New Upholstery arrived this week.....

[Sixpaksteve]

Thought I'd post these pics as a way to offer some small ray of hope to anybody else waiting on interior items from SMS out in Oregon. The new upholstery arrived this past Wednesday from SMS for my 64 Dodge Polara convertible [H4R interior code]. I think they did a really nice job but I'm still a long ways out restoration-wise from getting this into my car.

I sent them my $$$$ and my original upholstery about 4 years ago. They sent me new carpeting and sun visors pretty quickly, then nothing until last week. The last thing they owe me are the new door panels.....

 

[Sixpaksteve]

If one of the Mods would correct the rotation of the pics I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[davek]

Just wondering the reason you didnt use Legendary? Cheaper,quick turn around time? Thanks

 

[Sixpaksteve]

Believe me, I tried to use Legendary for the very reasons you mentioned. My Polara isn't the 500 model though, and that's the only interior they reproduce. SMS was the only place in country I could find that does the correct base model Polara convertible upholstery & door panels.

 

[Dave6T4]

I had Legendary do the upholstery in gold for my 1964 Anniversary Gold Polara 500 convertible. I took the interior door and rear side cards to them at Carlisle one year. When I got these pieces back, they came from SMS in Oregon. I was surprised they could renew the worn Mylar trim on the door cards. I had a few problems with Legendary in the end, and bought some stuff from SMS. They were definitely easier to deal with than Legendary.

 

[sam dupont]

the vertical ribbing looks pretty good. Are the OEM ribs that nicely padded?
I just bought some 10 year old NOS Legendary front bucket covers for my 66 Charger. When I opened the box, it took me back to when I first got it with 60,000 miles and excellent seat covers. Very accurate in my opinion. SMS has the material for my Scout, but they don't make the covers.

 

[Sixpaksteve]

Sam - My OEM interior was pretty much toast so there's no comparison between the new SMS material and what I sent them. Maybe someone on the site here with an OEM interior still in their car can best respond to you. My car was originally a California car and the sun cooked the interior and the convertible top.

 

[Dave6T4]

Sam - My OEM interior was pretty much toast so there's no comparison between the new SMS material and what I sent them. Maybe someone on the site here with an OEM interior still in their car can best respond to you. My car was originally a California car and the sun cooked the interior and the convertible top.

Did you send your old covers to SMS to use as patterns? If so, did they give you a discount for this?, If they now have these patterns in stock, this is a definite bonus for other Polara convertible restorers. Your new covers look great.

 

[Sixpaksteve]

I sent them my original covers, but as I mentioned they were in pretty bad condition. I didn't receive any discounts from them.

 

[YY1]

Looks good.

 

[sam dupont]

I would assume they are experienced at creating patterns from dried and split seat covers and it takes a lot of time. How do they make the embossed rectangle feature? They had to build an iron or something. What are ratty seat covers worth? Until they know how well their creation fits, I'll bet they are holding their breath. With a new creation, I would offer to install for free, less shipping, and call that a consideration for the old hides. Then the fit could be judged and modified if needed.

The Legendary video on installing foam gave me confidence in doing it myself. Couldn't find their video for installing the covers.

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

Thought I'd post these pics as a way to offer some small ray of hope to anybody else waiting on interior items from SMS out in Oregon. The new upholstery arrived this past Wednesday from SMS for my 64 Dodge Polara convertible [H4R interior code]. I think they did a really nice job but I'm still a long ways out restoration-wise from getting this into my car.

I sent them my $$$$ and my original upholstery about 4 years ago. They sent me new carpeting and sun visors pretty quickly, then nothing until last week. The last thing they owe me are the new door panels.....





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4 years wow

 

[1KoolBee]

Nice, love the color!

 

[VANDAN]

Steve, my door panels took about 5yrs from SMS, but they came back like new !!!

 

[Sixpaksteve]

Thanks Dan. Your car is my inspiration!

 

[440plus6]

4 and 5 year wait...... You both are better men than I

 

[Dave6T4]

These long waits must be an indication of how many cars are being restored right now. I had redone my seats in my '64 Polara hardtop many years ago, and they are still very good, so I did not have to wait for upholstery. Likewise, I had a very nice set of U.S. door panels, that I customized for my car. They were way nicer than the Canadian versions that were originally on the car.
4-door Polara hardtop with factory bucket seats and console; a Canadian only thing! I also used the longer front door arm rests on the rear doors to snazz them up. These bolted right on to existing holes.

 

[VANDAN]

These long waits must be an indication of how many cars are being restored right now. I had redone my seats in my '64 Polara hardtop many years ago, and they are still very good, so I did not have to wait for upholstery. Likewise, I had a very nice set of U.S. door panels, that I customized for my car. They were way nicer than the Canadian versions that were originally on the car.
4-door Polara hardtop with factory bucket seats and console; a Canadian only thing! I also used the longer front door arm rests on the rear doors to snazz them up. These bolted right on to existing holes.

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Dave, I don't think it's the amount of orders, but the complexity of this era door panels. They differed so much between the models, and require unique tooling for each pattern, as they are far from the cookie cutter designs of the later year models. You also need to factor in the Labor troubles, and finding quality workers. That was a factor in my 5yr delivery...

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

Dave, I don't think it's the amount of orders, but the complexity of this era door panels. They differed so much between the models, and require unique tooling for each pattern, as they are far from the cookie cutter designs of the later year models. You also need to factor in the Labor troubles, and finding quality workers. That was a factor in my 5yr delivery...

I guess I can get that. My Legendary recent set seem to be thinner on bench seat material and have a few cuts in them down low from most likely my buddy’s boots or something which has never been an issue on other interior sets I’ve ordered. With other couples riding back there on date nights but thing that always irritated me was the door panels you have to make your own channels for attaching clips. Seems kinda for lack of a better half ***. You pay good money and hope you don’t poke through and void your warranty. Don’t get me started on removal of door panel because then you risk tearing the channel and no more clip channel. Ask me how I know. Others ever had this issue?

 

[rocket70]

All your seats look great. I’m guessing covid played a big part in the timeframes aswell.