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Custom automotive upholstery

Make money in the “booming” custom automotive upholstery market.

UpholsteryJournalMag.com | October 4, 2011

By Bill Moore

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Use your hide

For many, the real money is in custom upholstery work. And much of that work is done in leather. If you’re considering working with leather, there are a number of companies that supply it directly to trimmers and upholsterers. One in particular is DCT Leathers, in Toronto, owned by Dave Turner. Turner is the CEO and founder, working as an agent for the Scottish company Andrew Muirhead & Son Ltd., whose history can be traced back to 1758. In case you are wondering, 15 percent of the world’s leather goes into upholstery, and this company is the world’s largest tannery, doing 3,000 to 3,500 hides a week.

Turner focuses on small upholstery shops and addresses the problems of running out and failing to get the same characteristics in each hide. DCT, whose catalog has 150 colors, puts bar codes on all its leather. “We can check back and know the day or week it was manufactured, and we can match it up to the tannery,” Turner says.

“The main thing is that you don’t want to run short,” Nicholson explains. “You have to buy enough to cover the whole car. If you buy seven hides, you want all seven dyed at the same time. And if you must get more leather to finish a car, you want to get it from the same lot.”

Both Nicholson and Berndt deal directly with customers who want to make their customized automobiles special. Nicholson was trained to upholster furniture, so when hot rodders came knocking, he knew he had to increase his skills with the skins of animals, a material that provides long-lasting beauty.

According to Nicholson, getting into leather is a bit daunting, but he insists there’s a way to get right into the business. Nicholson attended an advanced leather course at Coachtrim in Danbury, Conn., where he sharpened his self-taught skills. When he took the course, it was a week long with hands-on learning opportunities. It is now offered in three days. Coachtrim’s description of the course states: “This is not a basic upholstery course. This seminar is for the trimmer or upholsterer that is already working in the automotive, marine or aviation field.”

The course has paid dividends for Nicholson. “That course really boosted my confidence,” he says. “It included everything from pattern development to using exotic skins. Some of the work they do is just phenomenal, and you develop a rapport with them. And when you have a question pop up at your business, they’re willing to help out.”

Customer service

There are two types of car crazy customers: those who want to duplicate the original interior, and those who want a custom interior for their street rod.

For the customer looking for original material, in fabric and vinyl, there are two major places to look. The first is Original Auto Upholstery, located just outside Detroit, in Columbus, Mich.

Tom Ames runs Original Auto Upholstery. “We have a million yards of original material,” says Ames, whose shop has about 6,000 square feet of space filled to the ceiling with fabric and vinyl. This inventory is original seating and other interior items (like carpeting) that go into a range of automobiles and trucks from years 1950 to 2000.

Sixty percent of Ames’ business is with trimmers and upholstery shops, the rest goes to individual car owners who are restoring or “renewing” a car, inside and out.

“We have items no one else in the world has,” says Ames, who started the company in 1979. Like a lot of guys who have something to do with classic cars and upholstery, he drives an old car—a ’63 Chevy Impala convertible, which he’s owned for 30 years.

Ames has an international business, because all those cars built in Detroit didn’t stay at home. He points out that he has a lot of business from Canada, as well as the Scandinavian countries (local tax breaks on old muscle cars meant that many folks in those countries bought the cars), Australia and New Zealand.

Another stop for original-style interiors is LeBaron Bonney, in Amesbury, Mass., inside a 50,000-square-foot facility. LeBaron Bonney and subsidiary, Hampton Coach (based in nearby Hampton, N.H.), have 800 interiors to choose from. Almost all of these interiors are made from fabric, unless the vehicles were originally high-end and came standard with leather interiors. The company sells its products, which include fabric, carpet and trim items, along with tops and assemblies, and interior upholstery kits, around the world.

“We try to prefabricate the kits as much as possible,” says Steve Atherton. “They’re built so a customer can finish the job. Everything is stitched and sewn, but has to be installed on new springs. A lot of people want to try it, but, if they want an expert job, they usually hire an upholsterer to do the work.”

Critically important to customers and to upholsterers is that LeBaron Bonney has deals with several major mills to create the old-style fabrics. The company also has arrangements to get the leather goods it needs. “Say for a Model A Deluxe Roadster, we try to duplicate the original embossing and patterns of the leather, and we end up paying extra for it,” Atherton says.

LeBaron Bonney concentrates on Ford products manufactured from 1928-1954, and Mercurys from 1939-1951; while Hampton Coach concentrates on General Motors products, Chevrolet 1916-1954, Buick from 1927-1955, and various models of Cadillac, Pontiac, Plymouth and LaSalle vehicles. Atherton explains that the company has interiors for 800 different models, so the focus is on restoration work rather than custom.

The big sell

Running a thriving business takes more than merely having upholstery skills—you need to sell yourself to potential customers. Berndt puts that into perspective when he says, “People aren’t going to hand over a $40,000 car unless they think you know what you’re doing.”

It’s important to market yourself and your work. Nicholson always keeps one of two display cars at the shop to show off to potential customers. One is a ’56 Chevy with black on black fabric. The other is a ’91 Camaro with red on black leather. Berndt has a 1980 full custom GMC lowrider pickup with full tan leather interior, and a ’57 Chevy Bel Air with white leather interior.

An upholsterer looking to break into the custom car market should find out where potential customers are and then go there. Virtually every town in America has a cruise night or a car show. But it’s the big shows that draw the big crowds. For example, a three-day National Street Rod Association or Goodguys Rod & Custom Association show can draw up to 100,000 hot rodders at a time.

Willie Sutton, a bank robber in the 1930s, when asked why he robbed banks, said: “Because that’s where the money is.” Trust us, if Willie Sutton was an upholsterer today, he’d be attending car shows, gaining new ideas and drawing in a wealth of new customers for restoration and custom interior work.

No, this isn’t a typical hot rod, but it gives you an idea of how luscious a leather interior can be. Photo: DLT Leathers.
This 1953 Buick was completed using a kit from LeBaron Bonney. Many customers can do the work themselves, but professional upholsterers are called if a top-notch job is required. Photo: LeBaron Bonney.
The 75th anniversary of the Deuce made it a popular model for refurbishing. More important than old steel, there are companies building new Deuces in either real steel or fiberglass . . . and every one of them will need an interior. Photo: LeBaron Bonney.
This is a typical scene from a Goodguys Rod & Custom Association car show, which draws upwards of 100,000 people over three days. Photo: Goodguys Rod & Custom Association.
Wally Nicholson built this ‘91 Camaro for his daughter, April. He did all of the leather interior work. Photo: Wally’s Upholstery.