1973 Custom Cruiser

Thanks for the advice!

 

Red, purple/wine and browns are the worse for fading faster than other colours.

 

Front seat comes back from the upholsterer tomorrow. It'll be exactly four weeks since I dropped it off. Carpeting is getting fully installed (cut and fit) this weekend. Hope to have all seats back in by the middle or end of next week.

 

progress

Got the reupholstered front seat back from the upholsterer on Thursday (two days ago), four weeks to the day that I brought it over to him. He did a great job. Photo below. He was able to re-use the five bar-shaped "buttons" that go across the seat back to keep the look consistent with the second and third seats, which were not in need of new upholstery. Everything else is new, including the headrests. Can't tell it from the original.




For comparison, here's the only photo I have of the front seat in the condition it was in when I acquired the car. This photo was actually taken by the former owners and was included among the ones posted when they were selling the car. Except for the big rip on the driver's side, it wasn't that bad, although the stitching was getting stretched, and problems would have cropped sooner rather than later once the car would start being driven more. So I went for an entirely new upholstery job. Well worth it.



Of course, now having the seat in my garage once again has motivated me to get the carpet, which I had loosely installed a few weeks ago, fully cut and trimmed. Here's photos of both the rear area and looking towards the front. Not a whole lot different from the earlier photos in this thread, but the sides have been trimmed and the holes cut for the seat belt bolts, underseat wiring, dimmer switch, and seat hold-down hardware. I haven't yet put in the "Body by Fisher" sill plates. I figure I'll do that last as some last-minute trimming might be needed once the seat belt bolts and all the rest are in.




One comment about the rear-most carpet. The front and center came pre-cut and molded, but I needed to buy a separate, plain piece for the third seat area. I took this yardage plus the old third-seat carpet to the same fellow who did the front seat, and he cut and sewed it using the original as a pattern, and he went further and gave it a bit of of a tiered look. I think it looks about 10 times better than the original.



Yes, I understand that the new carpet does not match the carpet trim low on the doors or the front kick panels. One of these days I'll buy a yard of this carpet and fix those areas.


I've reinstalled the underseat hardware for the front seat (it's a power seat), and tomorrow the seat will go in. Then, for the first time in about five weeks, I'll be able to start the engine and drive it.

 

The cargo carpet is always a challenge. Sure looks mighty fine.

TWO dash ashtrays? You could go for a week without emptying them!

 

Just three days for me! Yes, this car is from a different time in that regard. The "cigar" lighter actually has a lighter.

Nowadays you don't actually get a lighter in the socket. It just has a plastic cover over it and is called a "power point." In fact, I've read and heard that in many instances, you couldn't use the 12V outlet as a lighter even if you went to the store and bought an aftermarket one. The housings and so forth of the outlets are not built to withstand the heat generated by the lighter heating element. If you want to light up in an late-model car, you'll need a match.

 

I'm doing some mods in mine, and thinking of adding a 'power point' in the cargo area. I've got a couple of vintage 12 V plugin items like a webber compressor and a long cabled hand-held lamp (great for chicken wiring the muffler back up ) or changing a flat, at nite.

 

it's finally done

Before I show the photos of the completed interior, I have to make just one comment. I hate seat belt bolts. I hate them with the white hot passion of 1000 burning suns.


There. That feels better.


Got the front seat bolted back in last night. Put the rear seats back in and reattached all the seat belts today.

Looks damn good.


Still have to put the rear of the interior back together, but that was taken apart by the previous owner, so that'll take a little figuring on where every part goes. At the least the front half is presentable, and the interior doesn't smell like old oil anymore.

 

Looking good... and an inspiration too; I have a new carpet for the Wagon waiting here to be installed... only thinking of the seat belt bolts alone kept me from starting the job

 

I don't know if you're serious or not, but I find removing seat belt bolts nothing short of quick journeys through hell. SOMETIMES they'll come right out, IF you can get any kind of good leverage on them. Mine took the star-shaped socket, and even with those six teeth, I still managed to round one out while another one wouldn't budge. In the first case, I was able to actually get a grip on it with a pair of vice-grips and get it to move. But for the non-budging one, I ended up having to drill it out and the tap new threads for a new screw. It's slightly smaller diameter than the original bolt, but I think it will work just fine.

At least THESE bolts would move. When I went to remove the old rear belts in my '67 Delta 88, I had to resort to an impact wrench. These bolts didn't have the star-shaped socket. They were just hex-heads, but they were deliberately rounded slightly on the edges, and the bolt heads themselves didn't stick up very far. I'm sure both of these are by design so that they are difficult to remove. The impact wrench loosened three of the four, but the fourth one was hopeless, and I ended up drilling and tapping a new hole through the flange of the original seat belt bolt weld nut. Again, not factory, but there was still plenty of metal in which to tap the threads.

The thing about seat belts is that, once you deal with them for whatever reason, you hopefully will not have to deal with them again on the same car for the remainder of your lifetime!

 

Absolutely serious about it... broke 2 (expensive) torque bits on the seat belt bolts in my Riviera.
Later I found out the bolts where accessible from under the car... once I cleaned the threads there and heated them up a bit one of the bolts came out...the other I had to drill.
The same 'bolts anxiety' gets over me when thinking about the fact I have to take off the exhaust manifolds soon, due to leaking gaskets... soaked them in oil already

 

But aren't they still pretty hard to get at? I know there's just welded nuts under there that they thread into, but they're on the transmission hump, so you've got to get at them around the driveshaft, at least for the center ones. That means jacking up the car, doesn't it? The outboard belt bolts couldn't be gotten at from underneath on my Custom Cruiser because the frame is in the way.

 

Jaunty, your seat looks like brand new! I wish I had access to you trim guy...he is a master pro! Phenomenal job!!!


Your wagon is coming along so wonderfully! You have brought this wagon back to life!
You should be very proud! I know the late former owner would be very proud of you and your hard work and determination. GREAT JOB! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

David

 

Thanks. I have been keeping the family informed, and I sent them these photos. They want me to bring the car to a big show held in Charleston (WV) every October, and I expect to do that assuming its fully back together by then, which I expect it to be.


Yes, the upholsterer really outdid himself. The fabric is a beautiful match to the original. It was actually one of the employees, not the owner himself, who did the job. He was kind of a young guy (35?), and he was very interested to talk about it when I picked it up, showing me everything he did. This shop does a fair amount of classic vehicle work. When I dropped the seat off, they were in the process of installing a new top on an early '60s Ford Galaxie convertible, and there was also a '70-ish Chevelle coupe getting a new interior. When I went back a month later to get the seat, the Chevelle was for sale out front.

 

Minor update this weekend. Spent all day yesterday trying to track down the short in the taillight/parking light/license plate light circuit. No luck. The turn signals/brake lights/four-way flashers all work fine, so at least part of the wiring to the lights is ok. I pulled apart every light and looked for any sign of burned wires or bad insulation and could see nothing. Everything looked tight as a drum.

I've gone ahead and ordered one of those short circuit testers. We'll see what happens when it arrives.


Today I went ahead and reinstalled the front inner fenders, which had been out of the car ever since it was painted back in 2005 and had never been reinstalled. There was no reason I couldn't have done this when I got the car four months ago. Just had to wait until I had some of the other things I wanted to do first done.

Below are before and after photos. Yes, I know, this is about as exciting-looking a thing as you can imagine, but it's a gotta-do job.





Can't see those tires any more!