Automotive Upholstery & Interior Restoration. Fred Mattson

shell requires that all old materials are stripped off. The hook end of the robe cord is disconnected from the tensioner that is located inside the shell. The old robe cord is set aside and saved for reconditioning.

      Cut new vinyl and fabric for the seatback cover. Use the old cover as a guide to size the materials. Apply the materials in the reverse order that they were removed. Wrap the outside end cap with vinyl and glue or staple it in place. Begin with the long sides and then work the top and then the bottom. Apply a little heat to help the vinyl form around the corners of the shell.

      Now work the fabric panel by blind tacking the inside edge of the upholstery fabric before it is pulled to the outside and tacked in place. Work the top edge and then the bottom until all the wrinkles have been smoothed out of the material. Reapply the decorative welt along the outside edge of the shell with staples.

       Staples that are holding the decorative welt along the outer edge of the shell are removed, freeing the welt and upholstery material from the shell. The old upholstery materials can now be removed from the seatback shell.

       With the outside upholstery removed, you can see that the coach wadding has deteriorated and it must be scraped off the frame. Before the new felt underliner can be applied, the metal shell is wire brushed and cleaned.

       A fresh layer of felt underliner has been applied to the shell frame in preparation for the new cover materials. The new vinyl and fabric pieces are fitted to the metal frame by stapling, stretching, and gluing them in place.

Robe Cords

      Early-model cars did not have good heaters and the passengers in the rear seat used a “lap robe” to help keep their legs warm. Robe cords were attached horizontally across the back of the front seat and the lap robe draped over the cord, where it was stored out of the way when not in use. This project has a robe cord on each seatback. The robe cord is constructed of a metal chain inside a vinyl-covered rubber hose. Although the chain may be reusable, the original robe cord cover is usually dry rotted and must be replaced. Originally the core tube of the robe cord was made of rubber. The cost of rubber today is prohibitive, so I am opting to use a piece of PVC vinyl tubing instead. The new tube has a 1/2-inch outside diameter with a 3/8-inch inside diameter just like the original.

       Size Measurement

      To make the vinyl cover you need to know what size to cut and sew the cover material. To figure the width of the robe cord cover material, place two 1/2-inch strips of vinyl running parallel on top of the vinyl tubing. Now wrap a scrap strip of vinyl around the tubing and mark the point where it overlaps itself. This is the finished width of the robe cord cover.

      Before cutting the material for the robe cord you also need to add an inch to the finished diameter, which gives you a 1/2-inch seam allowance along the edge. Now measure the length of the vinyl tube to get the final dimension of the cover material. Lay out the dimensions on the vinyl and cut the cover material to size.

       Robe Cord Cover