[Ooooner]

I went to an auto upholstery shop today to get the guy to give me a price to re-upholster the two seats in my GT using velour. The foam needs to be replaced as well. He gave me a price of $400 per seat. Now, that seems a little steep to me. Heck, I was even going to bring the seats to him, already out of the car. Am I right or just ignorant to the cost of car upholstery shop prices?

 

[houserc]

Opel GT Source has the seat material for $379 for the pair. It's not hard to do it yourself. About the only thing that would help to do the job is a dog ear plyers and the staples. You can get them from JC Whitney.

I tore both of my seats down, PORed the metal and rebuilt the reclining mechanisim and had them both reinstalled in two evenings.

 

[Excelsior]

That sounds JUST like the guy from a local radiator shop about recoring my radiator. Without even looking, he estimated the cost of the recore to be ~$400!!!!

Sounds like he does not want your business, look elsewhere.

Hey, have a friend go and mention that they have a 69 Mustang that they need the seats reupholstered and see what they say then. Or pick a car, chevy, anything.

 

[West Coast GT]

Just re-upholstered my Chyrsler last fall, ordering through JC Whitney. Cost was about $250. What I got was a set of tweed/vinyl custom made covers that fit my model. Opel would be less because it is front seats only. One half, but less. Plus, the headrest is an extension of the seat bcak, so you don't have to pay extra.

These covers can be installed over the existing vinyl, or, you can strip the old ones off, and use spray adhesive to install new ones. But chances are you will not get the full bolster effect with these covers.

Years ago, I reupholstered my wife's GT, using the old covers for patterns. I sank about 50 hours into it, and while it turned out good, and kept costs to under $60, it was difficult and time consuming.

Its a balance of how good you want it to look, and how much you want to spend.

Friend of mine lives by the philosophy, "if its going to show, pay to have it done".

 

[George]

recover seats

It takes time to recover a seat when you have to take one apart to use for a pattern and its the time you will be paying for.you might try and find someone that has recovered a gt seat and see if they kept the cover that was taken apart to use for a pattern.they should be less expensive.

 

[Old Hippie]

What's that commercial about "Progressive"? There's always people starting out, trying to make a name for their work. Look around. I got a friend who was 1/3 the price of interiors as a "established" shop. And he turned out to be twice as good.

 

[billiard13]

$400 per seat is ridiculous, period, even for a professional recovering. As hard as it is to do, unless you're ok with throwing money around, i'd either do it yourself or find another upholstery shop.

Here's a tip, next time take the seats out, take them with you and get an estimate johnny on the spot. Could be way off, but i'm wondering if you were shot a high estimate maybe because the guy knew it was a rare car? It's more likely than you think.

In reality, the seats aren't much different from other cars and you should be able to get it done much more affordably. A professional won't spend much more than a day or two recovering them.