Sorry Im new to this Forum thing and i posted it twice... my bad

I've been working on my 73 C3 that has been in my family since 76. I was 7 years old when Dad brought it home for Mom on Valentines Day. It was left to rot in outside since 96. It was given to me 11/2011. I don't have much money and no way I could afford to get stock interior for it (some day). so I made do with what could and redid the interior myself. it cost less than $100. and a lot of time and work. what do you think?


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I'll bite. How did you do it? The pictures look really great!!

I have some interior pieces that look a great deal better than your "before" pictures. I've been thinking about pitching them in the trash since my garage is getting cluttered. I've since replaced them with repro pieces. Maybe they can be saved. My 70 has the perforated dash top for the speakers. When I bought a new dash top, I bought one for a 69. I didnt want those perforated speaker holes since they cause cracking with age.

For some of the original pieces, when I received the repro parts, caused me to change my mine. Theres a constant fit problem with repro stuff. A few of the original parts were restored and are in use. The originals, if you can restore, them typically fit much better.

My original interior parts are black. I've replaced them with repro red parts or re-sprayed red over the originals.

 

Your work is amazing. I know how much time and effort was put into what you've done. Don't stop the pictures from coming.

 

Thanks guys I really appreciate it. I know what you mean by tossing them in the trash. So I had nothing to loose by trying out my idea. It started off as trial and error. But it didnt take long to get it down. heres the best way to do it. door panels and were done one way. and trim the rest was done another way.

Door Panels and dash ONLY.

1st... Peel off the old skins. The best way to do this is to use a heat gun. it melts the adhesive and doesn't harm the foam. You want the foam in its original shape as possible.
Now you should have something like this... this is dash.


then you take RESIN JELLY. Its sold at your local WallMart. when you get the jelly make sure you get extra catalyst. the amount they give you is never enough and MAKE SURE YOU MIX IT PROPERLY. If it dont harden your going to have a big mess to clean up and start over.
Ok take the resin jelly and skim coat the foam i then lite sand with 80 grit paper. and repeat. build up ur coat to desired shape. hit it with 120 grit sand paper.


then I used 123 PRIMER in a qrt can and brushed it on pretty thick... reason I used a brush instead of spraying is because it was cheaper and after wet sanding I left slite imperfections from brush strokes gives it a leather look. using a flat Krylon spray paint also at wallmart.
this process was for the dash and door panels ive gtg ill bbl to let you know how to do the reast.

 

Necessity....the mother of trial and error.
Way to go Z....nice job and you only saved about $800 just on the doors..........

 

I saved a lot of money for sure.

 

Stuff like this is what made this country so great at one time. Now, we throw everything away and start over with new and cheaply built but expensive. Me included. Nice job, you should be proud.

 

I think I'll try this, even though I don't have too. Maybe I can learn something. Looks like fun. Thanks for the idea!!!

 

For the work that you did, you really saved a lot of money and the results look great. Good luck with your skills in getting the rest of the car in similar shape. From what you showed with the interior, you should have a good looking car soon.

kdf

 

Very resourceful and well done.

 

Very nice work!

 

Good job man, you have definitely have "do it yourself" skills.

 

Nice work. I was getting ready to buy a new dash pad because of one spider crack. I may rethink that after seeing what you were able to do. Thanks for posting this!!!!

Terry

 

Very good job. Coincidentally, I removed all the interior parts yesterday. My dash pad is cracked at the speaker grills, and the A pillar trim looks similar to what you had. I think I'll try my hand at refinishing these parts.

 

Very Creative!

 

That's amazing work.
Good for you man , keep the pics coming!!

 

thanx a lot for the positive replies. I really appreciate it.