Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Mending a hole where the foam comes through..

Apologies to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The side bolsters on modern sports seats add a lot of control and comfort for the driver, but they take a lot of wear. Sliding in and out of the car usually adds appreciable wear to the bolster. Many interiors will suffer from shabby appearance in just ten years. A lot depends on how the driver enters, most just drag their rear across the seat, others, like me, twist their upper body and plop their butt into the seat. Straightening and lifting their legs into the foot wells. A bit more effort, but it helps to preserve the material. 

 I really like the tweed like material that faces my upgraded sports seat interior. It's a two tone black and grey color. While I have also liked leather in my cars, the fabric is grippier, stays cooler, and allows for air circulation. Still after a quarter of a century, wear does become a problem. There is a hole in my side bolster that has worn through to the underlying foam. 

There has also been wear through in the seat bottom bolster. I had dealt with this by adding some more foam and stitching the wound closed. Don't scars add a bit of character? 

The best repair would be to replace the seat upholstery covers and foam buns. This would restore the  comfort and appearance. 

It's very likely that I can find new reproduction upholstery kits for my car, though truthfully I haven't really looked. I would take the seats to an upholstery shop to have them installed. That would be the best idea,

That would also be another step down the slippery slope towards restoration. Something that can only gather speed as additional steps are taken. That would lead to a new paint job, then eventually to a major mechanical overhaul with the fitting of a rebuilt engine, transmission and suspension components. This is something that I have seriously considered.

But I don't want to rush into anything. There's nothing worse than sinking a lot of money into an old car then selling it, instead of using and enjoying it. 

But I just can't ignore the wear, it will just get worse. I need to stop it and find a repair that doesn't include those awful nylon stretch "fits all" seat covers from the local auto parts  mart. There must be at least one car somewhere in the Universe that those covers fit properly... Maybe.

Back in the early days of restoration in the 1950's, it was common to either restitch the original seat material with another fabric backing, or to remove the covers and sew in replacement panels for the worn areas. usually most of the other parts of the interior were still in fair shape. This was considered an acceptable repair and would only cost a few points in judging.

If I had an upholstery shop remove the original seat cover and repair the worn areas I would still be facing quite a cost in labor. It really doesn't make financial sense and it would probably result in some additional damage to the structure, especially if I tried it myself. 

Back in the day of my first car, a '66 Mustang I stitched in a plain vinyl panel in the driver's seat bottom cushion. I sewed all the cracks closed on the seats of my '64 Cadillac and even added a leather panel to the left upper seat corner where the leather had cracked in pieces. I did it by hand using a curved needle. I thought that it looked neat and presentable and showed that I cared about my cars. So that's the plan of action that I've chosen.

Leather patches on tweed, much like those sport coats that I wore back in the 1980's! 

Luckily my Wife had a sheet of black leather that she had bought for her crafting. A very good source for leather patch panels are old purses bought at yard sales or thrift stores. If larger sections are needed you might check those old sofas that are labeled "free" in front of someone's house. Check and see if it's made of real leather, if it is, take the entire sofa. Sure, you could just slit the leather off in the driveway or run off with the loose cushions, but that makes the sofa now unusable for anyone else. Either way, let your conscience be your guide.

The first thing that I did was to measure the area that I wanted to cover and make a paper template using card stock from an old cake box. Yum! Gotta eat that cake first!

I marked the outline on the rough side of the leather, then I laid blue painters tape over the lines and re-marked them with marker. Now I could actually see the lines that I was working with. Working with leather you have to make the holes for the needle before sewing, it's awful hard to push the needle through the leather by hand. 

I wasn't sure what I should use, I had a set of fabric/ material punches on hand. I tried them out on a piece of that card stock. I tried stitching a section and felt that the hole was a just bit big.

The punch holes are the larger ones on the bottom. The drill holes are above.

Then I tied using a small drill bit. I didn't know if the bit would make a clean enough hole. With the blue tape as backing, the bit made a clean enough hole. I marked the spacing of the holes on the template then drilled though the paper and template to make the needle holes.

I removed the tape from the back of the leather. I wondered if I should also glue the patch in place. I  decided to see how flat the patch would lay before making my decision. 

I laid the panel up against this main seam. It would be the thickest and strongest area to attach it. This would most likely be the area of highest stress. I started from the top down, down the side, then back up again to lay down to rows of stitches. I will admit that my seamstress skills were lacking, but I pressed on. After that side was completed I decided against gluing it down. 

It could have been done prettier. Dr. Frankenstein, I presume? I just kept on sewing! 

Finally it was done! I don't think that it looks too bad. I even ran a few more stitches on the seat bottom cushion. I might open that up and add some more foam and another leather patch in the future, or not.

I'm not kidding myself into believing that this is a Concours worthy repair, or even the permanent solution. But it is a real solution. 

Lately I've found myself investing quite a bit of time, effort and money into my Mustang. First, the oil filter housing adaptor gasket replacement. Then the installation of the Mach One spoiler that I've had laying around for years. Then I spent a couple of hundred bucks having a new CD player installed, I gotta have my tunes! 

I mentioned that I don't really want to restore this car, but even with my attention and care it's age is beginning to catch up to it. When I consider getting a newer Mustang it's not that I don't like this car anymore, it's just so that I can start my preservation campaign with something that is in better shape. 

The high mileage on the car is another consideration, though these are sturdy little cars, they aren't going to run forever.  Something bad is likely to happen, then I'll have to make some tough choices.