I have someone who wants me to istall a complete interior in his 68 vert, he bought it with the parts in boxes, I would have to install the dash including a/c ducts, carpet , door panels, seats and console, I will have to re dye a few parts and he will get the seats recovered. I figured it would take me 3 to 4 weekends to do this and gave him a ballpark figure of 1K he thought that was very reasonable. am I being fair with my price?

 

thats not bad for a side job if he is willing to pay it. But your going to have to be able to put it together very nice

 

I don't think the workmanship will be a problem for gator.

Hey Mark, did the guy immediately agree to 1k or did he think about it for a minute? If he agreed quickly, you may have bid too cheap. If he thought about it before agreeing, you may be fair to both.

 

I have removed them in 1 hour...
About 10 hours to put them back right.
If the wiring was tagged as removed or you know where everything goes.
If not then that can take loads of time...and be a p.i.t.a

 

Sounds like $1000 would be close to $100 an hour for someone who knows what he's doing...sounds like a good price.

I definitely wouldn't pay someone more if it'll take him longer to do because he's an amateur... cause that'll mean a moron could charge a million bucks cause it'll take 'em forever!

 

Instead of a quote fro the whole thing, how about a "by the hour figure." That way if something goes haywire you are covered.

Frank

 

6 hours for the seats, 6 hours for the carpets including the compartment doors, 7 hours for the dash pads, 2 hours for both door panels (if deluxe with trim installed). Add 3 hours for dying trim and miscellaneous labor. The total hours is 24. $1000/24 = $41.66 an hour. Sounds like you have a good deal for both parties. Go for it.

 

looks like a side hustle.......hmmmm

 

$1000 could well be a very reasonable price....for the customer. I've probably re-installed C3 interiors, in whole or in part, about 4 times.

Repro interior parts can be a big problem since some of the repro parts don't fit very well. Trying to make them fit can burn of a lot of time. Another problem is that even factory stock parts from one car to another also may not be directly interchangeable. Then if you do have original body parts from the car you're working with, the plastic is 38 years old and brittle. When you're working with one of these old parts, it doesn't take much force on them to make them crack. Similarly the interior parts that are covered with a vinyl overlay are very brittle and will also crack/split easy as you work with them. I once asked a person who has a business making interiors (very professional looking) for street rods. I started to discuss with him the possibilities of putting in an interior in my 1970 (a lot of repro parts), and before we even discussed price he said he would rather pull out his fingernails than work on my car.

I hope I'm not too pessimistic. Maybe other people have cheerier things to say. Lets hope your customer is patient and knows he will have to buy new stuff on his own dollar if/when you accidentally break an old interior part. The only good thing is the great feeling when you've finished at look at your old car and it looks like the day it came off the factory line.

 

Hey Big G
He said the guy was going to have the seats recovered....so thats most of your six hours gone there....if the backs are installed.
Thats 8 nuts and bolts and a few washers.
If you buy a good carpet, intall is not bad....cheap carpet is hell.
The trick with this stuff is to let it sit in the sun and warm up some before you install it...be carefull to hot means things break.
I have dyed a lot of parts....thats just a case of getting everything clean first. its all in the prep...
The hard part would be doing it at someone elses house...
you could burn alot of time going for little dumb things ...
Its not a bad deal for you

 

I missed the part about him having the seats already covered. A grand is still reasonable, as you never know what curve-ball might be coming your way. Better to ask for a little more up front than have a suprise at the end. I have installed many interiors, working on 30+ year old 'Vettes is never routine. No fixed prices, ever.

 

If he had to do the seats a grand would be not enough.
Seats suck...I am slow as hell on seats....always a pain.
I had a guy that would do seats for $75 a seat with him making the covers.....and a 3 day turn around....I laughed every time I took a set to him.
He went back to Mexico and left the shop with his son who did bad work and was out of business in about three months.
Every car guy that lived around here was heartbroken.

 

thanks for your replies, I have been an auto tech for 30 years. I have done complete re wires and pulled more dashes than I care to remember. I just met this guy in a parade he was driving a 60 vert, we were just talking and he asked if I would be interested in doing his interior. I have just done my '71 so the 68 should be close to the same. the price was ballpark baring any unforseen major problems. I first told him $40.00 per hour but like all of us he sorta of needed an idea of how much he would spend. he agreed right away when I said 1K. it will be brought to my shop for the work. here is a pic I took yesterday, all the original parts are in 3 boxes, I am sure some are missing. it has been sitting in his warehouse for 3 years.



and this is a project I just finished at work, a 2007 camry that was struck by lighting while traveling down interstate. the insurance bill is over 16K, it took out just about every computer in the car.
this is where it struck on the left rear door (notice the melted paint)


and its dash and wiring

 

The photo of that '68 reminded me of a question. Were these braces used in all '68 verts, or did this start sometime during the production run? Do '69 thru '75 verts use these?
G.

 

my 71 vert has the same braces

 

Gator79: First thing I would do is install a new heater core; now is the time to do it while you can get to it easily! Then do the interior work.

 

WOW that picture of the interior looks just like mine right now. Got everthing ready, but not looking forward to getting it all back togather... you don't live near Louisiana do you?? I could be intrested also, but I have all the original pieces and mine I have dyed and are ready to go back in.
Ruthie

 

I don't think the coupes had these braces. I think they were only used on convertibles.

 

What "braces" are you guys talking about ?
You mean the gusset at the corner of the W/S frame and hinge pillar ...
as seen on my 75 coupe:
http://webpages.charter.net/davekimt...lectronics.JPG
Also, the 75 coupe had all kinds of bolt-in bars to brace the dash area at the corners.

 

NHvette: No, he is referring to the horizontial cross support brace on the passenger side; brace runs from forward center console area to corner of w/s frame area. Verts used two support braces on passenger side. (Have to remove the lower brace to change out heater core. ) Lower passenger brace clearly shown in the photo. Driver's side on verts also had support braces.