Since they’re stitching them up, I think pretty pricey…1k since they are bench.

-Rusty

 

I was gonna say about the same, most likely about $1K for both by the sounds of everything needed and with you providing the seat covers in addition to that price. Skilled labor, especially when theyre good at it, is not cheap, and the materials, tools, and experience needed to do stuff like that where it turns out looking great is nothing to expect to be cheap.

 

I was guessing it would be in the $1000-1500 range. I was pretty shocked when he said it would cost $2500. I am going to get some more quotes. I am almost wondering if it would make more sense to get vinyl seat covers from PUI and just have a shop sew in the factory fabric. Thanks for your input!

 

Oooh you just have the cover material, not the seat covers already pre made... yeah thats gonna cost an arm and a leg to be made from scratch!! Just buy the seat covers and take them to a good upholstery shop and let them do the replacement labor on the seats alone. You'll spare them the room of not having your whole vehicle there and they will get them done quicker. You do the remove/install at home.

 

Yea I just have the factory cloth for the seats but not the vinyl. I brought the seats with the original covers on them to the shop separate from the car.

 

That quote doesn’t surprise me at all. Back when I was doing early Chevelle restorations that’s what I would pay to have sedan cloth/vinyl bench seats done. Often it was cost prohibitive on the low end 300 series cars and the owner would do vinyl Malibu covers which saved them a lot of coin. I cannot comment on having premade covers altered as I never went that route.

im sure you got a quote from sms to make you cloth covers too. That was probably 2Gs or close and a 12-18 month wait.

 

Late to the thread, but I'll put in. Estimate? More than 5 years from SMS. My brother sent door panel and seat samples for his '65 Nova wagon to them in 2020, back when they were having a covid times discount. In the 5 years, with half the $ up front, they've sent the door panels, and lost the pattern for the front and rear seats. Luckily, I found a '65 400 series wagon seat with the original upholstery, that was denuded, and this second set of patterns sent to them in 2023. Nothing. Nada. Hope you have better luck.

 

that is a sad, sad story. man!

sorry, Pat, just had to comment on this in your thread.

-Rusty

 

I’ve had two sets of seats covered buy the same upholstery guy and both sets done up in a similar way. One set was black and the other set were tan. Both in vinyl and the covers were made by my upholstery guy. The black set were done in 2019 and the tan set in 2021. Each set ran me $1200 and he supplied all materials..

 

Thug, that's a smokin' deal, even for five years ago. They look awesome!

Pat, you might contact ProFit Interiors in Alabama. They have tons of patterns and fabrics and are reasonable. They should be able to sew-up the covers you need. Building up a seat and installing a pre-sewn cover is pretty easy. Buy a descent pr of hog ring pliers and watch a video or two and you are good to go.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I had gotten a quote from the same shop 7-8 years ago and it was $400. So I had been planning on a lot less.

At this point, I am leaning towards doing most of it myself. I can get the vinyl covers and have someone sew in the cloth that I have. PUI is really the only option right?

 

It's a serious consideration. There's a timing to a project much of the time, and to have a restoration sit around for years missing only the upholstery? Always interested to hear from others members what other good sources might be out there for very original upholstery production, as there is a demand, but no competition.

 

Yea it is one of the last things on the car. It has been minitubbed, leafs relocated and sliders installed, 8.6 10 bolt swapped in, CBR uppers, lowers, and rack installed, ls swapped with a 4l80e, and I just finished the sound deadening. I did just about everything, even rebuilt and modified the trans. It’s been a long road but I could not afford to do it all at once. I bought the headliner, door cards, package tray, and carpet a long time ago.


I am still surprised about the seats. I got quotes for several things along the way but nothing increased as much as this. I will find a solution one way or another. Maybe it’s time to learn some sewing haha. Thanks for all the input everyone.

 

For my hatchback I got two quotes of $9k each, but they were doing custom stitching with inserts on the seats and door cards as well as carpet and a lot of fabrication on the rotten plastic pieces. And made me a tent for the cargo area.

 

I just paid four or five months ago $700 to get two bucket seats and the rear seat original style upholstery installed

 

I just got an estimate to have my front and rear bench sheets recovered. I have an aqua interior. I am supplying the original patterned fabric from SMS and they will need a little bit of foam and burlap and maybe a spring or two replaced in addition to the vinyl.

What would you estimate that would cost? I am trying to see if the price they gave was crazy or not. It seemed rich to me. Once a few people reply, I’ll post the estimate price. Thanks!

I just paid four or five months ago $700 to get two bucket seats and the rear seat original style upholstery installed

What shop did you use?

 

$1400 to $1600 for my cloth and vinyl from sms. Labor only. Sierra Fawn with cloth, so had no choice as no vinyl bench seat reproduced, just incorrect ivy gold.

 

I was just quoted $2k for 2 bucket seats and the rear seat for a convertible, I'm supplying some of the material and they are going to add some bolstering , in Cali

 

I had two bucket seats for for my 65 SS, redone because the foam was starting to crumble. They used the seat covers that was already on the seats, put the chrome bars on the front cover ( I supplied) so they bought new foam and it was $900 to do those two seats. Now he probably the best guy in Indy for interiors.

but it was more than I expected… but was happy with when it was done.