VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Lebaron Bonney/Hampton Coach

As some may already know here on the forums, I am an authorized installed for LB/HC and living in MA, and being reasonably close to them, I'm able to visit the company. I also help them with technical questions on early Chevy and Olds by working with some of the Guru's on the VCCA like JYD,Chipper on the Chevy's, and Joe Pirronne of the NAOC (he's the 32' technical advisor) to find answers to help them make their offerings more correct. I also offer feedback on customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction. I will be going up to visit them on Thursday as I have some issues with the fit of the rumble seat covers for my 32' Olds roadster that needs to be corrected and have a 32' cabriolet top boot/tonneau cover that they will be patterning so they will have the patterns in their system.

I am asking for feedback, both positive and negative, from anyone here who's dealt with them in the last year. Things like quality, customer service, communication, etc., would be what I'm looking for. I basically want facts that I can convey and ask that opinions or rants be saved for another time. I will be offering the owner basically what I'm hearing, reading, and experiencing for myself in our conversation, again, both good and bad as I feel it can only make antique car owners experiences down the road better. While often, companies might get some feedback about something they did right, they might not get feedback from someone who wasn't happy and instead just lose that customer. As we know, it's getting hard to get OEM type interiors for our cars and even harder to get some period correct materials. Trying to get those materials as a "one off" on our own is virtually impossible and a company who will purchase in higher quantity has a better chance of getting those materials. LB/HC is an asset to have for our hobby and with our feedback, I believe there will be more satisfaction and more business done with them, keeping them available to us in the future.
I will not repeat names in my discussions with them but will need enough facts like approximate dates and vehicles to be factual. Please feel free to PM me with your experience. You can also post them if you want as I don't think if something is posted negative, the moderators will flag you like they do on the AACA. Again, I would ask that facts be used rather than inflammatory remarks for those who have not had a good experience if there are any out there.

Thanks, Ted

I am restoring a 35 Chevy Standard Coach. I posted a question about the roof topping in the chat. According to a couple of the answers I got, the roof topping they send is a generic pattern that is used on Fords and other cars. I was told that the correct pattern is called Tuxedo Black roof cover. It is made by the Miami Co. I sent for a sample of it and it is different than what Hampton Coach offers for their roof cover. The pattern and texture is the same as the what HC uses for the 30-32 only Rumble Seats and Panels. Could you check this out? Thanks, Pete V

Well guess it has been more than a Year but my Personal Dealings with them have been great. I got my 1929 Sample Package, which showed all the colors, materials, options, and even had swatches of the materials. was a GREAT tool to see what the kits contained and what they looked like and felt like. this made my decision of what to get really easy. I personally did NOT order the kit or do that part as the Installer (Ted) took care of all of that.We got the complete kit, inside material, head liner, all new blinds, carpet, as well as the roof kit. He would also have to comment on the form, fit, and function of the materials and quality. I know me personally getting the car and seeing it all installed was ecstatic. It looks amazing!! I did treat all the fabric with a scotchgard just to make me feel better and hopefully prolong the life of the material.

I will also say that many a friend have stopped by to take a gander at the car. they all LOVE the interior and roof and always ask where i got it and who did it. I answer them honestly.

I recently called them to try and check on the material and availability of the tassels that go on the windows.I was told that a lady makes them for them and they do NOT know the color that she uses, they just get packages in from her when they ask for a set. Would be nice to be able to order spare tassels when/ if needed. Yes one of my tore off, NO it was not man handled or used to lower the blind. I was able to go out and Floss hunt to find a CLOSE match in color and then teach myself to make a new one :) also made a spare just in case.

Overall I am happy with their product, knowledge, and customer service...

I appreciate all the replies. My own experiences have been mostly all positive with just recently, issues arising and I was curious if others had any issues. I can say that bearsfan15 interior basically fit like a glove with just one panel requiring a slight trim. Quality was first notch and I was very pleased with the final product. Same for Whitmoyer’s interior. Though the broadcloth material was hard to work with, the fit of panels and all pieces was again first rate. My own interior was the same and was a much earlier production as it was new but 20yrs old when I installed it. Another 29’ I did was also virtually perfect. Communication with LBHC was also good up to a couple years back.
When I did Arizona Armando’s 31, fit was good but I ended up having one of the front seat covers start to come apart with broken threads. LBHC quickly made up a new set of covers and sent them to me. Recently, I ordered my 32’ Olds DCR kit. The kit is virtually identical to a 31-32’ Chevy Cabriolet kit with the addition of the golf bag door interior parts. I also ordered my roof kit at the same time. I was called and told my interior was ready for pickup but my roof was not as they are out of the tan fabric I wanted. When I picked up my kit and went through it, it was missing all but one of the golf bag door interior pieces, yet someone had checked those pieces off on the check list as being in my kit! I have since covered both the front seat, front seat frame, rumble cushion, and rumble seat back. Both the rumble cushion and seat back have issues with both covers being made too small. A friend who purchased a kit 5 years back showed me his panels and while the seat back is made correct, his seat cushion was also made 1.5” too short on a hemmed edge like mine. My own is also not quite wide enough. All rumble seat cushions across the Cabriolet models of Chevy,Olds, Pontiac, and Buick 50 series are exactly identical. Why are the panels made so inconsistent? I also have two customers who’ve had to wait many weeks for plain black vinyl material because LBHC was out of stock, same as my very common tan fabric.
Over the past six to nine months I’ve had many fellow old cars friends who’ve been dealing with LBHC complain to me about a gamut of issues. I’m hoping to find out what’s going on and offer any feedback I can to help the fix these issues. I’ll keep everyone posted on my visit.

Had my meeting with Scott Holbrook, owner of LBHC today and hopefully I can clear up some rumors and concerns.
When I arrived I immediately noticed the whole side of the building where some production was done and all of the office space was under a complete gutting right down to the floors and windows. The production area currently in use will be renovated soon also. The office is now across the street in another building.

The building LBHC is in has a new owner and the rent has gone up significantly. Because of this, the EZ Boy custom interior division of the company, has been moved to ME into a building owned by the company. The LB and HC lines are remaining in Amesbury MA in the same building but storage and production area will be reduced to 6000 sq’. Because of this, inventory levels have been reduced both to make moving within the building easier and lack of space means less room for storing inventory. To help with inventory levels, LBHC has been working with their vendors on a “hold and release” program which means they order and purchase the product in a larger, required quantity, but only get sent smaller shipments with the vendor storing the remainder of the order, shipping out the remainder as it’s needed by LBHC. This is a very common way to do business these days and a necessity when operating costs get too high. Because the restoration interior and custom interior shops are located in two locations, it is impossible for stitchers and pattern makers to cross over from one to the other depending on the work load so there’s a good chance an interior kit will take somewhat longer to produce than in the past depending on the amount of orders in the system at any one time. There has also been a lack of communication on the phones and they have been working to correct this with two full time people being trained to answer and call back customers. It should be better now.


Scott Holbrook, the owner will be addressing all concerns with an official company statement coming soon. Bottom line is they are very much in business, planning to stay in business, but are going through a lot of changes which will undoubtedly cause some issues in the near future for some. Their goal is to get everything back in order as soon as possible and running smoothly again.

On another note: I posted this same thing on the ACCA and the moderator removed it! I was just trying to help the vendor and it’s cust by getting some answers to the concerns raised and to help quell any rumors that had been started. The ACCA feels any slightly negative comment about any vendor cannot be posted!

Thanks for the update Ted
glad they are trying to adapt to doing business as cost increase. moving, switching, and changing things takes time to adapt to and settle in. hopefully it all works out and things get to a norm, a good norm.having to split them up and not being able to crossover will slow down production some. the ability to reallocate resources to higher demand areas is a key, we do it all the time, one area is slow the other jammed, pull resources keep things moving and resources busy.

I purchased a complete interior kit from Lebaron Bonney/Hampton Coach in 1999 when I restored my 1941 Chevrolet Special Deluxe 5 passenger Coupe. I believe the company was just Hampton Coach at that time. I got the seat material and padding, the headliner, the front carpet, the door panels were glued to the board with the holes cut out, I had them do the sun visors. Also the kick panels and the panel for the back window. The material was correct and everything fit very good. I installed the kit, I was well satisfied with everything. I will try to attach a photo JIM