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Thread: First Restoration - 1953 Special

  1. #1
    Dan the Upholstery Man Guest

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    Hi all from a newbie in snowless Alaska! My name is Dan, I'm 53, and have been in the upholstery business most of my life. I guess you never know what life will bring your way. I sure never expected to be doing this. Anyway, last week the owner of a classic auto boby shop, who I've done work for in the past, offered me a trade-work deal involving a '53 Buick Special 2door sedan. He'll restore the body, paint it inside and out, and go through the car completely in exchange for an interior job in one of his project cars. At first I had little interest because it looked way over my head and fears of the unknown took over. I saw it as just another junk car with flat tires, cob webs on the carburator, and rusty bumpers. But after spending a few days researching the net and reading some magazines I can now see her as a #5 condition classic with excellent potential. Everything is there including 4 original hub caps in good condition. The engine turns over and has oil with no oil leaks under the car. All the dash knobs are there and in good condition. The odometer says 68,200. (He said when they turn over the numbers tend to turn yellowish, which these are not, so maybe I'll get lucky). It's the smaller straight 8 with a 3 speed trans w/ overdrive. The windows are all good without any cracks or fog around the edges, except RR which needs to be relaced. Surface rust is minimal and body chrome is in good condition. The bumpers need rechroming and there is some pitting on other peices. I'm not interested in a #1 show car but I do want to restore her as close to original as funds allow. A nice #2 that gets driven on nice days sounds good. I've got a thousand questions and am looking forward to learning from you guys. Any thoughts or suggestions are obviously welcome. What started out as fear and reluctance has quickly turned into an enthusiasm that borders on a passion. I think I'm hooked!! Any other '53 Special owners here?

  2. #2
    Nailhead_Sled Guest

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    Hey Dan, welcome. I'll be wanting to pick your brain about interiors soon, as I'm getting ready to lay down some tuck and roll.

  3. #3
    Dan the Upholstery Man Guest

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    Thank you. I'm really glad I found this site. As for your upholstery, I'll be happy to help in any way I can. Tufting is a pretty advanced upholstery technique. If you don't have a lot of experienced you might want to consider sewing in the diamonds. There's a way to do it so the buttons sink in giving the job depth. A customer, restoring an 1800's horse-drawn buggy, had me do this for him last year. It took first place against 65 entries in his class then he sold it to a museum in New York for 35K. I can send a jpg if you are interested.

  4. #4
    Nailhead_Sled Guest

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    Yeah, I know it wont be easy. I found a supplier of seat covers for a decent price, that I may pick up untill I can finish the proper tuck.
    They list as 2.5" pleated vinyl.
    Any thoughts?

  5. #5
    Dan the Upholstery Man Guest

    Post

    They look good in the photo but I don't know how they'll be in real life. I saw a set of aftermarket seat covers yesterday on an El Camino. The design was ok but it was already coming loose down in the corner where the seat meets the inside back. It's important to reverse the sewing machine at start and stop points to prevent the stitching from coming loose. Employees on piece work may not always do this. If you do get these a few things to do are check where the sewing ends. Try to pull it apart by hand. If it starts to come loose have it hit with a sewing machine that has reverse to nail down those ends. Then when you put it on make sure your seams all lay the say way. On the seat, lay the seam along the boxing (the front of the seat facing the front of the car) On the seat back lay the seam along the top boxing. Don't let it ride up onto the seat surface as it will want to do on the corners. Keeping the seam consistant all the way around keeps the welt straight for that clean fresh look new upholstery should have. When covering it, set the corners first and rough it in before putting in a lot of hog rings. Do this with it all so you can match the panels of the inside backs with the seat. Once it all lines up then pull it tight and hog ring it all together. If you decide to sew up something like this let me know. If you have an old pattern and a welt foot on your sewing machine I could walk you through it.

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