Tangerine/White Interior kit?

Jon March

Member
Can anyone share the differences/benefits in interior kits from Gordons/Dave Bennett/or other places? Ive seen an interior on a car here in Mass that was 750 installed ! - looked quite good - pros/cons? I think the originals were heat-sealed "simulated-stitching" ...and had little to no padding....
 

jfriese

Active Member
Original seat vinyl was the thinnest, poorest vinyl I've even seen. Yes it was heat-sealed rather than stitched but stitched looks better anyway. The original foam backing disintegrated over the years leaving them flat. That foam actually turns to a plastic dust over time. Go for replacements made from truck grade or marine grade vinyl.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red
 

SNOWBIRD

Amphicar Expert
Mine are the BEST!.. Sold Hundred over the years, If the tops of doors are white then they are Heat -sealed Grey kits have to be stitched,
Car i just finished, I keep plastic on seats while I am testing cars.

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jfriese

Active Member
Hi Gord,

I don't see the line of stitching (about 2 3/4 inches above the bottom of the door panel) that the original side panels had from the factory. It's a purely cosmetic thing but I believe it makes the door panel look better, or at least more interesting. You might ask your shop to add it in the future.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red
 

Jon March

Member
that represents a ton of work - i have a lot of respect for people that do these cars professionally. i can barely handle the task of doing it for my own car - kudos to experts like Gord who know the tricks of the trade from doing time and again and bringing the benefit of long years of education to their customers. It takes a special person with unique skills and talent in MANY fields to do these cars. Doing it yourself may seem like a "money saver", but if I had to do it again, i would tell anyone to let someone whose been thru it do it!!!@# Cheaper in the long run, and saves stress, months of mess and marriages! - gig it out to an expert.
 
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jfriese

Active Member
Hi,

Gord's choice is an example of how personal style and taste influence the way these cars get restored. Since Gord's choice is to eliminate a stitch line that is on the original cars and therefore not exactly correct, they may be very good but I wouldn't call your door panels the BEST. It's a shortcut from the original that I personally wouldn't accept. Sorry.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red
 

Midwest Amphicar

Worlds Largest Amphicar Destination
Can anyone share the differences/benefits in interior kits from Gordons/Dave Bennett/or other places? Ive seen an interior on a car here in Mass that was 750 installed ! - looked quite good - pros/cons? I think the originals were heat-sealed "simulated-stitching" ...and had little to no padding....
After matching green vynil to match paint, no one has asked for that original color. Plus I don't think there is a currently produced color that matches the original puke color. I like the way Dave Bennett installs the foam.
Dave was recovering from surgery and I met a local upholsterer. Horrible work, I was stressed. Told customer get car I will send door panels later. He looked at "horrible" and said looks ok to him. Then went on to discuss his up coming cancer treatment. Long run a stitch here , color there....it really doesnt matter.
Keep in mind what door panels are made of. Some are thick crap press board. I had Dave use a plastic sheet but ultimately did not like strength. But wet never changed. My bad guy used a plastic backing from Home Depot/Lowes for shower walls. Sounded bad put was excellent in terms of strength and sew-ability.
Go rat rod and get an Indian blanket!
 

jfriese

Active Member
Dave,

I'm sure you remember just how much I sweated the details in the Amphicar restorations I have done. I acknowledged that the stitch line was purely cosmetic but it is also a factory original detail I wouldn't have dropped. And I'm not even a "factory original guy" like Mike E. I like my cars to look factory original but allow internal improvements for performance and reliability. I remember there was once a guy on here who was obsessed with getting replacement vinyl that had the same molded pattern in the vinyl material. That one even lost me.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red
 

Jon March

Member
Here are two options ive never seen mentioned - but they each are untested. The first option (as my alter pimpin-ego was talkin about above) - can a person "update" their original skins, and freshen them with new foam backing, ajax cleaning ....and flexible vinyl paint? Maybe...but flexible vinyl paint or dye is the x factor: 1) can you find your color...AND 2) : will it hold up being walked on, sat on, and wetted?! - heres what would even be involved to try it: First, ajax and nylon scrub brush the surfaces of all and rinse. Now for the panels -carefully remove the old staples along the back edges with a steak knife , and brush/vacuum out the disintegrated old foam. Now use the old masonite backers as templates for new 1/8" white pvc panels. Now lay the panel onto the 1/4" foam or polyester padding from Joannes Fabrics (1/2" is too thick) and cut new padding. Assembly - its it hard to find 1/8" long staples as original, so i used hot glue - perfect: just be careful that you pull the vinyl carefully and attatch carefully along the edges to not cause any waves or wrinkles (if so, its easy to peel away and re-do). Now mask off the white vinyl areas that clean up nicely, and do one final de-grease prep to the colored areas you want to re-color - and carefully apply 3 lights coats with ~90% drying time between for best "grab". Now assemble all and pray. Alternate? -- give your upper door & sidewall 2-to2e skins with the heat seal pattern to your stitcher - to 3M 5200 fast-cure-white marine glue the white uppers>>to the top edges of your chosen fresh vinyl lower skins. Who knows if they, or the glue-line will have the same expansion once in the sun!@#. On door panels, stitcher will have to do a (laster straight!) manual stitch 10.5" below the white/color seam to replicate the original heatsealed horizontal detail below the pocket that John refers to - i agree that it adds a certain something to the lower door area. But Gords kits are certainly attractive - no doubt. And many great comments about Dave Bennett too. That said, I wonder who did this interior for Tom Maruska's car before he auctioned it at Barrett Jackson? sssScreen shot 2017-06-23 at 12.11.22 AM.png
 

strandweiss62

Active Member
...remember there was once a guy on here who was obsessed with getting replacement vinyl that had the same molded pattern in the vinyl material.
Well, that was me.

The way was to find a craftsman which can weld plastic, then build a tool to duplicate the original seams. Ich spent much time and money in this. Now we can produce a nearly perfect reproduction of the interior. Left the reproduction, right nos original.
Peter

amphicar-t%C3%BCrpappen-2-links-nachbau-rechts-original-jpg.913
 

Ken Chambers

Platinum Subscriber
Peter,

That's a faithful and beautiful reproduction of the interior panels. It would be wonderful if you would offer more information on the process in which you were able to do this.

Many thanks.
 

jfriese

Active Member
Peter,

Actually I don't remember your posts regarding the heat bonding issue. The fellow I was referencing was concerned about the subtle texturing that is molded into the face of vinyl, which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Your copy of the original heat pressed seam is amazingly good but since I view heat pressed assembly as a short cut to a stitched panel, I prefer the stitched panels even though they are not as original as your system. See, another example of how taste and style plays a roll into how these cars get restored.

Regards,

John Friese
67 White
67 Red
 

strandweiss62

Active Member
First you need to find a craftsman who has the high frequency welding machine and the experience. Most car upholstery shops today work only with leather, so they have not retained it. New the machine is expensive.

Then I machined the tool of brass and aluminum. It is about 3 feet long as long as the door panels are. The industry uses rollers, they can weld a complete roll of vinyl.

As John wrote, the original vinyl was just a thin film with a foam back. We use marine quality vinyl with textile lining and a thin wadding. This will not disintegrate This is welded directly on the specially prepared cartons.

I found a video on YouTube

 

Jon March

Member
is there a way for those here in usa to purchase a set? paypal? ebay?

can you post any more pics showing the interior installed?
 

SNOWBIRD

Amphicar Expert
It all comes down to COST..
My generation 5 have heat seems on top if white, Not exact. but cost have been the same for 10 years!
In my Green car and Bills yellow car interiors were done in Tan.PIC IS GEN 4. I had a NOS set, and did the seat to match but did not like the Corn colour on green. so put it in trailer to sell. TRAILER WAS ROBBED IN FLORIDA with $25,000 worth of irreplaceable parts)

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