have yet to find a full Vanden Plas set of seats. Ive thought of just starting with one seat then add more as I come across them, but the trouble would be having some that are in similar shape.

Who knows maybe Ill get lucky

 

By the way Wheeler Dealers is a FANTASTIC show! Its really inspirational and helpful when it comes to fixing cars economically but well

 

+1 Alex....I love it and have it set on Sky+ so I never miss a show.....Ed China rocks

As for the interior, I guessed someone who sounds as switchoed on as you are was probably looking at that scenario.....but sometimes you just gotta state the obvious

Good luck in your hunt

 

Here in the states we get the older ones on one of the discovery channels (I think its Discovery HD)

But for the new ones I have to resort to youtube.

Thanks Im definitely keeping my eyes peeled!!

 

Hey Alex,

I completed the interior with a little more than $400 for materials on the seats, headliner and visors. I added my own touch to the seats, black pipping and a simulated burl wood center vinyl. I did check ebay often but only found one place for custom "covers" You would still need to remove seats and do minor sewing and foam replacement with those. I think they were $300. Replacement leather was simply out of my cost range.

I went to a shop that restored furniture and picked out my materials after I measured the seats. I did a sketch and took photos and the shop helped me in my ordering. They were very helpful and understood that I was going to be doing this myself. Custom car shops around my area were not as helpful and wouldnt even consider the jaguar for under 2K.

I started by removing the rear seats, removing the leather and de-stiching the pannels. The leather was still very good along the sides and under the cushion. I ended up reusing all my side pannels. Then I traced out the seats and backs, I added 1/2" all the way around. I did add 3/4" medium density foam to add a little bit of softness. The foam padding was in great shape, but the shop did have different foam that could be used to reshape the seats.

I added black piping and purchased this from the same store. Its just foam tubing that you wrap the black vinyl, I pre-sewed all of the piping first. Normally its just laid in during stiching your two pieces together. I wasnt able to keep it together as I sewed so I kinda sewed it first so it was less to deal with.

Front seats were next, I was never able to remove the drivers seat, two bolts I just couldnt reach. Same deal for the front. I reused all my leather side pannels and back pannel thus leaving the pockets in place.

Since I had the seats out I removed the sagging headliner, the frame, sunroof and all the trim. During removal of the trim, many of the pieces broke and cracked. Instead of buying replacements I simply covered all with extra vinyl I had and thus adding to the color matching. I didnt cut fabric headliner material that I purchased at the furniture shop. They offered colors of fabrics that worked well with 3m glue. I left the material on the roll that it came in sprayed the frame, rolled it out and smoothed it down as I went, all the overlap was trimmed and I applied a heavy brushed on glue on the back edge overlapping in hopes that the extra heavy bond on the unseen side would keep that thing up for another 20 years. I used the same fabric to make covers for my sun visors and sewed them with the same black vinyl.

This took just over 6 weeks, I took my time, made sure the spool of thread was full before I started each run. I only did simple pleats and no center seam on the seats as this was only a point of failure on the originals.
Alex, this was a big job, more than I thought it. I had a job working as a tent maker when I was in high school so I did have a little training in sewing, but this is why custom shops charge so much. That was a lot of hours totaled up.

http://s1087.photobucket.com/albums/j480/eight7/

Im happy with the look, I havent received much feedback. What do you think?

 

It looks like your interior turned out quite nice! Unfortunately for me I dont know how to sew. So it looks like Ill be enlisting the help of a shop or a friend to help.

I do think I will do as you did for my headliner though. Thanks for your detailed response! It was really helpful!!