i remember seeing this post a few days ago and kept reading why would you bother/ just buy new door panels! well i didnt have the 600.00 or so to replace mine as im sure there are alot of guys just like myself that have other things( like bills) to spend that 600.00 on. i guess i small into that small percentage of folks that dont have the extra scratch.
anyway contrary to what i read about not reskinning, i took the challenge on anyway.
this is what i started with


and this is the finished product


i still need to add the carpet to the bottom along with the chrome strip.
i will take a warm iron wrapped in a towel to smooth out what few wrinkles there are.
regardless of for what i spent i must say im quite overjoyed. while these will never be ncrs top flite as my car will never be, but i didnt pay 500.00 or 600.00 either. nowhere even remotely near that but for for a daily driver, im shickled titless. i guess bubba is in my family tree
personally i enjoy building my cars on an extreme budget. ebay and craigslist have been my best friend for parts. im very proud to say this 77 will come in about 4500.00 built the way i want it to be. wheels , spoilers , hooker sidepipes and l 88 hood.
are there any other guys out there on a budget like me?
billy

i

 

I wish Corvette parts were cheaper, because I would prefer everything to be cheaper. But compared to Harley parts or airplane parts, there is no comparison. I have found Corvette parts and reproduction parts to be relatively reasonably priced, for the most part. But restoring a classic Corvette is not an inexpensive project if you want it to look anywhere near as nice as it was build originally. IF you really don't care what it looks like, then why bother even recovering it. Just let it be whatever it is. I myself want to be proud of the car, and want it to represent the beauty and styling that I admire in the car and that Chevrolet produced. Everyone of course has a different idea of beauty. We are all free to make something nice, or make something look like garbage.....in my opinion!!

 

i am proud of my car and damn proud of the work i do on it, sure anyone with a pocketful of cash can but any part they like.. id rather create.. whether anyone else likes it matters nothing to me. and if its not original well then so what? not everybody here is a purist. and if it i were going back original it would make mine no different than the other 50,000 black over red corvettes.
when i re did the panels i did it as a labor of love and regardless of what you think i think they look fine.. i hang out on this forum for information learned but am starting to realize its all about originality and ncrs. so glag theres smokin vette also. folks are decent and welcome all vettes original or not.

 

and just out of curiousity what lends you to believe i care not about my car? i could care less if you dont see it as an improvement. and why bother to recover? to make it better. why else? i m still trying to read in my post where i said i didnt care what it looked like. i see no vette pics in your garage. ive built 4 and made money on every damn one. made money. not over invested in something ill NEVER see a return on. obviously someone likes my work ( the people that buy them). i see no work youve done. perhaps the idea of working on your car really means im sending it out to have someone else do it. or the heck with fixing something broken,break out the catalog!!! just reach in to those deep pockets and spend some more! be proud of something you probably had someone else build or put together with half of the ecklers catalog then you can be proud of the fact you were able to call them and order something. i guess you could call that working on your car , too. screw actually trying to take a little effort and create something. just pick up the phone!
and after reading your post concerning airplane and harley parts i see you must have the money to just simply replace. not everybody here has. you woulda probably **** yourself if you saw the pic of a forum member that plasti dipped his car! and money or not. when you made the innuendo about my door panels and garbage....if you were any closer, you could have spent some of that money for a dentist and a lawyer monday morning because today you would have carried an *** whippin. i dont guess u ever saw bambi..if you cant say something nice...say nothing at all.

 

I like the skins. Did you use UV stable vinyl? I have a bunch of Marine vinyl, fairly thin too. If you use a heat gun the wrinkle go away very quickly, similar to shrinkwrapping. Good job. Al

 

thank you al. i used automotive grade and a heat gun. i also hung the sheet of vinyl on the back of a chair in front of an electric heater on high for an hour to make it pliable. i removed the weatherstrip and the deluxe skin and saw i had regular door panels under the shin. horrible condition. i cut out the mo damaged areas i thought may show thru the reskinning. from there i grabbed the vinyl and a big can of industrial spray adhessive and started at the bottom. when using the spray adhesive spray both door panel and vinyl and allow a few seconds to tack up.. keep stretching and when you reach the armrest area break out the heat gun..if you mess up , pull it bac and start again. it took me 12 hours from start to finish. my interior is the same color u see we painted rthe old black trim.to tie it all together. after painting the trim i took a steel wool and polished the edges to remove the p[aint and expose the chrome sides. if i ever decide to match it up ill just dye them. no its not original or even a re pop but for what i have invested (32.00) and the fun i had doing it .... im extremely happy. and thanks for the wrinkle tip though today theyre basically non existand. i figure the cooler weather... who knows?
billy