Hawkes Bay Trim and Canvas

Project name: 5 Window
Material used: Bharma
Fabric Supplied By: Reid & Twiname Ltd

What did the client request?

The client requested a full interior build with the use of leather all through his custom made 5 window coupe.

What is unique or complex about the project?

This car came to us with some panels made for the door cards (which did not fit properly) two old steel framed seats he found in a scrap yard and that was it. We welded the seat frames together to make them fit the tight interior of the car and started fabricating the seats from there. The base of this seat actually pulls out for extra storage and to get to the bolts that hold the seat to the frame of the car. A custom made headlining and cover panels were fabricated and made to fit around the roll cage and covered in leather look vinyl. The dash, kick panels, all door cards and storage shelves under the dash were also covered in leather. We carried on the diamond stitch detail into the door cars that had to be shaped to get around the window winder motors. Full custom panels were made up for the boot of the car with the same diamond detail following through into there. We had to get custom sill plates made to fit that replicated the firewall of the car. Custom made seats and foams finish off the interior with the customer being a bigger guy and the seat frame fixed to the floor we had to taylor the foams to get him into the right driving position and then match that over to the passenger side along with adding extra foam to add some support to him while driving.

What were the results of the project?

The customer was extremely happy with the final outcome, he is very pedantic and likes for his ideas to be followed. This is the third car we have done for him and every time I say never again but cant help myself.

Is there any other relevant information?

For such a small car there was a heap of work involved in getting everything to flow and look like it was meant to fit. Trying to eliminate visible fasteners and still have everything be functional wasn’t easy, along with the poor quality of cabin build made things harder than what they should have been.