Another step forward for 73VGE

[larry47us]

Not really a lot that is exciting and new today, except that it shows the extent to which Mike is working through the details on the car. He found rust along the mating surfaces for the front fenders and the chassis - along the hood, and next to the door.

Cut the rusty off, and welded on new.

[larry47us]

Then he is finishing off cleaning out the trunk before the repaint. Pulled out all of the wiring and "stuff" at the front of the trunk area. This is more than I had expected, but he is really going at it.

[larry47us]

Stripped all of the paint off of the front latch panel on the trunk. Clean and ready to go.

[larry47us]

Here's a picture of the right front area of the car before he puts the fender on. You can see the clean mating surfaces for the fender attachment. He's going to the same detail on the driver's side. He said that he is priming the fenders, the engine lid and trunk lid off the car (as I had expected), but he asked if I wanted a picture of the car assembled totally primed before he started to bring the color up.

If it wasn't too much trouble, I said, Sure. So that may be the next set of pix. A couple of other details:

1. Decided after much discussion and reading of threads and looking at the pocketbook to buy the carpeting from Original Fit Interiors. Buying the German Velour, and it is a bunch cheaper than Autos, so the pocketbook held sway. Mike has used them before, and said that he has never been disappointed.

2. The seats are being done by Autos. Tony stripped the seats down to the frame, and they needed about $200 worth of rewelding and repair. I guess to be expected from a pair of 30 year old seats. I am having them done in Black German Vinyl with the houndstooth inserts. Tony and Eric Linden recommended that I get the headrest posts nickelplated along with the seat sliders. Mike is shipping them off to California today.

3. The fabric is a bit behind schedule (already). My mill said that they didn't get the sample done yet. He should be sending it off to me next Tuesday. I am really excited to see how well it matches the original. Then, its pricing and delivery. If it takes too long, I may just take delivery of my car earlier with surrogate seats, and install the sport seats later.

Sorry to gab so much. Can you tell I'm excited???

larry

[RandyWebb]

For the amount of trouble you are going to, why not put leather on the seats? Leather breathes, vinyl doesn't (not to mention the nasty chemicals you will avoid in staying away from vinyl).

[larry47us]

Originally posted by RandyWebb
For the amount of trouble you are going to, why not put leather on the seats? Leather breathes, vinyl doesn't (not to mention the nasty chemicals you will avoid in staying away from vinyl).

Randy:

A few reasons. The leather is a good $600 - $1000 more. The car didn't come with leather, so rather than having a leather interior, I would just have leather seats in the front. I really like the look of the cloth inserts, and I don't think that they used it with leather seats. Vinyl is easier on upkeep than leather.

But I really did think hard about it.

larry

[pwd72s]

The thought shows, Larry...Hang in there...soon you'll be driving.

[JCR]

Originality aside, I think vinyl is a better choice in a vintage targa - stands up to the elements better since they will not absorb water.

Automotive leathers have so much protective coating that they end up looking like vinyl. In fact, I see vinyl samples now that look BETTER than leather!

Europeans are more accepting of a car seat showing wear over time. Sort of like a cool broken in leather jacket - it's actually MORE desirable that way. So, they get less protective coating and more of a natural leather feel for their seats.

Here in the US, any sign of wear during the warranty period, and it's back to the dealer for a new set of seats (yet we still want the broken in leather jackets and Levi's). So manufacturers err on the side of more durability, which means more of an artificial feel.