More interior work done

[chevynut]

Stay with it Laszlo. You're on the home stretch.
Its looking "riddler" level.

Thanks Paul. It's been a frustrating journey for sure, but I can see the end. I have the hood on the car but still need to install the driver's fender. I've been working on the interior so much that I haven't had time for that. My machinist friend is almost as bad as Larry in getting things done. When I talk to him he's gung-ho but if I don't keep bugging him he doesn't do anything. I've been trying to get him to make my shifter bezel for months. Super nice guy, and I know he's busy with other stuff. It's not a Ridler car, but I like the way it's turning out.

That asshole Larry still hasn't responded to me about the leather he shorted me on. All I want at this point is to tell me where I can get more.

I've been working on the final details for the console. Javier finished up the valences yesterday.

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I finished the clearancing for leather at the joint between front and rear consoles. This is a lot of detail work that needs to be done in order to cover the parts. Two pieces of leather have to come together there, and the French seam needs to tuck into the joint too. I also clearanced the console sides for carpet at the bottom.

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I did some final shaping of the top of the rear console, and still have to add the 3/8" aluminum pieces and figure out how I want to end the very back of it. There will be a french seam the full length of the console behind the lid. The console sides will be charcoal leather. I removed both consoles and assembled them outside the car to take to Javier's place to discuss the clearancing and a few minor issues.

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[WagonCrazy]

Stay with it Laszlo. You're on the home stretch.
Its looking "riddler" level.

[Belair-o]

Chevynut,
Sorry about the continued issues, but you must be stoked! how the interior is coming together, and no longer at a geologic timeframe!
Looking great!
Regards, Doug

[chevynut]

I did run into another problem with Larry. The sonofabitch brought my materials to me and the leather was all rolled up. I didn't want to have to unroll everything because my shop floor was dirty and I mistakenly trusted the asshole to give me everything. I asked him where he got the tan hides in case I needed more, and he assured me I had plenty. I said I still wanted to know just in case, and he said he got it from Garrett Leather, which was a lie. We got the charcoal leather from there, but the tan leather has a color code Wheel Bearings Out Again that I can't find anywhere. It came from ""Pasubio" which looks like a company that only sells to OEMs, not upholstery shops. I paid for 4 tan hides, and 3 charcoal hides. Larry was supposed to have 1 1/2 of the tan hides perforated leaving 2 1/2 unperforated tan hides. When I was giving Javier some leather, I noticed I had 4 small rolls of perforated hide, in what looked like 4 quarter hides or one full hide. I only had 2 full unperforated tan hides, so he shorted me a full hide. I paid about $7000 for this leather and perforation. I've asked Larry about this and he hasn't replied to me so far. I bought this leather from him and he was going to use it on a 55 Chevy that he has since sold, which should have required 6 hides. So he should have 2 or more left and I told him I'd even pay for one if he insisted. He's a goddam lying scammer, and I should not have trusted him to give me all my materials and should have unrolled and counted everything. So now I'm stuck trying to find something close, or to use more charcoal leather where I wanted tan. I have found one possible match for the leather from 2-3 suppliers (not the same color number), and we plan to get some samples from different lots to hopefully get a good match. That color is a "Eurolux" leather used in Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, and Bentley cars.

[chevynut]

Back for a little update. As I mentioned earlier, I settled with Larry and got all my money from him. I talked to the guy who did the Riddler car interior and he was booked up for 2-3 years. One of the few interior guys in CO got killed last December in a car accident, so there's not many left. I finally got in touch with the guy who did my son's friend's 56 Corvette, his name is Javier. He actually worked for Ron at Auto Weave for 23 years, and went on his own about 4 years ago. I showed him what I had going on and he was very skeptical as to whether he could handle it, and said it was far different from anything he'd done before. I told him I wanted some decorative stitching with 4.5-5 stitches per inch and he balked about that because I didn't want a seam there and wasn't sure he could set his stitch length that long, even though he had a high end Pfaff machine. Luckily he uses T210 thread a lot so that wasn't an issue....Ron said he hadn't even heard of it. I asked him to give it a try and he agreed to move forward. I went down and we discussed details and tried a few things with scrap material and came up with a plan. He came over and we took a close look at my rear side panels that I reinstalled for him to see. He took the rear side panels and armrests, and had them done in a couple of weeks.

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I finished up the fab work on the front door panels and he took them and had them done in another couple of weeks. We had a hard time figuring out how to cover the removable armrests, but I think he did a great job. The 6 pieces took him about 60-70 hours total. The wood grain will all be replaced with carbon fiber. I pretty much decided I'm going to use regular black carbon fiber on the "spears", the dash trim, and console instead of the orange carbon fiber hybrid. The latter shows defects really bad, and the "stripiness" makes it a little too busy, I think.

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I have been working on the console and I have the vertical rear section finished. We finally nailed down the height and can finish it all the way back to the cargo area. Then I have to make the sliding door and the console top.

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We have the rear side panels and armrests installed temporarily, and need to remove them one more time to install the windlace and carpet. Then we can install them permanently. The door panels also have to come off again to install speakers, adjust windows, and finalize everything inside the doors. I need to fab some speaker grilles too.

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I have to say pictures don't do this justice. The panels look so much better in real life, the color is richer, and I'm very pleased so far. I have been working on clearancing the front console for leather, and Javier is currently working on covering the dash valences. So far the car is still in my shop, but we're planning to take it to his shop before too long for carpet. I'll be finishing up the fabrication on the rear console, then we will install the carpet in the passenger area. After that, the only fab work is in the cargo area.

[busterwivell]

Glad the Drama is over for you finally

[bigblock]

Hay CN sounds like your buying.

[chevynut]

It's a done deal and all behind me now. I just met Larry and got my money and gave him a signed, notarized settlement agreement. So damn glad to end this constant frustration. So now I have all my materials, all my money, and need an upholstery guy. One of these days this car might be done.

I've been working on the vertical portion of the rear console and making good progress. I can't really finish the top until I find someone to do the seats so he can tell me what the shape is going to be.

[Belair-o]

Amazing! I would have bet money against this working out (relatively) easily at the end.

[chevynut]

Well to my surprise I got a signed settlement agreement from Larry that his lawyer wrote up and it's payment in full for exactly what I asked for. He wants me to sign and notarize it and e-mail it back to him, but it also says that by signing I acknowledge receipt of the settlement amount. It specifies that the payment will be in cash (I didn't ask for that) so if he gets a signed agreement from me via e-mail I have no proof that he didn't pay me. I told him I would meet in person and would give him the signed agreement when he hands me the cash. I would assume he'd want a receipt from me too. You can't be too careful these days....

[chevynut]

Getting a little more work done on the rear console. I made the cover locators/supports and attached them with the 3/8" aluminum plate to the rear of the front console, then I made the aluminum plates for the rear console. I wanted a door in the rear console, and decided to make a sliding one. Larry and I (i.e. "me") were going to make a "tambour" door but I decided to just make a solid one that slides back to keep it simple and clean. So I made the tracks and attached them to the aluminum plate with the cover support. Then I formed the rear cover....that was tricky. The sliding door will stick up above the track a little so it's flush with the cover. I haven't decided what I want to do to add something to the cover, but it will have carbon fiber on it.

Now I have to build the box so stuff doesn't get lost in the console. Then I can work my way up the seat back, once I finally decide how much reveal I want on the console. I'm thinking slightly less than at the seat bottom. There will still be 1/2" of foam and leather on top of the foam you see here....at least that's what Larry told me .

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[bigblock]

Like I said good luck, life is too short to deal with that BS.

[chevynut]

Good luck with Larry but don't hold your breath. Good luck with the other guy's.

Yeah I hope he doesn't start trying to play games with me. He admitted in writing to owing me what my settlement offer was, and offered to pay it back in September. I should have just taken it and never looked back. But with him agreeing to signing a contract and later seeing my schedule and saying the April 30 date was "doable", and then installing the dash pad I thought he was being sincere and really wanted to work with me. It was all downhill from there. He has about 2 1/2 weeks to close this settlement. I told him if he tries to weasel out of it somehow I would sue him and ask for punitive damages and attorney's fees. We'll see.

[bigblock]

Good luck with Larry but don't hold your breath. Good luck with the other guy's.

[chevynut]

I sent Ron an e-mail the other day asking him about his schedule and whether he would still do my interior, and to call me when he had time. Last fall he said he was booked up until April, and he offered to do my dash cover in November but Larry ended up doing that. Ron knew about Larry and I deciding to work together again since Larry had to pick up materials from him. The reason I sent an e-mail was because I wanted to send pics of the status of the interior today so he could get an idea of the progress I've made since last August after I fired Larry. I took a door panel and other parts to Ron back then so he could see what I was doing, and he said he was impressed by the work and could work with my stuff.

I got a reply today saying he was "not comfortable moving forward" but didn't say why, and said I should find someone else. I know he was concerned about not having the car at his shop, and he didn't have an opening until fall. So Larry screwed me over again on the timing of this. I also suspect Larry talked to him and made up some shit about what I supposedly did to him.

I told Ron I would be down to pick up my seats and the thread he bought. He said anytime I needed them would work. I was hoping Ron had time and was willing to work with me on this but it's fine.

So now I'm on the hunt for another interior guy. I have three possibilities right now, one which I've already talked to. One other guy did an interior for a Riddler winner, and another one did an interior for my son's friend's 56 Corvette restomod. The latter told another friend that he had a cancellation and could get his 62 Corvette in his shop, but he's not ready for an interior yet and won't be for months. I need to look at the quality of his work and see if I want him to do anything for me. Another friend with a rod shop called today and said he has a few guys he'd recommend so I'm going down to his place soon. The Riddler award guy is working in his shop now.

Now I just hope Larry doesn't try to jack me around again and I get my check from him on time. Last I heard from him he wanted to get this done as soon as possible.