Hi all,

Have just purchased my first Corvette, 1970 Coupe. I have a number of other Classics that needed a little work to make them show-worthy, but the Vette is more of a Project. So I am looking for some suggestions, guidance, recommendations for redoing the Interior.

The exterior is Yellow, with Black Interior. But I hate black, and this interior is in just awful shape. I'm leaning towards Dark Saddle (as the Light Saddle just doesn't have the same "punch"). ChatGPT has helped me visualize what I think I want, but am unsure the best approach to achieve it. I hate having different shades of parts in a car, and am looking for carpet, plastic, upholstery, doors, etc. to all be the same shade. I think this means custom painting and dying, as I have not found a single resource for purchasing such items that are made to be shade-matched (references here welcome if there are retailers that have this).

If folks have done, or have experience, on this... I'd appreciate any advice you can give, effort involved, etc. I'm retired, so I have the time, and reasonably have the energy :-).

Attached are two variations of interior redo. Its not perfect, the black center console version (less effort version) has the driver side gauge area dash being Saddle, when in fact I'd leave that version black as it is (again, for effort sake). The other version is a near 100% color redo, more akin to how a factory version would look, but pretty sure this is then considerably more effort.

Thoughts on effort.
The Black console version would take a new top dash (mine is split anyway). The rest of the interior would then be matched to its shade. I'm assuming seats and carpet could be had that are close, and could be shade matched easier than painting in other areas. Not sure about the door panels. I know there are some that can be purchased, and perhaps it's easier to start there, and paint the upper dash instead ?? But this approach avoids that the front driver and passenger dash nor the center console has to be removed and painted (which seems a lot more work).

The full color version, in addition to the above, would require priming and painting both front dash parts, and the console. From what I can read, this is a lot of work, but perhaps I'd have to do (and master it) anyway, even for the Black console version ?

Couple of things to note. 1) I'm having to replace the Speedometer, so the driver dash is having to come off anyway). 2) The stock shifter, or perhaps the M20 trans, is likely gonna have to be removed as currently I have to knock the shifter to get it out of reverse and shifting is very "slotted", if that makes sense (the "slotness" may be normal though, in which case I'll likely be replacing it anyway... meaning console might have to be pulled anyway).

Black Console update

Full color update


I would love input on the different approaches, and best practices, etc. on how to accomplish.

 

First off, it’s your car so you, of course, are entitled to do whatever you want to it. If it floats your boat, go for it.

That said, a few things to consider:

Al Knoch has reproductions that are spot-on perfect.

Customizing interiors will diminish the value of the car and, more importantly, limit the pool of potential buyers.

Painting plastic and vinyl to match a molded item is problematic at best.

Many of us get more satisfaction from working on our cars than actually driving them. OTOH, many derive most of their enjoyment from driving them. Just be sure you know what you are willing to commit to in terms of time, energy and cost to achieving your goals.

 

I would go for the ALL tan version.

Funny story when I was Corvette shopping I HAD to have black interior. I love Donnybrooke green but you couldn't get black interior with it so I had to settle for Marlboro maroon. Now 25 years later I wouldn't mind tan at all.

There was a brown interior available in 1970 but I've never seen one or even a picture of one with brown interior.

 

Hello,
From the frequent interior re-do threads that have been posted here many of them are conserning the saddle color.
The "saddle" color interior is probably the most difficult color in which to achieve an interior in which all the bits and pieces match very well.
Painting/dyeing all the parts is not the panacea it might appear to be. It works o.k. on hard parts but not nearly as well on seats, door cards, visors, and carpet.
Regards.....

 

I like the two-tone black and tan (map pocket against the black pad) but if you go this route you need to carry it through to the other components. Have the seats made with black bolsters and tan center panels; door panels with the "deluxe" black carpet and chrome strip at the bottom, door lock "racetrack", and maybe the door pull area too.

 

Thanks for the comments. Regarding this car, its gonna be my FUN car, my other 6 Classics are actually investment grade, so I keep them top notch and original... but I wanted this one to be a fun car to try things on. So I don't really care about resale or anything, the Grandkids I leave it to won't care :-).

Thanks for sure for the Al Knoch reference... they may be what I'm looking for....

 

We should switch Vettes maybe :-).

Hadn't really considered BROWN, but have tried a TAN sample and it just didn't have the visual "punch" I was looking for. Brown though might do it... I'll have to look into that one. Thanks

 

I hadn't thought of that approach to that extent.. but it would pull it together better. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

So thanks for those ideas. Following that.. this is what I'm looking at now.... Upper dash would probably be Saddle to better enclose the black. Also thinking the piping in the door would be black to carry the accent through. Of course this is just concept, I have no idea how much the interior guy I'm gonna go to will charge for such a transformation. I need a new top dash anyway, so may get it in Saddle and go from there. Door parts are also available too. So may make the most sense to do that and then have the interiors guy do his best on the seats and carpet to match.

For those that have gone down similar paths, does that seem reasonable ??

 

I think all saddle but black carpet, my 64 is like that and it sets off the tan

 

Your car, your choice, but there is not a better interior color than black for a yellow car.

I have one mix and match interior (mostly, but not entirely red), but it's on a white car. My yellow C5 has a black interior, with non-stock yellow stitching. Perhaps something like that would work?

If you do decide to mix it up, Top Flight will be happy to send you samples of their interior pieces. You can also use SEM dye to recolor some items (perhaps not the seats themselves).

 

Welcome to the Forum and congratulations on your 70.

I also own a yellow 70, but mine has a black interior that has not needed an interior refurbishment. So, I don’t have any experience refurbishing tan interiors.

Both of the interiors pictured look nice. I like the all tan interior the best, but the black and tan looks pretty cool and is something different.

Good luck on your project and keep us updated on your project.

 

I can vouch for saddle being a hard color to match. The dark saddle carpet I got from Al Knock is quite a bit lighter than the OEM carpet, and the console and dash pieces.

If you did go with the 2 tone, to me it would make it easier because you are not trying to make all the colors match. And if there are 2 components that are the same color but not touching each other, then it is not as easy to tell that they do not exactly match.

OEM dark saddle carpet

Al Knock dark saddle carpet

 

Need.. the AI version looks more like light saddle (which I think was the only Saddle for 1970, dark came later ???). But yeah, doesn't really match well. However, someone suggested black carpet and Saddle dash, and honestly that is growing on me. One response was that it was easier to match with hard surfaces like the plastic dash and such, so it may be that works better, who knows (I'll let my interior guy make suggestions there :-). Thanks though for the feedback, does seems like Black and Saddle might be a more acceptable end result. Time will tell.

Here is what I am looking at now based on the feedback from everyone. I have to say, if you play around with ChatGPT a bit, it can be very inspiring to be able to issue a command and have a new variation in 30 seconds.

Black carpet, new seats, and dash.

 

With a yellow car Id leave interior black but if you change Id go all tan.

 

If you look at the C8 online "configurator", you will find a lot of tan and black seat and interior combinations. It may give you some new ideas.