Projects

Completely customizing a Nissan interior

A shop's show car gets a complete custom import overhaul

Upholstery Journal | October 2009

by Kelly Frush

“Selecting the color of the seats was definitely the hardest part,” says Naseem Muaddi of Delaware County Auto Upholstery in Holmes, Pa.. “We didn’t know what color we were going to paint the car, so we did the interior work first.”

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Even though this 1995 Nissan 240SX was purchased on American soil, upholsterer Naseem Muaddi wanted to add a Japanese edge to the import vehicle.

Muaddi, who owns Delaware County Auto Upholstery in Holmes, Pa., converted everything on the vehicle to the Japanese specifications—including the entire front end. He had a few more tricks up his sleeve when it came to the interior of the car.

“We rebuilt the bolster to hug you when you’re sitting in the seats,” Muaddi says of the front seats. Inspired by the leg dividers in the Nissan 350Z, he installed them into the base cushions in his car’s interior to create a sportier look. He also created the illusion of rear bucket seats by sewing black panels into the middle of the rear seat cushion and backrest. “That was a concept we took from other customers’ cars with bucket seats in the rear,” he says, “but we decided to use the black insert because it would be better than splitting the foam and splitting the seats.” The Nissan’s interior was completed before painting the vehicle, using cinnamon-colored Allante simulated leather, black leather accents on side and rear panels, and nutmeg-colored suede inserts. The exterior sunset orange paint job was then matched to the seats.

The outer seams were finished with French stitching in coordinating colors: cinnamon with cinnamon, and black with black. Muaddi still wanted to play up the Japanese name for his car. Because the 240SX is known as the Silvia in Japan, Muaddi custom-embroidered the Silvia script onto the backrests.

Muaddi’s shop tours the East Coast import car show scene with this one-off custom car to showcase his shop’s abilities. Who says you can’t have it all? Muaddi proves you can have the best of both auto worlds with this American-bought, Japanese-customized vehicle.

Do you have a project you'd like us to feature in Save My Seat? Send details of your project, along with before-and-after pictures in the form of print photos or electronic images (tif, eps or jpeg of 300 dpi or greater) to Kelly Frush, Associate Editor, Upholstery Journal, 1801 County Road B West, Roseville, MN 55113, or e-mail them to krfrush@ifai.com. All images become the property of Upholstery Journal and cannot be returned.

“Selecting the color of the seats was definitely the hardest part,” says Naseem Muaddi of Delaware County Auto Upholstery in Holmes, Pa.. “We didn’t know what color we were going to paint the car, so we did the interior work first.”
More than 40 hours of work went into this 1995 Nissan 240SX show car, as the seats were fairly complicated to build. All the foam was rebuilt to make the seats stand out.
Muaddi upholstered the center section in the rear seats to appear as rear bucket seats, an idea he has always liked. Muaddi frequently includes embroidery in his custom jobs and outsources all his embroidery work.
This vehicle is owned by the shop and tours import car shows, displaying its capabilities.