I just purchased a 1982 Corvette collectors edition and am wanting to restore it but having a few issues on what I should do. Now the seats, door panels, and dash are quite worn. The dash has cracks throughout and I'll probably have to end up buying a new one but as for the seats and door panels I feel like I could refurbish those possibly. The seats don't have any tears but is just faded and what looks like stains or dark marks on them. What could I possibly use to clean them up or what type of dye can I use to make them look like the original? Also the door panels have tears but mainly just along the treads, I'm also curious what could I use to clean up the leather on them also? If anyone has any advice or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated! I'll get pictures up as soon as I can! Thanks!

 

Any good quality leather cleaning product will help to renew things. SEM automotive interior dye is the only way to fly if you are considering dyeing.

Congrats on the CE.

 

I agree with EasyMike on this one, completely. You can spend big buck$ buying new seatcovers for that car. But, if they are still in decent shape, you can repair/seal any cracks/tears, then mask and spray matching color SEM vinyl dye [will work on leather just fine] to bring them back to life. Same with the dash. You might try repairing any cracks/tears on the dash by trimming off any protruding material, then filling recesses with some polyester body filler (this may take 2-3 steps, as the filler tends to shrink back when filling a deep recess), and finally re-coloring with SEM {or other GOOD quality liquid dye that is sprayed on).

You can buy SEM liquid dyes at most professional auto body paint supply stores. They can mix it to interior color codes or to match a part you bring in. If you don't have spray equipment, also buy a Pre-Val bottle sprayer ($10) and 2-3 spare gas cartridges. They work GREAT with the liquid SEM dye.

On all surfaces that you want to re-color, you MUST clean them COMPLETELY of all dirt/dust/oil/'protectants' with cleaner or detergent; then you must remove all traces of cleaner and/or detergent with lots of fresh water; finally allow to dry completely.

If you have multi-color seats, you need to mask off areas, then dye each color separately and allow to dry completely.

It's much better to completely remove the seats from the car (sounds obvious, but I needed to say it). Better access and no need to mask other areas of the interior.

YOU CAN DO IT! And, when done, the interior will look like new.

 

are you wanting show car or driver and how much can you afford.i replaced my seat covers and carpet just cleaned everything else.i would look at the cost of a new speedo rpm lens .that helped to make things look new again.add up all that you want to replace then call Wilcox for a package deal .