Hi! I am looking to midify my C3 interior. Was looking to replace all new parts including carpet, dashboard, door panels, gaskets and all interior trim. I started a basket with all the parts needed and the number came out astronomical for parts only, plus I would have to figure labor cost. I was thinking just to reach out to a custom shop and see if that would be a cheaper option for me. I've been told that to have a custom shop do it would be much cheaper. Can someone recommend custom interior shop in NJ area? Any direction is appreciated.

 

Somewhere I have a receipt that shows the PO of my 79 paid $2K to rebuild and install just the seats at Corvette Paramedics in NJ. They look great, but I'm sure the price hasn't gone down in the last 5 years.

If you want to save money on these cars, you'll have to do it yourself, refurbish what you have, or get used parts from another car.

Post up what you have! Someone might have ideas to help.

 

Ok. Will do that! The interior looks ok as of now but would like to convert it from all red to black.

 

What year? You might find someone, like me, looking to do the opposite. Red is the best interior color.

 

Call Al Knock Interiors and order everything and have some one install them if they are above your abilities. He sells the exact replica's of all the interior parts and they are of top notch (NCRS) quality. I have replaced the seat covers, convertible top, floor carpets and dash panels with his parts. The man stands behind his parts like few others today. Al Knock may have a list of people in the various parts of the country, it would be worth checking with him.

I bought my first set of leather seat covers (in BLACK) and put them on with new foam. A few months (approx ~18) later one of the threads popped and was coming undone in the drivers seat. I assumed it was something that I had done while installing them. I spoke to Al at a Corvettes@Carlisle even and he wanted to see it. After seeing it he asked me to ship both seats to his shop in Texas. He replaced BOTH of the leather seat covers along with all new Foam and then he re-painted the rear of the seat panel and made the seats look brand new. Then he shipped them to me at his cost all because of one pulled thread. This kind of service is no longer very common and to this day I always recommend that people call Al Knock Interiors whenever they need interior parts. Al is a very unique business man and he will make sure that you are extremely happy with whatever he offers.

I will never look anywhere else as I am a Lifetime customer of Al's after the way he treated me. Having someone install the parts is always an option but Al offers DVD's of "How To" install a convertible top and most of the parts are very easy to do yourself. The seats and the convertible top are both a bit harder to do but well within the realm of we Corvette owners if you take your time and have the right tools.

 

Or Al Knoch...

He's the best...

 

Amen! Give Knoch a knock. They have a knack with interiors.

 

I’m curious how much are you talking about for new seat foam and covers, dash parts, center console, ebrake console, carpets ect ect ect. I had a quote 5 years ago for $5,000 for labor but I would like to know your parts list and what you got as a cost without labor.

 

Another way to avoid spending $5K or more on the interior is to change the color yourself. I wouldn't do this to the seats, but you can change the color of many other pieces using SEM vinyl dye. It takes a few extra steps, but the results are pretty good.

And carpet is cheap, and easy to DIY..

 

If I can't find some excellent originals and Al still makes seat covers with real Comfortweave I will be ordering some from him based on this testimony.

 

I bought used fiero seats. Had them done in south jersey not far from corvette paramedics and installed them myself. Pretty easy. Cost about 1100 for all you see.

 

Corvette America dye works really well also. Its in spray can form. If you prep the interior pieces properly it will stick and last a long time. Theres been folks here that dyed the seats with good results as well. I havent tried it yet

 

black is also the easiest color to change to. the lighter the dye the more it takes. and the darker the old color the more it takes.

 

Dye your interior. Just make sure you prep 100% correctly. 🤪

 

agreed. I changed my interior from white/red to buckskin. I dye most plastic interior pieces. The dash was too cracked. Carpets are inexpensive. Buy dye from a reputable auto paint shop. My dye matched perfectly.

 

SEM no longer makes liquid ColorCoat vinyl dye (which could be mixed to whatever color you wanted). They only sell the ColorCoat in spary cans; this limits color choices considerably.

Most other spray cans labeled "vinyl dye" are really just paint with a flex agent added. They can still crack or peel with time. Real vinyl dye BONDS to the plastic parts, rather than just coating them. Consider this carefully, before deciding what product to use on your interior parts.