VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Upholstery - Interiors & Glass 1938 Trim Finishing Panel/front seat

The 1938 Construction Manual shows a "Trim Finishing Panel" on the bottom sides of the seat of the coupe. The original seat in my coupe no longer had these panels when I got the car. I re-did the seat upholstery with a Hampton Coach kit and they included mohair pieces, about 4 inches wide, which are obviously meant to cover the "trim finishing panels." When I was at Hershey, I saw a nice original coupe that still had the panels in tact. As far as I could tell from it (and from the picture in the construction manual), the trim panel is a piece of sheetmetal, covered with the mohair material, about 4" wide, and extends along the sides of the seat, and around the front up to the cord that runs vertically down the front of the seat. It is attached with 5 or 6 screws with finish washers.

Does anyone out there have these trim panels in tact (Tiny, Ed, Steve, Brian?). If so, could you confirm my observations and let me know the exact width (and extent) of the panels? Is there sheet metal under the fabric covering? If so, what gauge would you estimate? 18? 16? And finally, is the material folded over the top edge? And is it glued onto the metal?

Thanks very much in advance for your help. With this information, I think I can reconstruct the trim panels.

Jim

Jim, Here are 3 pics of my 38 Master Deluxe business coupe seat trim. The trim is metal, size .040" X 2 1/2" X 23 11/16", covered with rolled-on brown glue on both sides. The mohair is wrapped over all edges about 3/4" and glued on. The six screws are not steel, probably slotted oval head chrome plated brass, with thin (stainless steel?) formed washers that are about the same diameter as the screw heads. The end of the long straight portion has 2 sharp ninety degree corners. The end of the short, curved front portion has 2 radiused corners, the top corner is small radius, the bottom corner has a large radius.

Dear Hayree38,

Thanks a million! This is just what I needed--the pictures and information are perfect, and make it pretty clear how to go about copying these pieces.

I appreciate your response very much.

Hey, we seem to be neighbors. Where are you located?

Best wishes,

Jim

I'm 45 minutes north of st paul.
Here's another picture of seat trim. This shows the cord (whipcord?) and rusty (chrome?) steel end piece on top of the seat back. Also shows the 2 buttons on the drivers side of the cushion.

Hayree's looks very much like my coupe. Below shows the driver's side after the upholstery was done.

Thanks guys! Just what I needed.

Jim

Hayree38, does the back end of the metal piece stop at the back corner of the seat or does it wrap around the back of the seat? Mine were missing but I found a pair from a sedan front seat and it's longer than your photo....I'm assuming the sedan wraps around the back but the Coupe doesn't...can you please verify that? thanks Billu38

In my first picture in this thread, you can see the rearmost end of the upholstered trim panel. The trim panel ends with a 90 degree cutoff at 2 3/8 inch from the last rear screw seen in the picture. This coupe trim panel does not wrap around the rear corner of the seat.

Thanks Hayree38..looks like I can make the sedan piece work by just cutting the back end a little...another "puzzle" out of the way! thanks...Billu38

Hey Hayree38....I straightened my bent up side strips and cut the back end about 2 3/8 in. from the last hole...only problem is my total length is more like 27 11/16 long, not 23 11/16 long...hopefully that was just a finger slip on the numbers key? Can you please recheck and let me know? Thanks Billu38

Hey Hayree38...forget my last post...I AM WRONG...YOU ARE CORRECT at 23 11/16 in. Because my part is from a sedan and longer, I measured from the wrong hole! Sorry for the screw-up and confusion...thanks again..Billu38

Can someone tell me what color and type of fabric is on the front seat of tiny's 1938 coupe? I have the same covering in my 1938 coupe and would like to do a post in the wanted section to see if anyone has some extra fabric. I need to buy enough to do a couple of armrests. Grant

It's a synthetic fabric that mimics mohair but wears better. I got it through the upholsterer who did my interior. I don't know the source of the material other than that. It's MUCH cheaper than what Hampton Coach sells. If you want the upholsterer's name PM me and I'll provide his contact information.

Hayree38

Thank you for your posts on the 38 Chevy seats. They were a very big help.
Do you happen to have a picture of the angle that is attached to the shelf behind the seat? Do you know the size and is it attached to the plywood prior to it bing covered or after? Is it steel?

Tim Beilby

Tim, I'm not sure what parts you are referring to, but here are 3 pictures from my 38 MD business coupe with its original seat.
One picture shows the 'B' pillar wood with the upper and lower tin pieces screwed onto it, and the main wood/shelf system mocked together.
One picture is a drawing I made of those 2 pieces of tin.
One picture shows the upholstered tin panel that screws onto the front of the 'B' pillar wood. This panel may be covered with material similar to the shelf material, a gray smooth material glued on. None of the wood or tin parts shown here get mohair upholstery. They are hidden by the seat. The wood curved blocks on top of the shelf corners appear to be hidden by the headliner tacked onto the top of the shelf plywood near its edges. The shelf is covered with a layer of tar paper with a layer of gray smooth oil-cloth sort of material on top of that. Harry

Great pictures! Tim was asking about the triangular pieces at the top of the trunk divider (top pieces you list as "tin") but I didn't have a good picture of them. Your pictures should answer his questions nicely.