Making Sure To Have A Plan For Your Next Upgrade
It’s a question I ask myself every time I get into a difficult project that seems to be much harder than I thought it would be. It makes no difference if it is working around the house, yard, collector car, or whatever—once into it, the job never seems to be as easy or inexpensive as in the past—or as I had originally planned—and that’s when I start hearing that question in my head: Is it all worth it?
So now I try to consider all the obstacles, costs, my physical condition, and so on, before I get too deep into taking on whatever project it is. I’ve found that by doing the research on overall cost and the degree of difficulty, I can make a logical decision on whether I should attempt it or not. The reason I bring this up is that I have recently been considering redoing my collector car’s interior, using an aftermarket kit from a well-known and reliable Pontiac parts supplier.
Years ago, I replaced the seat covers, carpet, and door panels in a ’70 Challenger. The headliner was in good condition, so I passed on that. I kept all the tools I had purchased, so I just needed the correct interior parts for my GTO. I contacted the aforementioned Pontiac aftermarket parts supplier, and they shipped me the front and back seat covers, along with the matching color carpet kit. The headliner and door panels were still in very nice shape, so I avoided having to remove and replace those. The colors matched almost perfectly to the original, so I continued the project. As I mentioned, I had some experience with aftermarket seat kits in the past, so I was somewhat familiar with the process.
One thing I learned while installing that Mopar kit is that what doesn’t come with the new upholstery ispatience. This is not a project you want to rush through. Have a plan of attack to minimize mistakes. I would do one bucket seat cover installation at a time, start to finish. That way, any problems that occurred during the first install could be eliminated during the second cover install.
So, back to the title: Is it all worth it? My answer is yes, it is. If you are doing a restoration, or even just repairing damage, it is an important upgrade for your vehicle. It’s an area you can’t avoid seeing and one that’s considered very important at shows, so consequently you should want to get it as close to perfect as possible. Plus, a beautiful interior increases the value of the car. No one wants to pay an upholstery shop top dollar for a car that only needs a single bucket seat interior restoration.