When I bought my 88 IROC, I also got a few extra new parts, including a new front seat cover for the top part of the seat. The one I have in the car is ripping on the sides so I was going to put the new one on. When I checked it out, the fabric on the new one is darker than the old one as you can see in the picture. Did they change the colors of the beechwood fabric over the years, or do you think this is just a matter of the original fabric fading over the years?

 

As a fellow beechwood guy, I'm fairly sure the material has changed ever so slightly over the years. My 89 was a little lighter like your pic shows your 88 being. I have seen several pictures over the years with that slightly darker color (which actually seems to have some brown fibers in it). ....to add to that...I'm working right now with Princess of Lethal Interiors. She has access to a company (SMS?) that has NOS material from the same source as GM used. It's expensive! -and actually date stamped from back in the day. She sent me a sample, and it too has that slightly darker fibers is in.

I've noticed this with the grey color too. Definitely not the first example of color variations with things through the years. I know, almost for a fact that there are at least two different golds used on the 88-90 "gold" wheels. .....and the decals, I know there are multiple silvers and golds used. Heard that straight from 3M, which made the decals originally. Used to deal with 3M quite a bit and they came right out and said that the color was NOT QC'd very well at all for bulk materials like that. ...and that's not surprising really.

 

....and don't even get me STARTED on the different shades of dye used for the plastics. -and I'm not talking about fading either!!!

BTW....what color is your car? .....a blue 5 speed gold/beechwood 88-89 car is on my shortlist! ....my current Iroc is red.

 

My car is white with the gold wheels and stripes. So from your post I guess I'm screwed on using that new seat cover since its a darker fabric. I was thinking of using lethal interiors to get a new cover for the bottom of the seat, as the side bolsters have some cracks in them and I guess I would have to get a new cover for the top part of the seat. Does Princess have the lighter fabric, or would I be looking at having to get all the seats redone to have it match?

What are the prices you are looking at for getting new covers for all the seats?

 

Can't speak for Princess, but I'd imagine it's highly unlikely she can get the lighter material. ....I'm guessing it was one of those things where the color never officially changed, but of course over the years of production, the supplier must have made a change, and that's probably all that's left 30 years later. That's a big assumptions of course, I could certainly be wrong.

So I'm not actually going back with factory exact, which for that material is a good bit more. My car is kinda a "what if" of different options throughout the years. I try to keep my changes rooted in Camaro history, but not necessarily OE. ....that being said, 4 seats, plus matching doors...half leather/half cloth....I'm at about $1600.

***She is slated to start work on mine in a week or two! Very excited!

 

https://www.facebook.com/lethalinteriors/

....scroll down to late September, you'll see a beechwood set she did for another customer. She lists it at $2200. Same darker material.

 

$1600 Ouch! I didn't even think about the doors. When you say your not going exactly factory OE, what is the difference between OE and what your are getting, and do you have to take the door panels off and send them to her?

 

So the factory seats are staying...same stitch pattern, same brown/tan leather, etc. etc., but I'm going with a different cloth. It's not that factory tweed that we've been discussing. Honestly I'd rather not say what it is. It's gonna be a little different. I'll post a bunch of pictures when it's done. I feel like if I describe it, it'll sound pretty bad. I've done a bunch of photoshops, and have done a lot of material sample matching and it's gonna look pretty sharp. It's a surprise, lol.

.....I posted a thread a few weeks ago with a photoshop of plaid!!!! I ASSURE you I'm not going plaid!!!! LOL......but I set up the photoshop file to try out different materials so it was too much fun to pass up!!!!
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...or-anyone.html

Seriously....not going plaid.

 

As for the doors, she sends you the uncut cloth/carpet and trim all sewn already. ...and she sends the blank door card. You have to assemble the material/cloth piece and door card. She explained why she no longer assembles them, but frankly I don't remember. I have a guy here locally that I know that does upholstery and he's going to assemble them and install the seat covers. While $1600 sounds steep, he said he couldn't touch that price, plus he'd need the seats while he made the covers.

 

She DOES have a few tweed materials that look pretty close....but not quite factory. You and I, and most the guys here would know it's not OE, but it's real high quality looking stuff, and I doubt a non-thirdgenner would know. ....and of course a lot cheaper than the $2200 OE tweed.

 

I saw the tweed one you did. Looked at the complete beechwood interior on the facebook post where she had the complete OE beechwood interior for $2200. Is the $1600 dollar price you are getting because your not going with the OE fabric?

 

Didn't see your post before I sent my last one. My car is mostly stock, just added sub frame connectors and a top with a glass window. Don't know if I ever went to sell it if having a little different fabric from OE would make a big difference or not. I guess I would save a little money, since I already have the one new cover which would match what she would do, but man 2k is a lot of money!

 

Yes. ...that's how much more expensive it is. ....Princess said it's even more than full leather.

 

Lucky for us to have such an expensive interior! I haven't done any local research, but we have a lot of upholstery places here in AZ so I might take it to a few places and see if the could do it any cheaper. No big deal if they need to keep the seats to do it, I don't drive mine very much, only have around 68k original miles on her. Might even look into contacting SMS directly and see if I could buy everything I need and have a place here do it.

Really sucks that they changed the fabric color and you can't get the lighter shade and that seat cover I have is the darker one. Thought I was just going to use that one, and have Princess just make me a new bottom cover, as the rest of the seats are still in good shape.

 

You could look at as unlucky, but I'm sure simply having the option is more lucky than many people with older cars who don't even have the choice, ya know?

....if you do look into finding materials, doesn't hurt to ask about the lighter color. I certainly don't know for sure that it's not available, just a hunch.

 

Thanks for all your help. When I get around to checking with her, I will let you know.