VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1941 Special Delux upholstery fabrics

I am about to have my 1941 Special Delux Coupe professionaly re-upholstered, and I want it done in as close to original fabrics as possible.

LeBarron Bonney has sent me fabric samples of what they suggest as appropriate for my application. Their recommendation(s) for the 'striped' portions of the seats are either a Bedford Cord or a mohair, neither of which is a very close match (pattern/design-wise) to the original fabric. My question with the striped fabric is: was it originally a Bedford Cord or was it mohair? And secondly, besids LeBaron Bonney, are there any other vendors you can recommend for these fabrics?

LeBaron Bonney recommends a wool broadcloth for the door panels and seat borders. Is that the proper fabric type, or was it mohair? And what about any other vendors?

LeBaron Bonney's headliner fabric, and their vinyl (trim) fabric appear to be close to original, and they have a coachlace (windlace) fabric which looks fairly correct.

So any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much,
Roy

Roy,

The L-B fabrics for the 41 SD look good. The only drawback it the stripe in the material. It seems a little too distinct. That is, it stands out more than the original. The door fabrics look original. As far as I know, the L-B kits are as close as you're going to get to the original. You can get good material without the faint stripe of the original but that's going in the wrong direction, I think.

Good luck with it,
Charlie

The standard material for a 1941 Special Deluxe was a very short mohair. Was a light tan color. The seats had a slight stripe. The side panels were a "solid" color.....all being the light tan.
The optional interior was what Chevrolet called Bedford Cord. Was kind of a broad cloth and was more brown in color. There again the seats had a slight stripe and the door panels solid color.
Both versions had a darker brown vinyl type material on the bottoms of the seats and door panels.
There was also an "Easter Version" of the mohair interior. It was the same material but available in green or blue. Those colors were also used for the carpeting and the vinyl trrim.

There is another source of fabrics for '41 - SMS
Auto Fabrics in Oregon - info@smsautofabrics.com. I've not used them, but I did request samples, and they appear to be similar to what was described in the preceding posts.
Sid

Chevygene,

So were the striped seat areas, the seat surrounds, and the side panels all done in the very short mohair?

Do I understand correcly that the "Easter Version" was available only in the Spring of 1941? It sounds like a beautiful option.

Thanks much,
Roy

Hi Sid,

I'm quite familiar with SMS Auto Fabrics: I placed an order with them October 1st 2012 and I'm still waiting for my fabrics (both the striped seat fabric and the tan door panel/seat surround fabric). They sent me samples of a striped material that looks the closest to the original that I've seen in the past two years, as well as a plain tan mohair which would have been perfect for door panels, etc. SMS took my order, charged my VISA account IN FULL when I placed my order. Since they didn't say anything about being out of stock in either of the fabrics, my assumption was they had it in stock.

It was 45 days before they finally informed me they did not have either fabric in stock, and that they would have to have both fabrics dyed and milled. They have been stringing me along for 10 months now on vague promises that "it's in the works". Since the samples they sent me were the best by far of anything I've seen, I've been going along with 'em. But my patience is wearing very thin, so I'm looking for the next best solution.

The one very positive thing I've heard about SMS is that their products are excellent - but you have to have the patience of Job to wait for them.

Thanks much,
Roy (not Job!)

Thanks for sharing Roy. I ordered samples from them and Lebaron Boney when I bought my '41. SMS's package included a material that closely matched the seat fabric in my Canadian Special Deluxe. I was pleased, because the seat upholstery in the car looks new. LB did not include that material. A few months later when I decided to replace the headliner, I went with LB. They offered a quicker shipment. I had dealt with them a few years before on my '31 coupe. The '31 LB door panel package was far from perfect though. I had to re-cut several of the pieces for proper fit. Their explanation was that they had lost their experienced chevy man shortly after they bought the Hampton Coach business. On the '31 I used my local upholstery guy to cut and stitch my headliner and seat. I believe I got a better fit at a lower price than LB. The car has done very well in shows since then.
Sid

Roys41--- I restored my '41 Special Deluxe 5 passenger coupe in 1999. I ordered the complete upholstery kit from LeBarron Bonney . I ordered the seat materials, door panels with material applied to the panel, headliner and beading material, taupe front floor mat (I used a piece of commercial carpet for the rear floor), sent my sunvisors in and they upholstered them, material for the shelf in front of the rear window, etc. The friend who helped me restore my car and I installed the upholstry kit. The materials were very good quality and as far as I am concerned exact match for original and every piece was cut to fit. The installation was easy although the instructions were a little hard to understand. I would recommend LB for your upholstry . Send me your email address and I will send you some pictures. My email is jiruble@fidnet.com JIM

I have never seen a 1941 S.D. with a L.B. interior that was close to a match of the original.

Roy,
All was short napped mohair.
Let me be a little more accurate. The cushions were the slightly striped material. The back of the front seat was plain like the door panels. The lower foot or so of the door panels, and the lower part of the seat frame (that is plain) was vinyl on the sides and the riser that the rear cushion fits into is vinyl The vinyl is a lighter orangie brown color. The real leater on the door arm rests is the same color but they used leather for ths application.
I was looking for my 1941 color sales catalog but can't find it.
I can't remember if the club coupe had the rear seat cushion riser.
This is how chevrolet described the material. "back and sides of the front seat frame and sides of body are covered with a plain surfaced medium shade cloth.....( a low piles mohair would have been a better description. Upholster for the seat cushions and back rests and the rear seat arm rests is a high grade Candacloth in smart two-tone vertical stripe. pattern".......Two-tone Bedford cord is available in place of the Canda cloth.

I just went through this with my 41 Special Deluxe. First and foremost, you get what you pay for most if the time. Hampton Coach is really good and know what they're doing.

Your 41 Special Deluxe had Bedford Cord on the seats. It was striped. Hampton has the closest. I ordered the Bedford Cord from Hampton and had my local shop see it. I also bought the door panel clothes that they suggested and had my lo al shop see them on new door panels. We also used the recommended vinyls around the bottom of the seats and on the bottom of the door panels. I did purchase the following items from Hampton already made:
Headliner with wireon and wind lace
Sun visor recovering service (they came out perfect)
1/4" wind lace for the window garnish mouldings
Hat tray cover
Under dash kick panels
Trunk panel kit

I was very happy with Hampton's communication with me and how their products turned out.

One last thing, I put a lot of effort into putting my interior back exactly the way it was in 41. However, I hated the browns and tans of 41. I switched to grays. Hampton had a beautiful gray striped Bedford Cord that I am extremely excited about. Look at the forum post about "41 arm rest". I posted a few pictures of my interior. The exterior of my car is dark blue so the gray really looked good inside.

Let me know if I can help in any way as I just went through all this.

Chevygene,

More great information!

My special Delux Coupe is the 5 passenger version. All the original interior is in tact, but needs to be totaly redone.

Can you provide the name of vendor(s) where I might find the "two-toned Bedford cord" fabric which replicates the original Canada cloth with the two-toned vertical stripe pattern? Also, how about vendor(s) who might have the plain "low pile mohair" fabric used on the seat frames and door panels? I think the vinyl and headliner fabrics will be easy enough to replicate.

Thanks much,
- Roys41