Upholstery material

[62OF85conv]

To anyone contemplating upholstery work.

These people were recommended to me very highly:

SMS Auto Fabrics 350 South Redwood St. Canby, OR 97013
Phone: (503) 263-3535 Fax: (503) 263-3525 Mon-Fri 8:30-5:00 PST

Searched the internet, fpound them and found my two interior colors.
Requested samples of the colors on 8/12/11 Samples not sent till 8/25.
Looked good so placed an order by enail 8/30/11. 2 yards of the dark
color,6 yards of thelight color for both bucket seats. (have to do the
rear later bedcause of cost – $49/yd).

My C.Card was charged the very next day – bang!!! But the order was not
‘pulled’ til 9/12, shipped 9/13 received 9/20. Not too bad so far, right?
Just wait.

Delivered car to upholstery shop along with the roll of materials.

Upholsterer discovers that the light material was cut from TWO -2- DIFFERENT
ROLLS OF VINYL -AND- TWO DIFFERENT THICKNESSES; PLUS TWO SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT
COLORS!!! We have decided to use the heavier material for the drivers seat
since it will get most use. They are alkso going to try and put the lighter
of the ‘mismatched’ material on the backs of the seats so it will be less
noticable.

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND -SMS-!! FIND ANOTHER SOURCE IF YOU INTEND TO REUPHOLSTER!!

Next up is sending SMS a nasty gram!!!

[macf85]

Sorry you had a bad experience with them. I was very happy with the white seat vinyl and trunk liner I received from them for my 1963 Cutlass. Did you try contacting them after you discovered the problems you mentioned to see if they could rectify the problem? Some materials are very hard to find so they might be your only source.

[62OF85conv]

After they took almost a month to send samples and then the order, I missed the first appointment with the upholsterer; had to wait for a second window
at his establishment and he only found the problem when he started in on the
project today. I dont have time to wait for them to decide what they would
do; then send the material back and wait another month while they take
their time sending another order.

If I had known there was going to be a mismatch of colors and material I
would have only done one bucket. The drivers side was the only one that
had any tears. The passengers side was immaculate. Now it seems not only
wont the front match the rear; the two buckets wont even match each other.

On a pension with no raises for 3 years due to omobman and his mismanagement
of the economy, my wife and I dont have a lot of discretionary cash to play
with. We’re stuck. The best I can do is just grin and bear it. LOL

[62OF85conv]

A follow up to my original post regarding problems with SMS product.
(to recap) I had ordered two different colors of vinyl for the bucket seats L-1416
(light gold) 6 yards and L-1418 (dark gold/brown) 2 yards.

Got a call from my upholsterer this AM. Needed to see me about the problems.

The L-1416 material turned out to be -junk- (his term), The light colored material
(6yds required) had been sent in THREE 2 yard chunks.2 different thicknesses and 2
slightly different colors, the 3rd chunk totally lacked the proper ‘grain’ on the
surface – did not match either of the other two and all the material was O L D
stuff that tore as soon as they tried to use it.
The covers the upholsterer showed me (they had tried to use the two better pieces of
the L-1416 for the color/surface grains) were torn along the seams. It pulled out
like brittle paper as soon as it was touched!! He called SMS himself and laid out the
difficulties and -his- complaints.

Doug – the honcho who blamed me (???) – wont be back till Friday, Cust Srvc said they
couldnt do anything til then.

So the upholsterer is going to put the drivers seat back in the car (after a fashion)
so I can get it out of their shop. They are going to further converse with big Doug
and have correct replacements sent directly to them. They will look at the quality of
that merchandise and we’ll go from there.

If push comes to shove Im going to insist they refund my money and simply have the
shop get some lighter brown/gold material from a reliable source and the fron seats
just wont match the rear – at least for a long time.

I would definitely advise anyone to BEWARE of SMS!!! Maybe they were good in the past but this has been a very expensive NIGHTMARE!!!!!

[62oldsf85]

I’ve had two very different experiences with SMS. They appear to be, very often, the only source of original or like materials. They did my door panels and piston covers for my convertible about 5 years ago. These were beautifully done and they called a few times during to make sure of exactly what I wanted, were courteous and responsive, and while it took about 2 months, I couldn’t be more satisfied with them.

Recently, I sourced some vinyl from them for a convertible boot I am having made. On the front end they were fine, but it took about 2 months to get 3 yards of vinyl from them. The color match was pretty good, and it was original material. We’ll see how it plays out with the boot. When I called to ask about the material after about 5 weeks, they were very short with me on the phone, so who knows?

[62OF85conv]

This experience has pretty much demoralized me. I had a very nice little car
which 4 previous owners had taken VERY GOOD care of. I have tried to be “the
5th” responsible owner and also treat this piece of history as it deserves.

I finally had to bring it home with one seat missing because the upholstery
shop needed their floor space (while THEY dicker with SMS over new material
to replace the junk). Every time I looked over at that empty space it made
me sick to look at the bare floor and nuts/bolts the shop left lying there
amid the ‘lint’ that collects unreachable under seats. Then at home I looked
at the seat the shop had cobbled back together with that junk material so I
could drive it home and to see the bottom ripped out on the side where the
seams had torn just from sitting ONCE, and to look at the upright back where
the shop had had to staple the side seams with cloth edging to hold the back
and sides together made me even sicker. What a disgrace!!

Monday Im hoping for some news from Automotive Accents, that they have been
able to prevail on SMS to do right by a customer. But I also fear that SMS
may well send more of the same and I will have to find another vinyl source
and pick something that WONT match the existing interior. But I just dont
have the money to do alll of it. (That will mean fighting SMS and the C.Card
company over a refund for all materials)

[62OF85conv]

3 Days after Thanksgiving and Im still waiting. A job which should have
neem accomplished by end of Sept still drags on.

SMS finally did send material and Automotive Accents tells me it is OK this
time – and so far SMS has not charged me a 2nd time.
They came and removed the drivers ‘cobbled’ up seat and took it back to his
shop. I gave them an extra $150 for the lost time making me a -usable- seat
to bring the car home.
During the wait for SMS again the upholstery shop filled up with dealer
contracted work and Im back at the bottom of the que.

I was supposed to take a young couple to their wedding redception in the
convertible sort of a gift to them. Missed that.
There have been 3 funerals for club members where they wanted members with
their cars in the procession. Missed them.

[jensenracing77]

[quote quote=62OF85conv post=208] I had a very nice little car
which 4 previous owners had taken VERY GOOD care of. I have tried to be “the
5th” responsible owner and also treat this piece of history as it deserves.

quote]

that is how i like to look at these cars when i am doing things to them.

any updates?

[62OF85conv]

Automotive Accents finished the upholstery on Dec 13 and I took the pictures I have posted on photobucket. You can compare with the original interior as shown on page 1.

http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff99/barney13w/Sally%20J%201962%20Olds%20Cutlass/

I got the car back home later that week and buttoned it up for the winter.(Since I’m not allowed a garage, I have to use a car cover and then a heavy tarp all of which has to be pretty well tied down against winter winds. It takes a fair amount of time to do and undo so once its stored I dont take it out again till the weather is pretty good).

I’m satisfied with the work Automotive Accents did and would recommend them here in Md. I’m still not happy with the SMS screwup and the inordinate amount of time it took to straighten it out! Anyone working in the business ought to know better than what they did!

[jensenracing77]

looks like a real nice car. we were looking for a 62 F-85 Cutlass convertible when we found the Jetfire.

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