Judging:Upholstery

[Charles Reese]

In keeping with the recent thread re: judging, I am curious to know how well a carefully installed ‘kit’ (i.e. LB) fares in judging. In particular the top/side curtains. I suspect, not well. To my knowledge the few remaining ‘upholstery masters’ are in the process of retiring and not accepting new projects. From what I can determine, the kit vendors do not offer truly authentic materials nor workmanship. For example, side curtains were multilayers of material, not simply one layer with outline stitching. Please, not trying to create a spitting contest here, merely looking for guidance/source of proper materials/workmanship.

[msmaron]

It is really based of the workmanship. Your probobly not going to score high right out of the box, HOWEVER, talk to Gary Karr he scored 491 with a LB kit, now keep in mind he did take it apart, teach himself to sew and re did it completely. Comes back to my original statement. Workmanship!! Remember to read the standards. If an item is repo but undistingwishable (sp) from original reward full points.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by msmaron

It is really based of the workmanship. Your probobly not going to score high right out of the box, HOWEVER, talk to Gary Karr he scored 491 with a LB kit, now keep in mind he did take it apart, teach himself to sew and re did it completely. Comes back to my original statement. Workmanship!! Remember to read the standards. If an item is repo but undistingwishable (sp) from original reward full points.

Pardon me but reading something like this pisses me off!!

Some one who pays top dollar for a kit and has to take it apart and re-sew it to make it right?

"At LeBaron Bonney Company, we share the passion for bringing your car back to the way it looked when it left the showroom."

Who's show room?

You will see if you do a search, it has been reported time and time again that the sewing of the pleats is wrong on the model a kits, they have been told this but still nothing is done and it's just sewing!

[Gary Karr]

To follow up on what Mark posted, I bought a LeBaron Bonney kit for my Tudor but basically used the fabric and some of the upper side panels. I made my own kick panels and under seat panels off of good original paterns. I then used pyroxylin cloth to make my own edge bindings as I knew they would be closer to originals than current vinyl bindings. I also made my own door panels and padded them with quilters cotton instead of LB's foam padding. I also padded the seats with cotton, to as close to the thickness as orignal seats that I disected. On the rear sseat, I installed the wire in the back seat cushion that pulls the welt down across the seat (probably not saying this correctly!) I also made my own wind lace pieces using correct diameter plastic tubes and stiched them to cardboard pieces as original. I was lucky to have a really nice original interior that I bought out of a Tudor that was on its way to a rodder. Oh yes, I actually scored 492 in 2003 in Dearborn at the MARC Meet!

[Jerry Parr WI]

Originally Posted by Mike V. Florida

Pardon me but reading something like this pisses me off!!

Some one who pays top dollar for a kit and has to take it apart and re-sew it to make it right?

Thing is the price charged by LB is not top dollar. What LB charges is more than some but at a price that most will pay to get a fairly acceptable interior. Top dollar is what the guys who are hired to do the cars that win Henrys charge.

[492Awinner]

One of the first place winners at the MAFCA meet had a LB in it.

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by Mike V. Florida

Pardon me but reading something like this pisses me off!!

Some one who pays top dollar for a kit and has to take it apart and re-sew it to make it right?

They offer a better product than anything else I've seen in kit form. As I've said before, some of their kits are more authentic than others. None are totally authentic. While you may think their product is "top dollar", some items would more than double (maybe quadruple) in price if they made them like Ford did.

Originally Posted by Charles Reese

In keeping with the recent thread re: judging, I am curious to know how well a carefully installed ‘kit’ (i.e. LB) fares in judging. In particular the top/side curtains. I suspect, not well. To my knowledge the few remaining ‘upholstery masters’ are in the process of retiring and not accepting new projects. From what I can determine, the kit vendors do not offer truly authentic materials nor workmanship. For example, side curtains were multilayers of material, not simply one layer with outline stitching. Please, not trying to create a spitting contest here, merely looking for guidance/source of proper materials/workmanship.

I'm not sure what options are available but LB's kit for the 76-A is one of their worst. As far as the top goes, A friend installed one on his car about ten years ago. He thought it was his lack of experience that caused problems but the top was actually too small for original bows as shown in the pic below. I'm guessing new bows are smaller but don't know for sure.



I encountered the same thing (also about ten years ago) when doing one for a friend. I was able to make the back curtain work but I had to make a new top deck.





LB seats are also a problem with this model. I have to mix source pics but for reference the 82-A Closed Cab used exactly the same seat cushions as the 76-A.

[JTW]

This question is off Mr. Reese's original question but is not off topic and is prompted by Marco's excellent observations and pictures. In the picture below is 3 seats from closed and open cab pickups. The left one is a LB repro and is 19 1/2" wide and 42" long at the back. The middle one is original springs with newer uphols., 18" wide 41" long. The right one is original black pyroxylin upholstery and springs, 19 3/4" wide and 42 long that I assume is original to the truck. The question is - what did the original springs measure in the ocpu/ccpu's

[asapguy]

I was on the interior judging team at the MAFCA NW Regional Meet in Boise the week before last. There were three of us on the team. There were approx. 14 cars to judge, 3 or 4 in the blue ribbon class, 3 in modified & the remaining in touring. Our team didn't judge modified. We used the 5000 point system which is easier to break down individual categories. I have installed two LB kits in my own cars & helped friends with three others. Workmanship & condition we found to be the most important when judging. We did deduct for things we knew were not authentic.
Judging is very subjective. I have had my 68C judged five times in the blue ribbon class in the last 10 yrs. It has received anywhere from 419 pts down to 374 pts. The lowest pts. was only the 2nd time it was showed. It is a 40 yr. old restoration & has been driven a lot. I have installed a "B" motor & OD so I no longer show it. The interior in the 68C was done 40 yrs ago & was not a kit.

[peters180a/170b]

Look at Marco's picture of a original seat and then look at the trucks seat.Where people lose points [like i did with a standard roadster] is the seat welt bead [my seat was like the trucks bead and it was wrong by 2-1/2 inches from the top to where it was suppose to be]. LB did my job like the trucks picture and not like the original seat. So i did lose 2-1/2 points on the seat and a total of 16 points overall [WORKMANSHIP] done by LB's ...Do i blame LB's {NO} at the time my roadster cost $980.00 installed for a standard roadster without a rumble seat. Someone else up North well known wanted $3,400.00 [LB's was done in 2 days] and i did correct the front seat and i did later Win a Henry. IT ALL WORKMANSHIP with a LB's kit .And to this day its the best money can buy!!!!!!!!