[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Jerry H.

I've noticed one of the biggest differences in the Legendary seat covers and PUI is that the pressed seams in the seats are more defined and hold better than PUI. The PUI seams are known to 'let go'. The difference is noticeable between the two, unless PUI had made big changes recently.

This bears repeating.... The PUI material looks 'flat' compared to the Legendary material. It's very obvious as soon as I look at a car with PUI covers. Just flat seat covers with lines embossed in. They look 2 dimensional compared to Legendary and originals.

[67GP428]

Hi Tom. Thanks. Scott

[Cardo]

I still haven't forgotten. http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...ighlight=cardo

[Greg Reid]

This ^^
Cardo's post illustrates exactly what Jerry and I are referring to. The 'flat pleat' look of the PUI covers.

[tempest1964]

Man, if those pictures don’t prove the old saw, I don’t know what does! “A pictures worth a thousand words”.

[unruhjonny]

WOW!

Thank you for sharing this - that is a striking comparison!?!!

[HWYSTR455]

I think both PUI and Legendary are hit or miss, and it depends a lot on the car you're working on too.

I have tried both, on the same cars even, and had issues with both. I've seen some panels and covers look questionable from both, and great from both. I've seen that duller, plastic-ee look on both PUI and Legendary, and stamping/seams be slightly off.

I know PUI used to make like standard, gold, and platinum series, and think now all is platinum. But the difference used to be noticeable between the series.

I didn't want to recover my buckets this time around, thought I was going to be pressed for time, and ordered the complete seats from PUI. Since I did the buckets, I went ahead and ordered the door panels from PUI too, to ensure they would match. I haven't done a close visual inspection yet, but will do so here shortly, and will post regarding. But the panels and covers that used to be on the car this last time around were Legendary, and they look very close in quality to the new stuff from PUI. The Legendary ones replaced PUIs the last time, which was like in the early 2000s. I recall that swap was a noticeable difference, the Legendary ones were better all around.

Formula jg - Yes, on the 'bird, I have noticed that those precut areas on the panels don't line up well with the holes, and you have to mod them to get them to line up. Drives me nuts.

.

[Zyman]

Anyone with experience with the AL Knoch 1st gen Fbird deluxe door panels? Ames sells them but on the Al Kotch web site and their EBay store the panels have an indent that runs parallel to and above the arm rest where it appears a trim piece nests. I can only guess this is a Camaro thing as my 1968 deluxe interior door panels do not have such a thing.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Zyman

Anyone with experience with the AL Knoch 1st gen Fbird deluxe door panels? Ames sells them but on the Al Kotch web site and their EBay store the panels have an indent that runs parallel to and above the arm rest where it appears a trim piece nests. I can only guess this is a Camaro thing as my 1968 deluxe interior door panels do not have such a thing.

I have Al Knoch deluxe door panels sitting here for our 69 Z. Yes there is a strip of stainless that fastens to the deluxe Camaro panels just above the arm rest, runs parallel, makes a turn towards the front and goes up several inches at about a 30 degree angle.

[Formula jg]

I'm in the middle of a carpet and door panel refresh and noticed that although my Legendary door panel grain and color match are very good the original was definitely more padded and fuller looking.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by Formula jg

I'm in the middle of a carpet and door panel refresh and noticed that although my Legendary door panel grain and color match are very good the original was definitely more padded and fuller looking.

I have noticed that there was even variance on door panels;
maybe it was a year to year thing - but I've seen some which appeared to be noticeably flatter than others...

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Formula jg

I'm in the middle of a carpet and door panel refresh and noticed that although my Legendary door panel grain and color match are very good the original was definitely more padded and fuller looking.

I found the opposite. My Legendary door panels for my 70 bird look noticeably fatter and more padded than the originals on the car. Could be that nearly 50 year old door panels that spent the majority of their lives out in the desert South West has also possibly shrunk a bit.

I bought the Legendary panels about 3 years ago.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

I have noticed that there was even variance on original/OEM door panels;
maybe it was a year to year thing - but I've seen some which appeared to be noticeably flatter than others...

Formulajones's reply prompted me to come see what was said - and I noticed a typo on my last post.

Corrected in bold above.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

Formulajones's reply prompted me to come see what was said - and I noticed a typo on my last post.

Corrected in bold above.

Not sure, haven't seen enough originals to make a fair comparison but if that's what you're after, mine is a May Van Nuys built 70, and the original door panels are in no way fluffy or padded.

[unruhjonny]

I'm talking about hte whole run of second gen cars;
I bought mine with the original door panels still in place;
I still have the original armrests, but tossed the backing door panels some years ago because the bottoms were in tatters...
I searched high and low for a LONG time for really nice stand in replacements - and ended up finding that some years of Camaros used both tops and bottoms of Firebird door panels - iirc the set I used for a long time came from a 1977(?) camaro - same pattern as the Firebird...
Man I came across alot that had holes cut in them for speakers!
It was during that time that I realised 1975 door panels were unique - they had little "Firebird" script" emblems attached to the panel!
I can't recall which examples seemed flatter than others, or if there was any correlation to model year - but I can say for sure there was variance in how "padded" that original door panels were...

And for the record, last time I checked, 1972-1977 'standard' door panels (uppers) are deemed the exact same part...

The '70 door panels (backs) that I now have are about the same "padded" amount as the set I threw out;
I got them from a '70 model year base model - which had the wrong Camaro armrests installed at the factory. lol.
I replaced the vinyl on the bottom, dyed it all black, and called it a day.
I may still yet replace them, because I have has piss-poor luck at dying vinyl, and having it stay put - it always seems to scratch off, and show the old colour through.

[Nickv]

I just redid my 72 lemans interior with PUI seat covers, both front and back and door panels. Looks ok to me. Did the installation myself.

[Two_70_Converts]

I had a small issue with the piping peeling from a Legendary door panel. Called Ames who contacted Legendary. Got a call back to have the door panel ready for pickup. UPS picked up at Legendarys expense. In a short time later a new door panel was delivered with all my hardware transferred over. They even replaced my old OEM window felt with new. Couldn't ask for better service from AMEs or Legendary, I'm sold on Legendary .

[dataway]

Originally Posted by Nickv

I just redid my 72 lemans interior with PUI seat covers, both front and back and door panels. Looks ok to me. Did the installation myself.

I would like to take a nap in that car, looks very nice.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Nickv

I just redid my 72 lemans interior with PUI seat covers, both front and back and door panels. Looks ok to me. Did the installation myself.

They look very good. They've improved pleating depth apparently.

[TAKerry]

This thread has already said about everything but ill add my 2c, I have legendary in my 77 trans am and the quality is outstanding. They do cost a bit more than the others but worth it. I also ordered the wrong thing and they corrected my mistake with no problems even after the parts sat in a box in my garage for a couple of months. I talked to a trim shop before I bought and they said that it depends on the car and brand on which to buy. For example he told me that pui is by far the best for mopar products, and legendary excelled with gm. I got my stuff during sales and bought the door panels direct, I will probably do the same with my tata resto, but for as much as that stuff cost I will look into custom fabrication first.