OK, restore your interior if you want to, but here's my experience. I gave my car to Norwoods Auto Italia, who I have used for 18 years. I decided to get the interior done and they use Tin Lizzie Affair, which have done several 328 interiors over the years, like Tillman's. I wish now I wouldn't have done it for the following reasons. It took 2 years, which was mostly on Tin Lizzie Affair, but I think Norwoods could have pressed them more. It cost $10-15k. Even though the restoration was 95% complete, the 5% really sticks out like a sore thumb now (steering wheel, dash etc). The car isn't as comfortable and doesn't sit as well. Now that the seats are rebolstered, my 6'1" self doesn't sink in the seats as much and everything tighter. I think no matter how hard you try, once you remove all the parts, you can never put them back as tight or correct as the factory. Much of this has to do with the new coverings etc and not necessarily the R&R. Original > New. Although the quality of work good, some things might just be better left alone in original condition. I will post pictures after the car detailed. I've still been having some other problems with it already taking it back to Norwoods once and probably needs another trip. Man, 2 years was more than 10% of my Ferrari life so far.
Why did it take 2 years? Were there long periods of not being able to get the skins or other parts? The price seems reasonable. Maybe $3K in leather and materials? Even at $20/hr it means they worked on the car about 1 day a week? What portions of the interior would you have had restored and what left alone?
My 85 QV interior is original and I wouldn't dream of restoring it. Why? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Agreed that OEM is normally better than Restored however the OEM look and feel can be obtained but it is exponentially more expensive to do so as you nit pick for those last 5%. As I always say (and have proven time again) the last 5% doubles your budget and triples your timeline
I agree. The problem with any restoration is only a small % of people / shops on this planet that have relentless attention to detail. Most feel "it's good enough". Finding people the obsess over things like the pitch of the stitching is very hard to do. I'm a pro at driving those guys nuts as I have an evil eye and can spot ever single detail.
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Rob so sorry to hear about your dilemma, what was the 5% sore thumb you speak of? If I only knew you planned to have your interior done and knew it’s going to cost that much and take that long, I would have recommend the shop that did mine that cost me less than half the price they charged you.
Norwoods, they have done several although they aren't a full on restoration shop, they know these 80's Ferraris.
here an interior costs around 3-3.5 k euro and it's perfect: Next time maybe better sending seats, door cards and tunnel here in Italy... ciao
I gotta tell you, I’m getting older, and have to admit I have zero patience now. It all has to be brand new to me. I don’t know If it because the new cars are so much better or I’m just more picky. The brand new stuff jsut tickles my fancy, hence why I refuse to resort anything or even refurbish. I would hate to be in the the position Rob went through. At what point does the budget exceed the requirement vs what you get ? I suspect it’s all the time now. I’m in the club of leave it alone and drive , and let the next guy worry about it.
I don't know all the circumstances but some shops have a large backlog. It's not production work, it's boutique.
Hey Tom. I really don't know. Rob had 2 companies involved so I don't know who was responsible for what. Sometimes getting materials can be a delay. I just don't know. Sometimes people run their shops horribly. When we are crazy busy orders can take 8 weeks, far cry from 2 years but if you spoke to the customers they can act like it's 2 years I had a 2 year leather project. Mostly I gave a ton of time to the shop as I was not in a hurry. After 2 patient years, I was screwed out of $8k and I need to start over. Fun times.
We built an entire custom house in less than 1/3 of the time it took that shop to recover 2 seats, some panels, and a dashboard. Just ponder that for a moment.
I'm used to boats which is a different model. They want you the F paid and out of there as soon as possible. The good yards start working on your boat 30 minutes after they pull it and hit agreed upon progress marks. You get the boat back when you pay in full. Velocity.
I don't know but it seems like when you start to run into the "years" there are just more chances for misunderstandings and expectations to jump the tracks.
Possibly. But I'm guessing most boat owners don't obsess over details. I want my restoration to look exactly like factory. It's a tall order especially with my eyes. I can promise you, I spot EVERYTHING. It's a disease.
This made me laugh. You commented on a thread I had started about sticky stuff in my F Type. You were doing fill and sand on tiny molding marks. It was then I knew you were a kook and I mean that in a good way. Boat owners are nuts. I just had some veneer panels redone and it was art work.
Sorry to hear that. I'm restoring my car myself and I have to say the interior is absurdly simple.Lol, I am taking a longer time to do it though! Other than the seats I can't imagine anything being that difficult. Even doing the headliner is a piece of cake. There just isn't much there other than other than some easily covered panels. Heck, even the dash is easy. What exactly is off? the padding? The grain/quality of the leather? I've seen plenty of people here use Gah(spell?) for their carpets and seats that looked excellent. Did they make their own or purchase kits? Inquiring minds want to know!
