What companies are out there for “Interiors”?
 

I’ll be starting the interior of my ground resto. I will need “everything” (headliner, door panels, seat upholstery, foam, carpet). I may go with what Ames has to offer but need suggestions of other companies that may offer competitive prices and additional choices such as colors.

PUI and Legendary are the main players. Legendary is know for the better quality and higher price. I believe Ames sells both brands. If your doing a restoration ames should have everything you need. Keep in mind that some things can be done better than how they were originally.

Go with Legendary. PUI was good back in the day when they made their stuff in the USA. Now it is mostly Mexico and since then most of their products are not up to good repo standards. Their grain is not as defined as original and seat covers are often hard to get to fit.

legendary is worth the extra cost

legendary.

Legendary

Legendary.

Okay, so I’m going with Legendary. My ride is a 67 GTO hardtop. I want a white interior as I think this will be an eye-catching contrast to the red exterior. White is not offered for my year model; the closest is Parchment which looks like an off white with gold….no thanks. Ames contacted Legendary and they said they can give me the color I want for an additional 20% of what’s listed in the Ames magazine. This works for me.

I bought my Legendary from Rick at Wellington Classics. Pricing was a little better than Ames, service was excellent.

J.C. Whitney

I'm also on the legendary bandwagon... I've installed both. PUI's are ok, but legendary is hands down better.

I'll also give Rick at Wellington another big ThumbsUp- if you have not already ordered, give him a call for price quotes.
I send all my customers to him for their orders after having a very positive experience with him as the middleman with some covers that were defective- he really went the extra mile to make sure everything was right. Also- as Bob mentioned, he consistently beats the prices of most of the big catalog vendors.

Anyway- not yet mentioned- but be sure to get the American Cushion Industries (ACI) seat buns for the bucket seats.... Under no circumstances buy the cheap "economy" buns.. Buying the right buns is as important as the choice of seat cover MFG in my opinion.

I've installed both PUI & Legendary Headliners- they are both about the same quality, I would buy that based on price.

Carpets- ACC & Trim parts both sell the molded carpet sets. I've installed both, they both look good- they come with all the same options, again i'd buy whichever one of those two is cheaper.

Great info. I’ll contact Wellington (Rick) tomorrow. I’m not cutting any corners on quality and cost but look for the best deals. The most important quality to me is professional customer service (respectable phone manners) and I would pay considerably more for this. Sounds like Rick may be the way to go.

I would prefer to buy an entire kit from the get go, but I’ll buy starting with the headliner because this is what my interior guy wants to start with (from top down). I can’t afford to buy the entire kit and pay him simultaneously.

I’m assuming buying from Ames or Wellington is cheaper than buying direct from Ledgendary?

BTW: these seat springs are as old as the car (50 y/o). Is it necessary to stiffen up the springs? Can this even be done?

Legendary through Rick at Wellington for sure.....ACI cushions are a must!

FYI,I had a issue with Legendary with the door panels in my 69 Judge.The mylar on the trim was pealing off.I bought them thru Ames.When I called Legendary they would not deal with me and said I would have to send them back to Ames,Ames would send them to the maker,maker would send back to Ames and then back to me.This was even if I gave them a pick of my bill from Ames.Kind of pissed me off.I now look at the quality of PUI and them side by side.If they look good enough I give the biz to PUI and if the Legendary look better a go to them begrudgingly.Tom

I'm trying to find interior panels that will fit a 64 Tempest Custom convertible I'm fixing up, Ames folks told me today the GTO/Lemans panel is different shape then the Tempest panel, so I was surprised and disappointed but still not giving up. Anybody know if the panels are the same fit, except for the styling.

I concur with your aggravation Tom; this bureaucracy would piss me off. These situations need to be public for the masses to read and I look for evidence of these situations. Eventually staff from Legendary will see this thread.

They make great stuff.Nothing is worse than dealing with SMS though!Their stuff is the very best IMO.Tom

^^ I was going to comment on SMS for the headliner. I still haven't replaced mine but it was the only place that had the exact match for my original.

Legendary's own customer service does leave a bit to be desired... one of the reasons i prefer to deal with a vendor instead of them directly. I love their products, not their customer service! That said- they do stand by their lifetime warrantee for issues and will make things right- but you do have to follow their procedures.

They include a big orange sticker right on the box and inside the bag that says exactly that(thought i made the same mistake and didn't pay attention to it either)- if you purchased through a reseller you must handle issues through that reseller... and this is exactly where my experience with Rick from Wellington was different as he personally handled the issue I encountered, and when legendary was balking at covering the return shipping until they had the product he reimbursed me directly and waited for legendary to reimburse him. Thats customer service.

PUI is no different- they just don't sell directly to the public so you have no choice but to go back through a dealer to talk to them- but they too will usually treat you right if defects are found.

Same panel just a little fancier in the Lemans/GTO. I have the GTO ones to go in my Tempest Custom cause nobody will ever notice it’s basically just the placement of the pleats. I can’t get a straight answer on whether it’s supposed to have carpet on the bottom but I think it looks better without so I’m gonna leave it off!

Legendary 👍👍👍👍
 

Legendary 👍👍👍👍

Have to save this thread

Did you get those panels from Ames? And were they Legendary or PUI? Like you, I don't care about the originality, just the fit.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge about carpet kits from SMS Fabrics?

Does anyone do leather for a reasonable price? Also does anyone do the sport seats for the Pontiac? I think the back seat is different, but I really like the bolsters on the factory seat frame and will look for this on my 70 lemans convertible. Did not confirm but was told Chevelle back seat is the same as the Lemans / GTO Convertible??? If buying the foam and covers labor should be the same so only increase is a different product.
http://www.tmiproducts.com/chevy/bro....html?cat=4821

Legendary Auto Interiors has a large bolster cover/bun option they call their "Rallye" seats. They make the pontiac covers (better quality than TMI also). I've installed a few.

These look really nice and do feel good to sit in- but a couple things to note- The special buns they have are really stiff- if you are tall your head will be in the headliner and your knees may be up against the bottom of the steering wheel.

two- the seats won't lean forward very well due to the larger side and bottom bolster.

There is no "large bolster" back seat available on the market today, only the stock style covers.
If you want bolstering added to a back seat, you'll need to find an upholstery shop that can sew listings onto the back of the covers and then modify the back seat cushion to have attaching points, and add extra padding in those areas for extra definition.

here is a Pair of 68 Olds Cutlass buckets I did with the Legendary "Rallye" large bolster buns & covers earlier this year.

I like these better than the TMI ones as even though the bolsters are still quite a bit larger than stock- but visually don't look as exaggerated as the tmi's.

Thanks for the information, picture and function information for folding seat and firm cushion. I will check if they also do leather and want to put a heated system in also for a few extra weeks in Wisconsin of driving with the top down.
Paul