FC Holden sedan upholstery restorationFC Holden Sedan Here we are rebuilding and retrimming the interior of a 1958 FC Holden sedan. The car is to be painted red and the owner has decided that the interior will be black and that all piping will be red. Marine vinyl is used and the colours are (Night Sky) for the black and (Volcano) for the red which is a very striking colour. As you can see in some of the photos it really stands out. Why are we using marine vinyl in this car - because it is made to withstand direct sunlight, is UV resistant, is colourfast, and resistant to mould. By looking at the side of the material you can see how thick the colour section is by comparison to general automotive vinyls. Provided that an owner is prepared to spend a little more now he will be getting a much better quality vinyl and also it will give off a high quality look. The seats were certainly showing their almost 40 years of use. Here’s a couple of photos before we started. Original FC Holden sedan seats
It was surprising to see what the back seat base consisted of. Basically the springs were covered (not completely) by a piece of calico with steel wires threaded through it. On top of that was the seat cover itself, which had padded pleats. Rebuilding the FC Holden sedan rear seats It was a little lean on for padding material and the springs were readily felt when one pushed through from the top.
The photo on the left displays the start of the base rebuild with a double layer of hessian, while the white calico piece on top is all that was over the springs from new. So, as we can see a considerable amount of the seat cover itself would have been sitting straight on top of the springs - ouch!!! On the right we are now adding a half inch foam top to the seat base. The actual seat cover will also have half inch foam under it as well. It could have been padded with more foam, but we already have more thickness in the seat than they did in the factory.
The photo above shows the base with double hessian fitted, and the back which is already recovered in new half inch foam. The dotted marks show where the red piping line needs to fit into the black seat pattern. You can see this red piping line on the finished photo further down the page. Making the FC Holden sedan seat pleats
The left hand photo shows the start of the system used to attach the vinyl to the foam so that the stitches are hidden. This system allows the pattern to go out of whack very easily and a continual and consistent effort is needed to keep the vinyl square with the foam. That is why you can see the nikko pen marks down each side of the foam. Both edges of the vinyl must follow these markings religiously. On the photo on the right the pleating is nearing the end and you can see how the completed pleats are being bunched up under the machine. Because of this it becomes harder nearer the end to keep the pleats square on. Completed FC Holden sedan rear and front Seats You may notice that the join line between the pleats and the top of the back seat is now straight. The original line is curved and it takes some effort and planning to achieve a straight line which looks better. The top red piping line is curved because the seat is shaped that way there, but on the middle join there is no curve and the original curve here simply followed through from the top.
The black vinyl tends to present a charcoal grey colour and would ideally blend in very well with either a black or charcoal grey carpet. Sometimes it is hard to find vinyl’s with colours that blend in well with the overall interior theme.
As you can now see the join between the pleated sections on the back of both seats is now straight across with no drooping patterns as on the original. Door Trims The door trim photos will be added later. They have turned out really nice also. On the left you can see the making of the door trims and on the right you can see completed ones. They turned out really nice.
FE FC Holden car clubs in Australia You can view the FC holden sedan website here. Contact us Please send in any information or stories which you may have about an FC Holden sedan and it can be added to the classic car articles page or this one as well if you wish. Please use the “contact us” box or if preferable send a note with your email address so that we can contact you back.
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