Cloth headliner in a 1st gen

[gtalum01]

Has anyone made or purchased a cardboard liner base and put in a first gen? I really do not want to use the rod system, even if it was in two pieces with a center strip covering the seam, thanks for any potential help!

[garys 68]

Why not use the original rods? I used the old headliner as a pattern and made a new with cloth to match the interior. The upholsrty material has a little more stretch to it making the install easier than the original.

[gtalum01]

That looks beyond great,you my friend have greatly answered my question! So did you use just the new style headliner cloth for your pattern? Or anything in particular?

[garys 68]

I was re-doing my interior. I just bought extra material that I used for the seats. It's quite a bit heavier than the standard headliner material, but looks a lot "deeper" and tends to stretch more (less wrinkles). Pic of the seats.

[TheJDMan]

So Gary,
Very nice! So I'm guessing you have access to a sewing machine and have the needed skills to use it. Do you have an interior shop arount St Louis or something? I have seen videos of installing a headliner in a 1st gen and it looked like a nightmare working out the wrinkles. I can see where using a stretch fabric opens up the possibiltites while being easier to install. Again, very nice!

[garys 68]

I've done boat tops as a hobby, but this is the first car interior I've done.
You can do it with any sewing machine. Just be sure to get UV resistant thread for uphostery.
When I look at the prices on this stuff, I'm guessing a lot of shops can do custom work for a similar price. If you dont want to do the sewing, check with a shop. I'll bet if you buy the material, drop it off with your old headliner, you'll find they can sew it up pretty cheap. It took me about 2 hrs to pattern and sew up the headliner.

[gtalum01]

This going to be a good day, I was thinking that it sucked that I could not use my old headliner as a pattern as it was dry rotted and ripped out so to get this done I was going to buy an old headliner or go to a shop and hope for the best but I was digging through my fathers out building looking for something else and I found an unopened new headliner, this is what happens when you buy parts in bulk due to a sale before you need them, you then forget you have them, so now I just need to buy some material and find someone to sew it up, good stuff, hopefully!

[garys 68]

Pretty much any sewing machine will work with the relatively light upholstery material.
Mine was almost disintegrating too, but stayed together well enough for me to take measurements and make a rough pattern.
I found a couple pics of it in progress.

[gtalum01]

Local uphoulstry shop will make it based off of original design for 75 to 80 bucks, thanks so much fro the idea, will post pictures eventually.