Reupholster means putting new fabric or leather on an existing seat. In this discussion, they’re saying that sometimes the work goes beyond that—like cutting the seat and adding new features.
A bench seat is one long seat for multiple people. When shops customize a bench seat, they may rebuild it and add things like cup holders, not just replace the fabric.
Cup holders are the built-in places to keep drinks from sliding around. If a shop adds them to a seat, they often have to modify the seat structure and then finish it so it matches the rest of the interior.
Term
body cues
“Body cues” are styling hints from the outside of the car that designers repeat inside. It’s a way to make the interior match the car’s overall look.
Term
off the grill
“Off the grill” means they borrow design ideas from the car’s front grille. Those shapes or patterns can show up again in the interior, like in trim or stitching.
A “full on custom interior” is when the shop changes a lot more than just the seat fabric. It can include rebuilding parts of the cabin and adding features, which is why it usually costs more.
A “68 Camaro” means a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro. It’s a classic car, and the inside parts and layout are different from other years, so custom upholstery and seat work has to match that specific cabin.
An interior kit is a set of parts and materials meant to upgrade the inside of a car or truck. Instead of building everything from scratch, you install the matching pieces to get a custom look.
Kick panels are the small interior trim pieces near the floor by the front doors. People often customize them because they’re easy to see when you’re sitting in the seat.
Door panels are the inside trim pieces on the doors. They’re the part you rest your arm on and see every time you open the door.
Car
crew cab
A crew cab is a pickup with two rows of seats and four doors, so there’s room for passengers in the back too. They’re using it as an example of how the interior work turns out.
The headliner is the material on the inside roof of the car. When shops do a full interior, they often redo the headliner because it affects how the whole cabin looks.
“Trim” is the interior finishing pieces—things like panels and decorative surfaces. More trim usually means more parts to customize so everything matches.
The “door bottoms” are the lower parts of the door’s inside panel. Redoing them is a common way to refresh the look because that area gets worn and dirty first.
CNC is a computer-controlled machine. It helps them make the same pattern accurately and repeatedly, which is useful for custom stitching and interior designs.
Porsche is a well-known car brand. Here, they’re talking about using the Porsche logo as a repeated design detail to make the interior look more custom.
Interior upgrades are changes made inside the car to make it look nicer or feel better. Here, they’re saying they do that not only for older cars, but also for newer ones.
“Scissor arm” refers to the linkage design used in some convertible roof mechanisms, where paired arms pivot like scissors to raise and lower the top. This geometry can make the system more complex to service and can create pinch/crush hazards during repair.
The Ford Mustang is a popular American car, and a lot of people customize them. The hosts are basically saying they see many Mustangs come in for interior work.
Vinyl is a man-made plastic used for car interior coverings. It’s often used because it’s tough and easy to wipe clean.
Term
German square weave qualities
“Square weave” refers to a specific carpet fabric construction pattern where fibers are woven in a tight, grid-like structure. The speaker attributes “German square weave qualities” to a higher-end carpet feel or appearance associated with certain European-style materials.
Bucket seats are the kind of seats that wrap around you, instead of a wide bench seat. People choose them for a sportier, more supportive feel—especially in custom builds.
“Patina” is the natural wear and aging on a car’s paint and surfaces. The “patina game” means people like that worn look and try to keep it, then spend money on other things like the interior.
Fuel injection is how a car delivers gas to the engine using controlled valves and sensors. It’s usually considered an upgrade because it helps the engine run more smoothly and respond better.
They’re asking what tools you use when working in your garage or shop. It’s about the practical gear people use to do the work, not a specific car part.
“86 Regal” likely means a 1986 Buick Regal. They’re talking about turning it into a low-rider, which usually means lots of custom styling inside and out.
A low rider is a customized car style where the car sits low and often gets special suspension and styling. People build them to look flashy and to stand out at shows.
Term
West Coast
“West Coast” here means a particular style of low-rider look that people associate with the western U.S. They’re comparing a more extreme, showy build to something that’s easier to drive.
“Coffin pleats” are a type of fancy seat/trim stitching pattern. In this context, they’re talking about a classic low-rider interior style from the 80s and 90s.
They’re talking about fixing the interior you already have, not replacing everything. That can be helpful when the original seats are hard to replace or you want to keep the factory look.
Seat upholstery is the material on the seat—like fabric or leather. If it gets torn or damaged, the shop can often repair just the broken section instead of redoing the whole seat.
They cut out the damaged part of the seat covering and replace only that section. That way, the repair can blend in better and you don’t have to redo the entire seat.
Perforated means the leather has small holes in it. Those holes help air move through the seat, and using the same style of perforation helps the repair match the original look.
Term
boxing and bolster
“Bolster” is the padded, curved outer part of the seat. “Boxing” is the stitched side/edge section around it, and upholstery repairs often need to rebuild those shapes so the cover fits and looks right.
An airbag is a safety cushion that pops out in a crash to protect you. If it goes off, the car needs to be repaired so the airbag can work again, and the seat cover often has to be replaced too.
Re-stitching means sewing the seat cover back together. If the seat has an airbag, the cover has to open the right way in a crash, so re-sewing it can be risky—hence the preference for proper replacement.
The Hummer H2 is a big SUV. They’re saying the headliner job in that specific Hummer was a pain, likely because the interior is large and awkward to work on.
The Volkswagen Beetle is an iconic compact car with a distinctive interior layout. Here, the hosts mention doing a Beetle headliner, specifically calling out how the material “tucks in” around the window openings—an installation detail that makes the job harder.
When installing a convertible roof, the fabric often gets attached with staples. If you staple it in the wrong place or with the material twisted, it can tear or not fit correctly.
Term
sunriffs
They’re talking about adding a sunroof to a car after it’s built. If the install isn’t sealed well, water can get in and cause leaks.
A sunroof is a glass opening in the roof that lets in light and sometimes fresh air. If it’s installed or maintained poorly, it can leak water into the cabin.
They’re talking about corrosion from water getting into the car. If water keeps getting trapped around the roof area, it can rust the metal and cause big repair bills.
Term
sliding rags
They’re likely talking about a fabric roof (like a convertible) that moves. Fabric roofs can wear out and start leaking if the seals or material get old.
A soft top is a convertible roof made from fabric (often with a frame), as opposed to a hard roof. Because it depends on fabric condition, tension, and sealing, soft tops are commonly associated with leaks when components age or are poorly maintained.
“Vent visors” are aftermarket pieces mounted above the windows to help with rain protection and airflow when the windows are cracked. The “bubble” style refers to a more rounded, protruding shape that was common on older custom trucks and cars.
Headlight covers are add-on pieces that go in front of your headlights. People use them to change the appearance (and sometimes protect the lights), especially on older custom builds.
Double-blade wiper blades are windshield wipers that have two rubber wiping strips working together. The hosts are listing them as part of the older “mini truck” look.
LIVE
Hey, Stacey David here with the Tales of the Gearhead podcast.
Now this is a podcast about everything automotive, everything mechanical.
You're going to get advice, you're going to get ideas, you're going to hear guests,
you're going to hear people that are just like you.
Everything is going to be wrapped around the automotive lifestyle so we know you're going
to love it.
All right, let's get rolling.
All right, welcome to today's podcast.
Now today we are going to be talking about the one thing that you spend the most time in
in your vehicle and we're talking about the interior.
Now most of you guys out there are like, oh no, I hate interior and you try to do
either the interior yourself and you fail or you look for a good interior shop.
And that can be a whole new challenge in itself.
So I've got a couple of friends of mine here.
They're from Auto Customs.
This is in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, not Harrisburg, Harrodsburg.
And they do some of the premier interior work that you will see around some of these vehicles.
I got Eric and Jonas here.
Guys, thanks for coming to the podcast, man.
Thanks for having us.
That's a good beer.
Okay, first of all, let's talk about interiors.
How did you guys get into doing interiors?
Because most people will look at that and go, man, these guys are dinking with sewing machines,
kind of girly stuff, and you're the least from that.
So tell me how you got into doing interiors and why it's cool.
Well, it's funny you say that because I did have an ex-girlfriend one time tell me that
I was getting in touch with my feminine side by sewing.
Now, you got to see Eric to hear that.
He's got his beard.
This guy is just about as macho cool as he can be.
But I'll tell you what, there's a lot of talent and a lot of skill that's involved
in making a custom interior.
For sure, yeah.
My dad always told me that we're not just upholsters.
I mean, we're designers.
We're engineers.
We have to, you know, we might have to make it look good,
but we have to work as a function and all that.
Yeah, but we're me and him as good as we're good at designing and making sure that everything
flows real nice.
But the question was, how did we get into it?
Yeah, yeah.
Did you grow up with cars?
Well, I grew up with cars.
I grew up with the racetrack and stuff with my parents and all that.
But I tell everybody when they ask me that question, it's because I was poor.
I found a lowrider magazine in the late 80s, early 90s, and I saw those biscuit tuck and all
those interiors from out west.
And I was like, I need to learn how to do that.
Little did I know that in Florida where I'm from, they weren't building interiors like that there.
So I ended up learning how to do that stuff, but I never really got to do it.
So it just kind of took off from there.
I started to shop and everything down there and just really started honing my craft and teaching
myself, you know, and back then we didn't have YouTube and we didn't have all that stuff.
No, you were taught like that.
And I'll tell you what, the mini trucking world really helped.
As far as custom interiors and custom paint, that's kind of where it was happening.
And that's how I got into it.
It was from the mini trucks.
Yeah.
And how long have you been doing it, Jonas?
I've been doing it 26 years now.
Gosh, man.
And always interior.
Now, do you guys, I wanted to ask you, at your shop, is it all interior stuff or do you do
chassis, suspension, paint, do you build vehicles?
Are you just interior?
Well, we're mainly just interiors, but we do have a mechanic shop where we do facilitate
some stuff.
Mainly at our shops, just strictly interiors.
Yeah.
We don't have the patience for the stuff that you do here.
Or the room.
We have patience, but not that kind of patience.
And that's one thing that people don't realize, though, when it comes to interior,
a lot of people will look at a seat and go, oh, well, they're just making a new cover for that
seat.
And of course, you can do that.
But you guys actually will look at, for example, they're getting ready to do the bench seat on
my Apache pickup.
And they're not just going to reupholster this new seat.
You know, they're actually going to cut it, put cup holders in it, do whatever you're going
to do.
It will not come back looking like the same seat.
And let's talk about that a little bit.
How do you approach a project like that?
How do you, where does the creative element come for you guys?
We take a lot from the vehicle itself, which I'll take, like, some body cues and off the
grill, kind of tied into it.
And it also depends on the customer, too, like what they're looking for.
If they're wanting a street ride, more modern, more old school.
So it all plays into that.
And another question a lot of people have, they come in and they want this full on custom
interior is cost.
OK, so let's be realistic about this.
I mean, you guys are at the top of the game.
Say he brings in a 68 Camaro and he wants an interior that's going to wow people.
What's he looking to spend?
You guys are going to be building the seats.
You're going to be doing the door panels.
You're going to be doing the rear panels.
You're going to be doing the carpet.
You're going to be doing the headliner, all that.
I would say on the lower end side, on the lower end, like probably starting about 20,000.
Yeah, I mean, you know, you start adding up those hours to fabricate everything.
Especially, you know, a good job.
It's not like you said, it's not just making a cover and putting it on.
We're, you know, sometimes we're redoing the frame so they're better from the factory.
And then we're hand-building, hand-cutting, hand-shaping the foam.
And then we're making our own patterns and our own covers.
And making the customer fit in it, too.
And make the customer, yeah.
The customer has to fit.
Yeah, we get a lot of times these guys, you know, are six foot tall and 200 something pounds
trying to get in a square body truck.
Yeah.
And I'm too close to steering wheel or whatever.
So we have to try to get them back and down a little bit and without compromising the
you know, the comfortability of it.
Without insulting them and saying, hey, dude, you're just too fat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So there's a lot that goes into it, you know, it's not,
there's no cookie cutter thing to it.
Now, on our square body stuff, we do do square body interiors like a kit.
How do we, what do we call that?
Send it, ship it.
Send it, build it, ship it, I think is how we have it.
So basically what you've done is you've come up with your own door panels.
You've kind of put with your own kick panels.
We have nine designs that you can choose from.
You can change the answer.
Nice.
Basically what we call it as a stock custom.
Yeah.
Right.
So if somebody comes in, they don't want to spend $20,000 or more on an interior.
So we've designed a custom, some designs, like you said, nine designs.
We designed custom patterns for the square bodies, just the bench seat, you know,
the square body bench seat.
Then we have like, you know, we'll wrap the door panels to the stock door panels,
you know, and we'll wrap all the plastics and everything that are in the truck.
But we'll just jazz it all up and make it look, you know, make it look really cool for the money.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Like they can, like there's one right now, a crew cab that was in Adorama,
you know, that we did and it just looked phenomenal all together, you know, and it's,
I don't want to say budget because it's not, it's still not cheap, but it's a way to go.
It's an option.
Absolutely.
Would you get a full interior, about four grand and up to like seven somewhere in there?
Oh, that's reasonable.
That's not bad.
Depends on the truck, you know, like, like your truck over there has a whole headliner
and it has all the trim.
Yeah.
And that's in any color too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And all the square bodies don't have all that, you know, some of them are just very basic.
So you can, you can definitely.
And we have add-ons too, like cup holders that bolt to the seat.
We can do custom door bottoms.
And so people can choose their leather.
I see you brought a whole box of leather samples and stitching patterns.
Yeah.
You guys do all kinds of stitches, single stitch, double stitch, all kinds of stuff.
Yeah, we bought a big CNC sewing machine now.
So it opened the doors pretty big.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Yeah, we have a CNC, which is a lot of them patterns there in that bucket that we wanted to show you.
And I'm usually the one that's writing the program for those.
I mean, we've done like, we had a real high dollar Porsche that come in and I designed
like this like Porsche logo on repeat, you know, with some stripes in it and it came out really cool.
We had a real high end Lincoln that we did.
The Lincoln was really cool.
We did the Lincoln emblem as the end service.
Yeah, you actually got cues from the old Lincoln emblem.
It's kind of like a rectangle, but it's kind of.
And that was a full custom.
We had 700 or 200 hours in that.
700 hours.
700 hours.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
700 hours.
And I'll tell you what, that's a nice point because you don't just do old car stuff, correct?
So you do interior upgrades on new cars, things like that.
So is there anything that you guys don't do?
I mean, say if a guy comes to you with a new Lamborghini or Maserati or a.
We'll do any vehicle.
No furniture.
Yeah, no furniture.
And very.
That's my next question.
And we're limited on boats.
Like sometimes we'll do both stuff, but we're kind of really picky about that.
And then we don't, and we don't do all convertible tops, but we do do some of them.
There's a handful of them that we will do.
Some of them we just, we just choose not to do because we don't have to do them.
Yeah.
But we do, you know, like to do some of them, the ones that are as tedious, I guess.
All convertible tops are tedious.
I like the old 70's scissor arm ones.
Those are dangerous to work on.
So the, I would guess that most of the convertibles you do are probably the classic
60's muscle car.
And panel of stuff like that.
And we do a lot of new cars too.
I'll say we do a lot of Mustangs actually.
Yeah.
And Miatas.
We do a lot of Mustangs and Miatas.
Yeah.
And Vets.
Yeah.
Mustangs, Miatas, Vets, and we've done some Sebrings and Solaros.
It's like those are all like really easy to do.
Yeah.
You do any Mercedes stuff or BMW?
A little bit of Mercedes stuff.
It depends on what Mercedes.
Yeah.
He knows more about the, those European cars.
So I'm kind of like, I don't know nothing about them.
So.
How has things changed?
Obviously you've been doing this for 20 years, Jonas.
You've been doing it Eric, how long?
Like 27.
Yeah.
So you've done this a long time.
What is probably the biggest thing you've noticed that has changed over the years about interior?
I mean, like I'm sure the cost of leather has gotten high.
And probably you may not even use leather as much.
There's a lot of these faux leathers that are sometimes are better material.
What do you guys like to use?
I like leather myself.
Yeah.
It's a lot easier to work with and you can heat it up and get the wrinkles out.
Vinyl, a lot of the vinyls are just as good too.
Yeah.
But the carpets changed a lot in the last 10 years.
The German square weave qualities.
Do you guys make your own carpet?
Make our own carpet kits.
Yeah.
That's nice.
Since COVID or whatever, ACC won't sell yardage.
Really?
Yeah.
I didn't know that.
Yeah.
And a lot of times those pre-molded carpets.
They never fit.
Well, I mean, even if we got them to fit, it doesn't really go with the rest of what we did.
We can never buy that cut pile yardage because they won't sell it.
So we usually end up with the German square weave, the more expensive stuff.
Or a loop.
Because there's a bunch of loop colors that we can get, like the standard gray-black browns.
But I've seen change over the years is, for one, people have finally accepted what we do,
like our role in the field.
It's legit.
Like, I feel like for so long, we all had to always explain why we need to get this much
money out to do the job or whatever.
And it was always after the customer brags about how much I paid for the paint job and the motor.
And then they would have skimped on the interior.
Oh, yeah.
You were the redheaded stepchild.
Absolutely.
No patience and no money left.
And nobody planned for it.
See, when I first started getting into hot rods and street rods back in the day,
you got your interior out of a junkyard.
You went and got bucket seats out of a tee bird or whatever.
And if they needed a poultry, you just bought an poultry kit for the seat.
You got a carpet and that was your custom interior.
And if you had door panels, you made them or whatever.
Nobody was really doing that.
And the patina game changed all that.
Absolutely.
Because now people can keep a patina body and save their money and put it anywhere else.
Yeah, the patina era, I guess, or whatever, has definitely made it to where people are
spending the money on leather.
Now, like most of the patina trucks, we do have leather in it.
They're like, well, we didn't have to pay 20,000 or more for a paint job.
Let's go ahead and do something cool in here.
They want those creature comforts.
You know, they want their fuel injection, their cupholders, and their nice interior.
Yeah, it's so funny.
I mean, but it's great for you guys.
And we always tell everybody, why wouldn't you want to make the part that you're in the most?
Like that you're sitting in it, you're looking at it, you're smelling it.
Like that's where you should spend your money is on that part.
You know, I got a question for you out there.
If you're working in your shop, what kind of tools are you using?
Now, you're probably going to go, well, you know, whatever I got, cheap, man.
Are you kidding?
Well, and that's the problem because, listen, we all grew up working with cheap tools.
And my first set of tools, my dad got them at Kmart, got them for Christmas.
And I use those things until they just, there was nothing left.
But that's all we had at the time.
But as soon as I could, I started investing in good tools.
And the reason it's not because you want to show them off to people, even though that's okay,
it's because they allow you to do quality work.
And there is nothing more frustrating.
I have talked to gear heads all across the nation around the world, actually.
And one of the biggest frustrations they have is either not having the right tool
or breaking the tool they were using or having something strip or break or something.
And almost every time it's because they don't have the right tool
or they're not using a quality tool.
So if you are into this, like I hope you are, you need to get some good tools.
And that's where Cornwell Tools comes in.
They're America's oldest tool manufacturer.
They're still American made.
I think that if you are going to build some stuff, if you invest in a good set of tools
right off the top, you don't have to get everything.
But just get yourself a nice set of hand tools and work from there.
You will never regret it.
And you can pass them down to your grandkids or whatever if you want to.
But most car guys want to hold onto their tools as long as they can.
Anyway, if you get a chance, check out Cornwell Tools.
You will not be disappointed.
A successful automotive project takes planning and organization.
But instead of using an old tablet or notebook, there's the Gears Deluxe Project Planning Book.
This was designed to help you lay out a project, the parts, the tools,
costs, and keep it organized with colored tabs, a pouch for receipts,
and even a place to attach photos.
If you decide to sell the vehicle, it serves as a complete history of what's been done.
If you have a project or plan on starting one,
the Gears Project Planning Book is the best way to lay it out and make it happen.
Let's talk about this Apache a little bit.
I've got this 59 Apache.
Obviously, we're doing kind of a Native American motif on it.
I grew up out in Idaho right by the Indian Reservation.
My great-grandmother was full-blooded, so we're doing some of that.
And you guys have some really good ideas.
We talked about doing like a buffalo hide, leather, thing like that.
What are you guys thinking?
I mean, I'm seriously thinking about calling this thing the Sidewinder
to be kind of the cousin to the copperhead.
And if you do that, snake skin in there would be really cool too.
Yeah, snake skin is cool anyway.
Yeah, maybe a little bit, not too much.
Just some conchos.
Yeah, just enough.
Yeah, and that's a little accent.
It can't go crazy with that.
We don't want it to look like we did it back in the 2000s or whatever.
Yeah, or maybe just the word instead.
Yeah, you know, not the anaconda look.
Right, exactly.
Yeah, some hair on hide would be cool in there.
Yeah, we have a buddy that, I told you, has the Buffalo farm, right?
Yeah, Brandon Hampton.
And so we were talking with him, we were going to get him involved on this too,
because his aunt apparently has a lot of, is a historian for the Apache Indian.
So, you know, pick her brain and see if we can get some more cues
you know that we can put into our design.
But he's going to get us some hair on hide, samples at least, you know,
so we can see what he's got.
And I know he's tried to have the Buffalo hides like refinished to be like regular
leather, but he said it's just astronomical to have done.
So yeah, so the hair on hide is basically what we got.
So sure, we can look at it.
Yeah, so when we get that, I'll show it to you.
What do you think one of the biggest misconception is that people have
when they approach an upholstery shop?
Now, is it cost?
Or is it the amount of labor it's going to take to do it?
Or the options that they might have?
It's the options that get them the most.
Most people come in, they have the mindset like, I want this, this, this,
and then we start showing them everything.
And then they're like, whoa, like, I don't know what I want now.
Yeah, it happens a lot, like almost every time.
I think nowadays people kind of have an idea that it's not going to be cheap anymore.
You know, interiors aren't cheap anymore, but it's, but it's definitely the options.
We confuse the crap out of people because once we start throwing out all
those CNC samples and colors, you know, leather colors and all this and
start me and him, you know, our creatives used to start flowing and start being like,
well, you could do this or you could do that.
And then this would look good.
This would look good.
And a lot of them will bring their wives, which makes it a lot easier because they're like,
well, I like this color.
And then the guys will kind of go with that.
Yeah.
Is there any interior thing that you've wanted to do that you haven't had a chance to do yet?
Something that's been percolating in your mind is like,
I really want to try this.
Old school.
I want to do old school low rider.
Yeah.
Mine's too.
Now, when you say old school, explain that to me, what do you think?
Like 70s with the biscuits, tuck and roll and all the mirrors and swivel seats and all that.
Which is what got me into this.
Yeah.
So that's what we were talking about.
That stuff's popular again, man.
Haven't done one in 20 years.
Yeah.
I'm fixing to build a 86 Regal low rider.
So that's why we were telling like, what should I do?
You know, like I haven't done that yet.
Should we go full blown, you know, West Coast, well, I guess it'll be like 80s, 90s,
injured with the coffin pleats and the mirror tiles and all that, you know,
or kind of keep it, you know, drivable.
I don't know.
Yeah.
You're going to put the big flake on it.
Oh, yeah.
You've got to have that.
You've got to have that flake and patterns and, you know, and the candy and all that.
It'll have all that stuff.
But yeah, I think for me, it's one of those because I've done a couple, but it's been a long time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's kind of itching to do it again.
And it's all coming back to like the low riders.
It is.
It's really popular now.
The low riders are not big.
And it's funny that we say we don't do furniture because that style and tier is basically furniture.
Yeah.
I mean, it really is.
Yes.
Oh, you'd have people coming showing up with couches all day long.
Yeah.
It's like a mix of furniture and, and, and marine, I think.
Yeah.
So let me ask you this.
Okay.
So, and this is one thing that makes you guys really unique because now most people that are
listening to this are like, okay, if I need a complete interior, I know who to go to.
Or if I have a late model vehicle and I'd like different seats or the name stitched in
or some custom work, you know, I can do that too.
But something you guys do is you do repair work on existing vehicles.
Talk about that a little bit because that makes you really unique.
Most custom shops won't mess with that.
So if a guy comes in, say he's got a 65 Mustang and he's got some damage
on his seat upholstery or whatever, or he's got a, you know, an 85, you know, Camaro,
you know, and he wants some repair work done.
What do you guys do?
How do you approach that?
Yeah, we can do like the cutting.
We cut it apart and just replace that panel.
So we give them plenty of options.
We can do bolster and boxing or if it's just the insert, we do those all the time.
And you're willing to do that.
As long as it's in good shape.
Yeah.
Like it's workable because some of that stuff gets hard and when you press on it,
kind of crack.
Sure.
Can't work with that.
Yeah, we do.
We do try.
I don't know how many other shops do this, but our shop, we try to give our customers
like all their like price point options to fix it.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah.
And so even if we're going to do a repair, we'll tell them it's, remember,
it's going to be new versus old.
Yeah.
So, or, you know, or we can just replace that cover the whole bottom, you know,
just do the one seat.
Yeah, or do the one seat or the one bottom.
So we try to give them all those options and let them pick
which one they're comfortable with.
Yeah.
It's not always about, you know, the $15,000 interior.
You know what I mean?
Like sure.
We got to take care of our local people too, you know, with the little jobs.
And are you able to match colors pretty well?
Yeah.
Because a lot of times those leathers are faded, those vinyls get nasty.
Yeah, we got, we got some good, we have some good vendors for, for the leather and vinyls.
So a lot of times, like we just did a repair for a new customer we have up in Cincinnati
and it came out pretty good.
So I, I even ordered the leather like perforated, you know, already.
So we just had to do a boxing and bolster and insert a thing or something like that.
And it came out good.
Yeah.
I mean, you could kind of tell, but once you cleaned up the seat and everything gave
a little bit of leather shine or whatever, it blended it pretty good.
But it was passable.
Nice, nice.
And we do a lot of new cars too.
Like if it gets in a wreck and airbag deploys, people bring us a seat,
we'll replace the airbag, put a new cover on it.
See, that's awesome.
We won't re-stitch it though.
Yeah, we won't just factory replacement.
That's a liability issue.
Yeah.
So we, so we're told.
Yeah.
We just don't do it.
Nice.
But we will put the new cover on.
And like the new Mustangs, the door panels usually come loose and start falling.
We fix those all the time.
Yeah, yeah.
And the Beetle.
Beetles too.
The Beetles that way too.
Yeah.
That panel or anything German really, that that's coming off the door.
Yeah, coming off the door definitely.
With that slimy orange foam, it turns into some kind of goo.
But a lot of the new dodges too, like the dashes or leather and they start bubbling up
from the sun.
Yeah.
I fixed a bunch of those too.
Yeah.
And those are a pain to do.
So in the 20 some years you guys have done this, I know, and this, this is the question
that I love.
There has to have been at least one interior that just kicked your butt.
You know, it was there that one interior or that one vehicle that you're like,
I will never do another one of those again.
I mean, we just have one of those three things, didn't we?
I lose my cool on a lot of them.
So I usually the one throwing tools.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's usually cussing and saying that about everything we work on.
Oh yeah.
I feel like we just had something in there.
And when we were done, we're like, no more of those.
What was it?
The Hummer.
We did that Hummer headliner.
It's the Hummer headliner.
No more of those.
We don't want to do big H2 Hummer.
Yeah.
It was a pain.
I don't, I can't think of one right off the bat.
I always, you know, early on I did a beetle headliner and you know how they tuck in and
around the window.
What a pain in the back.
Yeah.
My first one I ever did, I ripped it.
Oh yeah.
You always rip it.
Start over.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was one of those.
I was like, it will be a long time before I do another beetle headliner.
And that's the one I will never do again is an old beetle convertible top.
Because it's the same way with the top.
You gotta staple into that window and then put the window.
And it's, it's a pain.
So the reason why I personally don't do tops is because I, back in 1998, I did a Miata top at
the shop I was working at.
I was still learning.
I didn't know anything about anything.
Yeah.
And how I messed up a Miata top, I have no idea.
After seeing them, them do them now, they're like, you could, they could almost do them
with like one eye closed.
And yeah.
And somehow I had a flap wrong or something like that.
And it, it put a hole in it or tore something.
I said, I'm never doing a convertible top ever again.
And I've stuck to that.
I have not done it.
Our shop, my shops have always done them, but I'm not doing it.
Yeah.
Now you personally, yeah.
I don't do sunriffs anymore either.
I used to put sunriffs in.
Yeah.
After market.
Boy, that was a big thing for a long time.
He was like the king of sunriffs in Kentucky.
Yeah, the sunroof.
Now we're going back and fixing all those roofs, putting metal back in.
Yeah.
Every, when I was looking for Z cars, man, it's hard to find them without some sunroof put in them.
Pop top in them.
Yeah.
It's like, and they all leak.
Oh yeah.
It's one of the cars that are all rusted.
I love the sliding rags that they put on like mini trucks or rotters, but.
They don't last.
They don't last, they leak.
Yeah.
You remember the convertibles, the mini truck convertibles.
The raffle tops.
The soft top one, right?
I remember that.
I remember that.
The advertisement for those who had a little rat in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The thing just flex like crazy when you cut that roof over there.
Yeah, that was cool.
But it looks so good.
It looks so good though.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's good.
That air was good with the big Testerosa body kits on and stuff.
Yeah, I really think that'll probably make a comeback.
There were so many people that were into that.
Well, I don't know if you, how much you've been paid attention,
but that the 80s style of mini truck is coming back.
Yeah.
Like people are starting to go back to like rebuilding them.
Yeah.
If you can find them, there's no, try to find an S10 or a Ranger.
Yeah.
Or try to find those big old GT bubble vent visors.
Remember them things?
Yeah.
Like try to find instead of those or the headlight covers or any of that stuff.
The double blade wiper blades.
Yes.
Remember that.
Oh yeah.
Bright white.
Yeah.
Pink.
You can get the pink ones.
You know the parts, the parts where it's always had all those.
All right.
Guys, it's been great having you on here.
Listen, how do people find you?
Give us your website address here.
How do they find you?
www.autocustoms.com.
And that's customs with a K.
Customs with a K.
It's autocustomswithk.com.
And then we're located at 123 South Chiles Street.
It looks like Chili's, but it's Chiles Street in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
And we're on all the socials.
Yeah.
All the socials.
So people can get with you, you know, email socials.
Yeah.
And even if you go to the website, you'll find our social media links.
Also on there, you'll find our events that we post in our town and all that stuff.
Yeah.
They got a great event.
Yeah.
It'd be cool to come up and check that out again right out in the streets.
Yeah.
May 30th, we've got O-Iron Rundown.
Yeah.
It's a 1987 and older custom car truck, motorcycle show.
You guys still do the valve cover races?
We haven't done that in a while because we just haven't really had to help with
getting the, setting the track up.
Yeah.
But that was a blast when we did that.
That was cool, man.
Yeah.
People really love that.
Yeah.
And we really need to bring that back out.
Because we have the track still.
We just, we just never have the time to put it together.
Yeah.
Because, you know, we really need to do it the night before.
We never had to help.
That was always the thing.
Yeah.
It's always a problem.
Everybody wants to have fun.
Nobody wants to help.
Well, guys, it's been great.
You're welcome to come by anytime, man.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Thank you, Stacy.
All right.
That's our show for today, which means you need to get out there and start working on something.
Spend some time turning wrenches.
You might be surprised how much you like it.
Now, make sure that you check out our website, StacyDavid.com,
because we've got all kinds of new products and some other great stuff that you're just going to love.
I've got a new children's book called Iggy and the Stick Man.
This is a story about a lonely stick that has dreams of greatness,
only to be ridiculed by his friends.
But then through a series of events, he learns that it is possible to get up off the ground
and change everything if you're willing to persevere.
You need to check it out.
Also, make sure you check out our social media.
That's Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, all at official StacyDavid.
Our social media is where you're going to find all of our bonus content,
the giveaways, the contests, the trivia.
We even have extra viewer projects that focus on what you are working on.
Also, the new season of Gears will be on Racer Network,
and YouTube will be the place where you can view all of your favorite Gears episodes,
as well as the full project builds that follow a project from beginning to end.
So that's really nice.
But remember, the most important thing is you need to get out there and turn some wrenches yourself.
So get a project and start working on it.
All right, that's all the announcements.
We're all up to date.
We'll see you next time.
About this episode
Vehicle interiors take center stage as Tales of a Gearhead talks with Auto Kustoms about how interior work goes far beyond reupholstery. The crew explains what inspired them—lowrider magazines and the mini-trucking world—then walks through their process: hand-cutting and hand-shaping foam, sometimes redoing frames, and even cutting seat structures for features like cup holders. They also cover pricing drivers, materials (faux leather, carpet kits), repair work, and why many convertible-top jobs are “tedious.”
We all love it when it's finished and looks great but hate the road we have to travel to get there. Well, to make that journey a bit easier, Stacey is joined by Jonas & Eric from AUTO KUSTOMS out of Harrodsburg, KY. They discuss how they got started, what made them get into interior work, their least favorite vehicles to work on, AND bounce around few ideas for what they & Stacey might do with APACHE project.
