anyone remove the bows and make their own headliner?

[justincat]

Hello, I was thinking about removing the bows on my 68 chevelle and just glueing some sound deadner, headliner material and getting some cheaper trim instead of buying the factory bow type headliner. Has anyone done this? I added up the factory headliner, trim, visors, etc and it starting getting a little pricey. I don't really car about keeping original, and don't really even need the visors and the other accessories, just something on a budget that looks decent and wont fall down. I would rather save a few bucks and put it somewere else. I would like to see a picture and a few tips if anyone has done it. thanks

[garys 68]

Yeah, copied the old headliner in my 72 Olds 442. I used the same material for the headliner as on the seats (gray) with black visors. I didn't do it because of cost, more just for a custom look where everything matched. But it was quite a bit cheaper than the ones you buy. I looked at gluing up stuff, but would look like hell. Most headliners are glued to a shell that give the shape.
You'll need a decent sewing machine, and there are quite a few tutorials on installation online. If you actually wanna learn to sew and dive in, let me know, I can give you suppliers.
Headliner, copied from old one.

Bows installed.

And installing, fitting in car.

Matches seats and the rest of interior.

[andrewb70]

Nice job Gary! That turned out really nice.

Andrew

[justincat]

yea thanks for the post! I wish I would have seen it before I did my headliner. I ended up just buying some black light weight headliner material off ebay for about 40 bucks and used some thin carpet padding for sound deadner that I bought from lowes, I also cut the metal piece out that runs from the front to the back that holds the bow clips so it would only have one ridge in it. It turn out good but not near as custom and creative as yours! I will see if I can post some pictures of mine for those wanting the cheap easy route that still looks good. It would be nice if someone sold a multi piece shell you could put together in the car and cover that way