1900 asking price which is a lot but if the interior is as “awesome” as advertised and I can use 100 % of it maybe it’s worth it
$1900 is still reasonable for a parts car. I know you are primarily interested in the interior panels and steering wheel. Hopefully you are fortunate enough to have the space to store a donor car, and if there are any other salvageable parts, don’t forget to list them here!
The used-parts market is fickle…sometimes you can sell the excess parts quickly, sometimes you have to wait.
Looks like you’ll be jumping into this project with both feet!
Thanks for your advice and encouragement, once again, Roger. There is no drive line on the parts car and the back end is toast, but I am anxious to see what the trim code is, and will probably buy it if it is anything close, use what I can and part out the rest to my fellow 59 Plymouth brethren.
Jim
Hi Jim,
I didn’t have a decent deluxe wheel, but I do have decent standard wheels if you decide to go that route. They are not too expensive.
—John
Sorry, John, I didn’t realize. You have some for sale? If so, could you email me photos and price(s) please ? jhawkeye999@gmail.com.
Thanks much
Jim
Jim - Before you buy that parts car (Don’t forget the cost of freight) you may want to contact SMS in Canby, Oregon. The are doing the door panels (six for a convertible) and supplying the material for the front and back seats for $1,700.00. You can go on thier web site and take a look at the sample panels. All you have to do is send them the stainless trim. They will send you samples of the correct materials, just send them the trim No. of your car. www.smsautofabrics.com.
Dick
Thanks, Dick. I have indeed been looking at SMS as one of the options and was leaning heavily that way until the steering wheel thing came up. I am supposed to get some photos of the parts car interior early this week and will figure out which way to go then. SMS and originalauto.com are basically the only two games in town for NOS fabric and vinyl, right? By the way, is there such a thing as NOS carpet?
Jim
Again, I recommend you do your research before sending money to anyone.
SMS is the ONLY known supplier of new upholstery fabric for the Forwardlook cars. They own (or have access) to a computerized loom which weaves these fabrics to their specific order.
They also make re-manufactured door panels, and their work is top-notch. But they are not without their failings. Customers report a wait-time of up to two years, depending on factors which are impossible to categorize. Product may arrive in the wrong color. One common thread seems to be that belligerent customers get pushed to the back of the line. If you order from SMS, be sure to use a credit card, so you have some leverage should problems arise.
There might be something called NOS carpet… are you sure you want to buy 50-year old pre-cut carpet?
Original Auto Interiors sells pre-sewn seat covers, and in my opinion has the best vinyl.
If you know of an auto upholstery shop near you, you should inquire there if they could handle your car’s needs. You’d supply them with materials. A local shop could install OAI seat covers. You need to be careful though, that the bulk vinyl and fabric you buy matches any pre-made covers you buy. This fact is why buying the whole package from SMS makes sense.
Dick, $1700 for all six panels AND all the fabric and vinyl you need for a local shop to upholster the seats? Seems like a good price to me. What are your plans for the top boot and well?
Roger - I’m getting the two front panels, two armrest recovered, two rear panels, and two rear cylinder cover/armrests. The stainless trim that was on the panels I got with the car was from a 1958 Convertible. Thanks to John Quinn he sent me the correct stainless. I polished that up and sent them, the old armrest and the cyl. cover/armrest panels to SMS. They also sent me the correct cloth and silver vinly for the seats that I will have done locally, The same upholsterer that has done work on Charleen and my Green SF. Which by the way I took out of the garage, washed and polished it. It has been almost a year since I had Greenie out last. Started right up and runs like a scalded dog. Has the 361 CI engine, still lights up and tires chirp when going into second gear.
Dick.
Thanks, Roger. I’m gathering a lot of good information from this forum and will be able to pull the trigger on the interior resto soon.
Okay, I have one lead…www.qualityrestorations.com
The website did come up. and it DOES show a re-cast 59 Plymouth deluxe wheel. I don’t see sparkles (am I wrong to expect sparkles.. am I remembering the 1960 Dodge I once had?, and it looks a bit off-center.
The contact name is Dennis. If someone contacts him and gets a price, please post it here for the benefit of all.
Thanks Roger. I sent Dennis and email late Friday afternoon so am crossing my fingers, although I have seen on other posts that he is quite expensive. It is nice to at least see what the wheel/horn ring is supposed to look like. Also, since I found a brown horn ring pad, I’ll follow up with an email to let him know that. Will let you and the forum know what I find out.
Jim - Problem solved, I was rooting around in my garage this morning and I found a green delux steering wheel, factory original except the plastic which is intact has yellowed a little, I’m willing to let it go for 40K plus shipping of 1.2K. The only problem is it’s attached to a Green Sport Fury. See Pictures.
Don’t you just hate monday morning smart ass friends. Well, I guess a friend up until now?
Dick.
Oh Dick, you playful bastard you… I’m about to the point where I either laugh or cry about this whole steering wheel thing and then you made the decision an easy one this a.m. 
I can’t believe that those steering wheel profiteers can command such a handsome price. I’m not saying that there isn’t some degree of craftsmanship and perhaps even “artistry” involved, but c’mon this isn’t the second sculpting of the Venus de Milo is it? Now, granted there is certainly some overhead in ramping up with a molding/casting machine, but I get the feeling that the free market system might be taking a back seat to a select few vendors who gather in a smoke-filled room once or twice a year and have little “chat” about how good life is after preying on those of us who simply love classic automobiles. I’m not saying we should all get torches and pitchforks at this point, and maybe you and I should just join the club so that you can make your next million and blow it on more toys. Speaking of which, that Fury is drop dead gorgeous!!! You just had to spin the seats out too for the photo, didn’t you. All right, enough of the playful banter. I’m drilling down deep today and hopefully will be able to find a happy ending.
By the way, D&D Automobila out of NC just gave me another one of those $1,200 quotes this morning, and graciously offered to hold onto the finished product until I could make payments sufficient to put me in the poor house…
Jim
Jim - Thankfully I’ve lived long enought to start working on my second million now. I gave up on the first.
Dick.
Touche’
If only I had a spot of land… and a garage…I’d be sorely tempted to learn resin mold casting, or whatever it’s called.
The guy who did my wheel lived in Texas, and he told me he cast it twice. the first time the chrome bar got off center.Second time went better, and he sent it out for buffing, if I recall correctly. He quit the business soon after doing mine. I am still sort of waiting to hear from matthew Keij as to if the steering wheel has sparkles in it…
A person needs a near-perfect wheel in order to make a mold, then has to have experience in pouring? resin without trapping air bubbles, etc. That’s the extent on my knowledge on re-casting!
I have been emailing with Matthew about this and trim topics also. He thinks maybe I could do a partial restore for now and leave the resin coating over outside chrome until later. I might just try that and cover the chrome with clear plastic hose similar to what some other clever guy did. D&D pointed out that there is also a small trim piece missing from the center spoke, however 
okay, I’m gonna hand this off to the two of you then. I am happy you are in contact with Matthew, but not pleased it is “private” and kept from the rest of us
No secrets here, Roger. Please don’t bow out as I would very much appreciate your continued assistance. Matthew sent me an email on Sunday asking about pics of the new member’s car and offering to help decode data tags, etc., and it was just simpler to hit reply to the email. More importantly, I never even thought about suggesting to him that we switch from email to forum posts – one thing about being the newbie (and never having been a member of any message board forum before) is that I am not in tune with the cyber-social etiquette that goes along with being a member. I actually hesitated at the keyboard this morning for a moment when responding to Dick Koch’s friendly ribbing about me acquiring the steering wheel on his SF for $40K. But since Dick saw fit to openly refer to himself as a “smart ass” (and correctly so ) I felt OK in referring to him as a “playful bastard”. I must admit that when I hit the submit button I had a little buyer’s remorse for even doing that – again being socially awkward in these matters. In any event, please let me fall on my sword on this one. Lesson learned.
Thanks,
Jim