Anyone have an opinion on the quality of their products and service? Lotsa money and I’d sure appreciate any input, pro or con.
Thanks,
rcode
They have the stuff but as you know, you’ll pay dearly.
One thing I have heard (but never experienced myself) is that light colored fabrics may have stains deep in the rolls from storage and time. I would ask that any large quantity purchase be unrolled and photographed for you before shipment.
When we were looking for hard-to-find material for the Jeep we found these guys had an NOS roll of what we needed :
https://originalauto.com/about-us/
Again, you pay dearly for it, but sometimes it’s your only option. Might be worth cross-shopping if you can.
Very much appreciate the input. Rolling out the fabric is a very sensible idea I hadn’t thought of!!
rcode
Their service is lacking but they do have product nobody else does, much of it is repro.
I needed some NOS parchment vinyl yardage to redo the front seats of a '67 I had about 19 years ago. At the time, Ron Johnson of Stang-It suggested that I contact them to get some yardage, since he couldn’t get the exactly correct stuff. He also wisely told me to buy extra, as the quality control on the original stuff was not very good. I did buy some from SMS, which was date stamped on the back with a 1966 production date, and it did have a fair number of defects. Since I had purchased extra, this was not a problem. He used my original basket weave strips and made me perfect new seat covers!
I had a pretty good customer experience back then, and a couple of times since. (When I had to redo the front seats of my '73 Marquis Brougham with a one-year only fabric, they even had that too.) Everything I bought was a bit pricier than I would have liked, but there was no other way to match what was already on the car.
I guess I was willing to pay the premium because (a) it would match exactly, and (b) it’s unlikely it will ever have to be redone, given the light use my old cars get.
My customer has been waiting over a year for a set of seat covers using original materials. Buying material might be okay but I would hesitate to use them to make anything.
A valid question-Why does it cost so much?
Answer-Because they have it and you want it.
They currently have my '68 door panels and quarter trim that they are restoring. They told me it will take about a year to restore the panels. They have had them for about 6 months so far.
Digging up a dead thread I know, but FYI, I finally got my door panels and quarter trim back from SMS in 2019. The parts look great, but it took well over 2 years to complete the work, with countless emails back and forth. One of the door panels had a nick in it right at the door lock plunger; had to ship it back and they had to redo that one.