62Jeff

gbvette62

Both Al Knoch and Corvette America will send you a swatch of the material they use, so you can compare it to what you have. Just call and ask.

Keep in mind that after 40-50 years, colors will change. Sometimes they'll darken, and sometimes they fade. This is especially true with soft materials like vinyl and carpet.

71 Green 454

You might want to check with forum member AllVettes4Me, David did a great job restoring his '71 BHG Coupe interior.

Mine is still original. Good luck with yours.

Greg

Hi Jeff,
I just installed a complete new interior in my '73 with dark red (Oxblood) color. Seat covers, door panels, carpet, dash pad, console, E-brake console, etc. You know reds can be very difficult to match as well. I shopped all over before buying and I can tell you Corvette America had the BEST PRICE of anyone out there, even with some of the confusing and nonsensical discounts offered by some vendors Corvette America beat them all. I believe they even offer free shipping periodically. I know they did when I purchased.
Best part, the red was a PERFECT MATCH to my original interior. Fit and finish were great as well. Now I can't tell you who actually made these parts as there are really only a couple of manufacturers out there and all the vendors really sell a lot of the same stuff, you're really only comparing prices.
Good Luck with the job,
Greg

P.S. that green '71 looks terrific!

62Jeff

Thank you all for your replies. I have requested samples of vinyl and carpet from various vendors. I see one of the main carpet manufacturer (ACC) has both dark green and blue green, we'll see if either works.

Regarding member AllVettes4Me, I will reach out to him. A forum search didn't easily identify a thread of his on his interior restoration, but a PM should work.

Jeff

71 Green 454

Good morning Jeff,

Here is a link to David's '71 BHG Corvette:

Before
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...barn-find.html

After
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-37-500-a.html

62Jeff

AllC34Me

Jeff,
Let me know if I can be of any help to you. I wound up dying some original parts and dying the mottled looking panels I got from the suppliers as well. Carpet was good as I got it from ACC which I bought from Willcox Corvette during one of their sales. If you speak to WillCox you might be able to work a deal for many of the interior parts as a "package deal" and save you some additional funds. I cannot promise what they can do for you but I know they will work with you to get a full set of whatever you need.

Let me know if I can be of any help.

Best regards,

David

62Jeff

David,
Thank you for replying. Do you recall if the carpet was dark green, or blue green?

If I could save the original seat covers I would, the passenger side is very nice, the driver's seat has a small tear in the welt cord.

I'm only looking at replacing them because hurricane Harvey brought water to my dad's house, and the front carpets and seat bottoms got wet. The carpet needs to come out to replace the soiled padding anyway, so I might as well put the right color carpet back in if i can get something better than the off-green that is in there now.

The seat covers need to come off to replace the seat foam which soaked up a lot of flood water, and are now deteriorating into foam dust. I'm not sure the seat covers would survive removing/installing.

AllC34Me

Here is my recommendation on the carpet. I would suggest you contact Willcox Corvette and request a sample of the ACC carpet they use for the 1971 Brands Hatch Green Interior. ACC is my preferred go to when it comes to carpet for our Corvettes. Original to the 71 would be 80/20 loop and not the cut pile, that is important for an original look.

Seat replacement can be tricky. New replacement foam is often a bit larger than the old stuff you are replacing which can make it tough to stretch the old seat covers over new foam without tearing it, especially if it is vinyl. If you have a tear in the vinyl now be especially careful when reinstalling because it is the weak spot and will want to tear further when stretched. Also, if the seats got wet with salt water then you have the corrosive element of the salt within the seat tracks themselves and it would be good to get them removed, cleaned, and re-lubricated before using them. Salt on foam will make it brittle. Salt on metal will make rust. Needs to be flushed with fresh water to remove the salt.

Sorry if I am running on here, not my intentions. If I can help further please let me know.

Good luck and best regards,

David Howard
AllVettes4Me

62Jeff

0Willcox Corvette

Hi Jeff,

I'm not sure what color sample you ordered from ACC but the correct ACC color code would be 8-1011 for your car.

I'm the guy that does the seat installations here and I must tell you that we will not do a seat installation without new foam or the install kit in our shop.

You can read about this at this link: http://repairs.willcoxcorvette.com/w...-seat-foam.pdf

I'm not sure when David did his seat covers but he is correct the foam is tight to the cover and you must be careful. There is a video to help you do the installation yourself (which I always suggest). But the new foam from CA is perfect for the installation and you won't have any issues if you take your time.

When you watch the video on the seat covers you must also know that the guy calling the video makes a few mistakes in the size of the clips used. One instance of this is the seat back clips, he calls them 1" and they are hardly 5/8 of an inch. Another trick is if you watch the video closely you'll see that when he installs the clips he doesn't try to pull them up and over the rod, he flips them over it. If you try to pull the clips up and over you'll break them, if you flip them they'll go on perfectly.

The other thing is that you must have the seat clip installation tool... they are a must to do this job.

I have a commercial steamer here that I use to steam the covers (depending on leather or vinyl) to make sure there are not any wrinkles in them. On your car... and one of the most common mistakes I see on covers that were customer installed is the seat back moldings and the release bezels are not centered. You must take your time and tug and pull, then test the fitment. On the seat back moldings you must make a + cut in the material so that you can maneuver the cover in place. Once you get the molding retaining nuts started you do it loosely so that it will allow you to tug and pull the cover into the correct place. The back molding should not pinch any of the welting once installed properly and the release bezel should be centered in the rear of the seat.

If you need the interior or you’d like a quote feel free to contact me at service@Willcoxcorvette.com

Or you can go to our website and order the parts while they are on sale. Here is a link to all the green items for your car. If you look to the left you’ll see in RED the sub categories you can pick the items from. https://willcoxcorvette.com/catalogs...ear=21&q=green

Willcox

62Jeff

Thank you for the info. I plan to replace the carpet and padding, and the seat foam and probably the seat covers. The door panels and the rest of the interior components are fine. The carpet could probably be saved as it looks fine, but if I'm going to pull it to replace the padding I might as well install carpet that matches better than the older repro carpet in there now.

I'm hopeful that seat vinyl available now is a solid green as per the original seats in dad's car, as opposed to the mottled green that David experienced.

I'd also be perfectly happy with cleaning the original seat covers and installing over new foam, if that were possible without further damage to the seat. For me, driving my dad's car and sitting in his seat, holding his steering wheel, his shift ****, is more important to me than getting a new seat cover on his car. I just need to get the water-damaged foam out, which necessitates removal of the seat cover, leading to other things.