THAT NEW CAR SMELL!

I am not even going to try to say I know anything about sewing, cloth or different types of materials. What I will do is cover what I did and had done .

First and foremost, I researched the hell out of DeSoto interiors and vintage material suppliers. I found that for 1956 DeSoto upgraded most of their interior materials and offered a multitude of colors, designs and materials all aimed to look as luxury, high end, fit, finish and feel designs. And based on the research they succeeded as written in the automotive press of the time. The materials leaned to multi colored brocades color matched to the exterior colors. For me, too old school. What I envisioned was more '70s style, subdued whites and my addition of blues to match the car, using as much of the original trim as possible. Before I go any further lets see what will be pitched.

 

Back in the day power steering was almost never heard of. You had to have a lot of leverage, hence the LARGE steering wheel. Look carefully on the left side of the dash. See that cluster of four (4) buttons? That's for the automatic transmission; Park, Neutral, Drive and Reverse.  Very unique and very Chrysler design through the mid 1960's.

 Seen from the passenger side, the rear seat and
side trim panel. The seat covers when I purchased the car were not stock from the factory. Back in the day you could get replacement seat covers from Montgomery Ward, Sears, Western Auto and others. As far as I could determine the side panels were original.  Note the crappy replacement red carpet somebody added later and used to hide holes in the front seat floor area.

 The driver side door panel. The bottom is heavily damaged by water and wear. One of it's trim stripes has fallen off. It looks blueish but is faded blacks and grays.

 The passenger side rear, with the driver side front seat tipped forward. The front seat tilted forward on both sides to allow access to the rear. There were NO tilt safety locks in the event of a crash! Seat belts were still eight to ten years away Two door Chrysler Motors vehicles had asymmetrical front seat splits which allowed easier entry from the passenger side. It was also considered safer due to enter from the curb side.

The passenger side door panel. Again look at the heavy water damage.

 One of the rear seat side panels. Just below the white color is an arm rest. Although hard to see, there was an ash tray for smokers in each arm rest. I tried to convert them into cup holders but the arm rest was too small.

I considered bucket seats, power seats, heated seats,  and a console but decided that the extra fabrication for floor to seat track structures, wiring, control switches and panels was just too much. I did know that I wanted leather or at least high end vinyl and or naugahyde.

Then I started going to shops that do automotive interiors and spent hours looking at materials and colors. What I found out was kind of a SHOCK to the mind and to the wallet. Six (6) to eight (8) K for a complete interior. And that was considered cheap! The best automotive interior shops were forty to eighty miles away, required the car in the shop AND WORST OF ALL they had a one and half to two year WAIT TIME to get in. In the meantime, I kept working on the car and looking at materials. On a parts run, I was lamenting the above, and the parts guy said there was a new person right here in town who had just moved back from Florida and did car and boat upholstery work. He gave me her card. I kind of figured what did I have to loose and gave her a call.

 She invited me over to her shop(her parents garage and barn) and we went over what she could do, showed me around and said she could start as soon as I decided on the colors and materials.  She gave a bunch of material samples to take home and layout with the car colors. She assured me that she could have the car done within a few months and her PRICE WAS RIGHT! About half of what I had found elsewhere! She did say this would be her first complete car top to bottom. She had pictures of car seats, panels, furniture and boat interiors but not a complete car.

I continued to go to local furniture upholstery shops looking at materials as well. One shop had leather and recycled leather backed urethane that matched the leather. Researching, I found urethane is cooler to sit on, lasts and tests just as well for wear as vinyl and might be a smidge cheaper. The colors were perfect for the car. BUT, the shop would not sell it unless they did the work. I memorized the name and company, looked it on line, then passed  it on to "my" upholstery person. I asked her to check to see if she could get it.

A few days later she said she could, if she jumped through some hoops, filled out business papers, provided state business numbers, state tax forms  etc. She said she need to pay a fee upfront but it was refundable on her first order. I said I would pay it, as a down payment for the work as long as she wrote it up as a down payment. Which she did. We were on the way.

Reading the 1956 DeSoto repair manual section on interiors helped me and my son deconstruct the interior without destroying it when we disassembled the car.  We stored everything in the rafters of the garage, where it laid in the heat and cold for ten years. It was now time to retrieve it all and take it to the upholstery shop.  The headliner was dry rotted when we took it down, rolled it up with the bows still in place, and stored it. It was now crumbling. I carefully laid it out, removed the bows one at a time and numbered them front to back. Good thing too as each bow is a different length front to back. They also had a "hook" some what like a number 7 on each end. The bow slipped into it then plugged into a roof frame body hole.

 The DeSoto manual said to replace the head liner required that all the glass, rubber seals and metal window window tracks had to be out. FYI, in today's cars, most don't have a rubber seal for the windshield or rear window they are glued/caulked in place. Removal wasn't problem as everything was all out before sandblasting. I cut, fit and glued a recycled aluminized  insulation two (2) piece roof pad.  That was a real trip, working it up overhead all floppy, sticky and damp with glueby myself! There was none in the original car. Just bare metal. The book said working front to back the installer would slit the headliner at each stamped hook or "tooth", press the material over the tooth and move to each "tooth" in turn. That then down the sides inserting the bows, slitting and gluing as necessary.

 My upholsterer had never done a headliner before. She used the old 'liner" as a pattern, added extra material based on experience sewed in the bow pockets etc. We picked a common newer car cloth and vinyl headliner versus the all cloth original. We both liked the perforated versus solid material. When done, she brought the liner over and we installed it together. It took both of us to handle, unroll, slide in the bows, slip on the hooks, "bend" them into their respective holes, spray glue, slit,  poke, pull and tug the liner into place. At the rear roof line she had to cut the final contours as the original was most rotted and missing there. She and I also had to cut openings for the rear roof pillar interior lights and then I installed them.

It took us more than four (4) hours to complete the head liner. If you look carefully at the nearest upper edge of the windshield opening you can see the hooks or "tooth" the "liner" had to be slit, glued  and pushed over. In a couple of stubborn areas we used clothes pins to hold the "liner" in place while the glue set up. Visible on the  rear side roof and quarter panel are the stock coat hook and interior light.






While work continued on the other interior parts I prepared the dash board top for the tachometer and wires. The dash top is a full size "cover" over a double layer of structural steel.. It also serves as part of the duct for defrosting the windshield. Sitting on a milk crate I guessed as to a good location for the tachometer, marking it for location and drilling. With no glass, it was a snap to drill the holes for the layers. I then took it the upholstery shop for covering.

As I said the front and rear windshields as well as the side glass could not be installed until the headliner was in. Not knowing how to install glass or the rubber seals I looked high and low for an automotive glass shop who could. After a lot of phone calls and a couple of shop visits I found a guy who specialized in what I needed. Separately I had ordered several glass and body rubber seal kits mostly from STEELE Rubber. They specialize in that kind of stuff. ASIDE: Their stuff is high quality BUT mostly made for GM . A lot of their stuff is thicker than original causing fitting issues. Nothing you can do about it!

The glass guy came and together we spent a full eight (8) hours installing the rubber, glass and trim for the front and rear windows. The trim and clips drove the glass guy CRAZY. He was so frustrated with one piece remaining he almost left! I kind of talked him down and on the last attempt the trim piece snapped in place. WHEW!And of course it was blazing hot. I had salvaged the necessary trim clips. Originally the trim clips and some of the upholstery was factory installed using factory 1/4" inch long flat head spiral nails. They were a bitch pulling them out! I/we used 1/2" number 6  and 8 stainless steel sheet metal screws to reattach the trim and later upholstery.

 Most interesting for me was the rubber seal. A piece of rope was inserted into the groove where the glass would go. The you or the installer would then pull the rope out opening the grove and the glass would drop in. I followed along applying pressure as directed.

Later I installed the roof line side window trim and seal with door window "flipper". The door window "flipper"is a hinged metal and rubber window seal that "flips" up about forty-five (45) degrees when the door is opened. When the door is closed it flips down creating a seal against the window 's metal frame.

 The front windshield and trim installed. Also seen installed is the side glass roof trim seal and door "flipper."

The rear windshield now installed.  Also visible is the roof line side window trim and seal with door "flipper." If looked at carefully, the upper side window trim is bright, polished, then seems abruptly cut off. That is where the "flipper" begins and is in the up position when the picture was taken.









I installed the rear quarter side glass next. They were a royal pain. It required a pivot pin be inserted
into the lifting mechanism while partially raised but not bolted into position. It also had a tracking wheel that had to sit in a curving track. Several large and heavy pieces flopping around, limited access and only two hands!

The quarter window glass installed.

Next up for description purposes is the door panels and rear seat side panels. Each door panel had a metal upper quarter with the rest made of cardboard or other paper type material. As the above pictures show they were heavily damaged. The upholster tried several methods for patterns and had her father cut untempered 1/8"inch board. NOTE: Most car upholstery shops use some kind of weatherproof  thin plastic or rigid foam board I found out later. I picked up several attempts at the door panels, bringing them home to check for fit on the doors. None were any good. I finally got more material, attached them to the upper metal section. I then laid them on the doors, locked them down in their door slots and traced then out. Rough cut, I then relaid them marking them for the holes for the panel push lock clips. Even then I had to "guess" as to the hole size for the push clips. They then went back to her for padding, trim location and covering. When they were done they came back to me so I could install the window opening "fuzz" pieces which act as spacers and weather seals on the door panels and doors. They are stapled into place on factory new builds or were "nailed" with those odd nails I described earlier. Not having any type of stapler that shoots through metal I called around and including Steele was told use small sheet metal screws. There were holes in the doors and door panel metal which worked with # 6  X 1/2" sheet metal screws. The doors even had stamped holes for inserting tools/screwdriver to reach across the window slot structure and screw holes for  the screws.

The rear seat side panels were less troublesome in that they were all metal. The had large tabs for screws to attach them to the body. Throughout the restoration those tabs snagged my pants or cut my legs. I finally got smart and covered them in duct tape. The window "fuzz" strips went on as previously described.  Overlooked was the position, of the screw holes for attachment.  The upholstery was wrapped over and on the reverse side covered the holes. Very careful positioning and use of a hat pin located the holes on installation.

Windlace is a 1/'2" inch or larger rope like appearing upholstery piece used in older cars to cover and provide a seal at the doors, windows and other body structures. The upholster made roughly tent (10) feet of it for the door and body openings. It was a bit of a trip gluing and installing it, especially around the door/windshield body curves. Those curves came unglued so I had to drill a few holes for the stainless screws. In a few places I had to pull it out, and reposition it, as the panels and trim pieces went back on as we had done it wrong.

The seats front and rear have blur rolled and pleated leather. Each roll is a separate piece, then each roll is sewed together forming the panel. The rest of the upholstery material it is urethane backed with recycled leather. I wanted a "french" stitch. She said she did not how to do it and that her sewing machine wouldn't do it. I was disappointed but accepted it. A week or so later she called and said she had gone to the best local shop, a former Amish man, in the area and he would teach her to do it using her machine!  When all said and done she made a number of trips to his shop learning a number of techniques.

At some point the upholsterer said the interior need just a bit of "POP" to go with the rest of the car. That 'pop" wound up costing her time and money! She said a friend of hers had an computerized embroidery sewing machine. She suggested doing something utilizing it. At no additional cost. I scrambled around looking for pictures of what might look cool. I wound up with the Ferdinand DeSoto head logo used by DeSoto and the latest Viper head logo for the Viper. We both agreed the red snake head was COOL!  That lead to a disaster! The first go round her friend laid them out wrong and embroidered them crooked!! Needless to say this caused a lot of consternation for her and a major material replacement and redo for her.

The rear seats also had their problems. The Viper heads were the first. The second was the seat back and seat cushion panels were shifted an inch or more. They did not line up back rest to seat cushion. Worse, one went left the other right. That required more rework on her part.

The rear package shelf and dash went pretty much as planned. The only difficulty was the multiple curves on the package shelf trying to pop up and unglue. Then later I had to cut it for the stereo speaker openings.

In all her few months turned into over a year to complete. You can be the judge as to what was done as you look at the interior. I am more than happy even though I know where all the flaws are.  In truth it didn't matter as so much as the restoration work was not done and I was found to have lymphoma cancer. That was almost four years ago. The prognosis is and continues to be good.

During the built I laid in and glued an insulated, recycled and aluminized floor pad. I also purchased a factory automotive type floor carpet. I cut and fit it then took all the pieces to a local shop for edge binding.

The last pieces were the front "kick panels" under the dash. I had run the battery cable, ground and lighting wires inside the car. I had to cut the bottom of the side panel and add a metal "tunnel" to accommodate the wiring below and behind the panel. There was a bit of a valley just inside the door and the floor. I used the insulation pad to make the valley deeper. The car has full length aluminum floor kick plates at the doors which successfully and protectively cover the wiring.

 We won this steering wheel in a contest on line. My son entered our incomplete car and they thought it was so cool they gave us the choice of their Forever Sharp steering wheel line. Note how much smaller it is.










The back side with finger slots for added grip

and comfort.

Front and rear seats with the asymmetrical passenger side seat folded forward. Driver side rear panel is also seen along with rear quarter window and driver's door window.

Front and rear seats with windows down.

 The complete dash. Note the old school "gasser" tach location. All gauges are Auto Meter Ultra Lite II.  Also seen is the retro bench seat shift lever. The dark stripe on the door frame is the windlace that runs floor to top of the door frame. It kept coming loose following the curves until a few well placed screws were put in. The side kick panel is also visible.







A full view of the dash.

The manually adjustable Viper pedal assembly.
Carpet was hand cut by me and sent out for edge binding. The transmission carpet cover folds back to allow access to the transmission/ floor panel. It is removable for access to rear of the transmission bell housing bolts engine and coil mounting bracket. Not complete at the time of the picture, was the shifter boot and trim plate.

The finished trunk. The original DeSoto had a bare floor or optional cheap mat floor. Visible is the relocated battery. The "hole" on the right side of the floor was where the spare tire used to reside.