Auto Interior Restoration Bay Area - Cleaning your Cars Leather - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

Cleaning car leather

A car leather is very delicate, so it's best to use a good product specially formulated for cleaning leather seats. Some leather care products make the leather more shiny or slippery. Other products can make it sticky or tacky, so before using it, test a product in a small area to see if you like it. Don't use paper towels on leather, they can leave scratches; use a soft clean cotton towel instead. 

Be careful with the leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter knob as some of the leather care products can make them slippery or sticky. I personally don't use any products on my steering wheel and a shifter knob, I just clean them with clean and barely moist cotton towel. If you use any leather care products on your steering wheel, make sure that it is not slippery before you drive.

Vacuum leather seat crevices with the soft brush attachment - be careful, as the vacuum hose can easily scratch the leather.

Spray some leather cleaner agent on the soft clean cotton towel.

Wipe the seat gently, reaching into crevices and around the edges.  Here I used a two-in-one leather cleaner/conditioner. If you have just a cleaner, apply a conditioner later to protect the leather.

 source: http://www.samarins.com/maintenance/interior.html

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Auto Interior Restoration Bay Area - Cleaning your Cars Interior - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

How to clean car interior

A clean car interior not only looks great, it is also better for your health and health of your passengers. This 8-year old Acura in the photo belongs to a friend of mine; it has more than 140,000 miles on the odometer; yet with proper care its interior still looks very good, as you can see. It takes about an hour to clean the entire interior thoroughly. Be careful with water inside the car; if water gets into electrical components, it may cause problems. Similarly, don't soak the seats too much and don't let water to get under the carpet; it could cause corrosion, stains and damp mouldy smell. Make sure to dry the interior well after you done.       Vacuuming Remove the floor mats. Vacuum the seats and the carpet. Using the proper attachment, reach under the seats, around the pedals and the area between the front seats and the center console. Vacuum floor mats separately. Use a soft brush attachment to vacuum the dashboard, center console and the doors. Be careful not to damage knobs, vents and sticking parts. Use the same attachment vacuuming the seats. Leather seats are very easy to damage, be careful no to scratch them with the vacuum hose.  source: http://www.samarins.com/maintenance/interior.html   http://www.cooksupholstery.com

Auto Interior Restoration Bay Area - Interior for a 1968 El Camino SS 396 - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

Here is an interior we are doing for a 1968 El Camino SS 396 - Here is the before Picture

 

 The El Camino was so closely related to the Chevelle that everything from the windshield forward was largely interchangeable throughout both cars' generations, and engines were shared. In 1968, shoppers could spring for the Standard model as a dependable work truck, with its 230- and 250cid straight-six and three-speed manual. The next model up was the Custom, at $2694 an $81 option over the Standard's base price of $2613, adding lower chrome body molding and a 327 V-8 engine available on both trims. Throughout the third generation, buyers could choose from a V-8 displacing 307, 327, and later 307s and 350s with either two- or four-barrel carburetors. But perhaps the best-known El Camino model was the legendary SS, a $444 upgrade in 1968--the only year it was its own stand-alone model. Three states of tune were available for the 396-cubic-inch Turbo-Jet big-block: 325, 350, and 375 grossly underrated horsepower. A Muncie three-speed was the default transmission, but a Turbo-Hydramatic TH400 and Muncie four-speed could be checked off the options box.

source: http://www.motortrend.com/classic/features/12q1_1968_1972_chevrolet_el_camino_buyers_guide/
by Blake Z. Rong

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Convertible Top Restoration Bay Area - Convertible Top for a Vintage Mustang - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

We just finished the top on this Mustang

The original Ford Mustang debuted on April 17, 1964, at the attractive price of $2,368. Dealers were inundated with requests for the sleekly-styled new vehicle. In Garland, Texas, 15 customers thronged to bid on the same Mustang. The winning bidder resorted to sleeping overnight in his new car so that it wouldn’t be sold out from under him before his check could clear.

Ford initially forecasted annual sales of about 100,000 units. On the first day alone, dealers took 22,000 Mustang orders. Shortly after its introduction, the fledgling vehicle’s success was official when it was featured on the racetrack as the pace car for the 1964 Indianapolis 500. During the Mustang’s first 12 months on the market, sales built to an astounding 417,000. Within two years, sales had catapulted to one million.

“When the Mustang was unveiled, the reaction was so positive that there was no doubt it was going to be a success,” recalls Joe Oros, chief designer of Ford’s original pony car – dubbed the 1964½, because it was launched at an unusual halfway point during the year.

Cooks Upholstery & Classic Restoration is committed to installing the highest quality convertible tops and we are proud to be recognized by Robbins Auto Tops as the Peninsulas preferred installer. All convertible tops are backed by a 3 year manufacturer’s warranty.

source: http://corporate.ford.com/vehicles/ford-mustang-story

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Auto Interior Restoration Bay Area - Interior Restoration of a 1957 Chevy - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

Here is a project we are just starting an interior for a 1957 Chevy.

57 Chevy is a nickname of the 1957 Chevrolet made in America from late 1956 through much of 1957 by General Motors. It is one of many now-classic cars adored by millions of people around the world. These cars are being restored to their original condition or modified into personal favorites. As this car gets older it has become more sought after by collectors than ever before. Its image and likeness have been used over and over again in toys, graphics, music, movies and television. The '57 Chevy is an icon of the era that endures today.

 

The 1957 Chevrolet was available in three official trim levels: the base-model "one-fifty" series, the mid-range "two-ten" series, and the upscale Bel Air series. An upscale trim option called the "Del Ray" was available for 210 2-door sedans. A limited production two-door station wagon called the "Nomad" was produced as a Bel Air. A fourth designation was also available in limited quantities, the "El Morocco", a custom hand-build mimicking the Cadillac of the era.

source: http://www.ak57chevy.com/history.html

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Auto Interior Restoration Bay Area - Porsche 911 - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

Unquestionably, Porsche 911 was the most legendary sports car in history. Started life as the successor of Porsche 356 in 1964, the 911 immediately stormed the world by its popularity as well as its speed. In the following 34 years, it displayed what should be called "evergreen", continuously catching the hearts of car lovers of any age (many of whom are even younger than it !), outselling any other sports cars, outlasting its younger sisters including its one-time successor 928, and eventually became the longest producing sports car in history*.

Check out the before pictures of this interior restoration.

source: http://www.autozine.org/911/911_2.htm

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Auto Interior Restoration Bay Area - Mercedes 190SL - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

The Mercedes 190SL (known internally as W121) was structurally similar to the 180 sedan — albeit shortened by some 10 inches (254 mm) — but had a number of important differences. First, the W121 had a new 1,897 cc (116 cu. in.) four-cylinder engine known as the M121. Based loosely on the M186 six from the 300SL and Type 300 sedans, the M121 had an aluminum head, iron block, a chain-driven overhead cam and twin Solex 44 PHH carburetors, making 105 PS DIN (77 kW, 120 hp SAE gross), twice the output of the 180′s old flathead engine. The W121 also featured the new Eingelenkpendelachse (“single-pivot”) rear suspension shared with the six-cylinder W180 models and the 300SL roadster, which reduced the earlier swing-axle setup’s propensity for abrupt trailing-throttle oversteer.

The styling of the sports car, designed by Walter Häcker’s team under the supervision of chief stylist Karl Wilfert, was directly inspired by Friedrich Geiger’s design for the 300SL. Scaling down its styling cues to the smaller dimensions of the 190SL gave the latter a faintly cartoonish quality. It was unarguably pretty, but more cute than sexy.

Here are the before pictures as we are starting a full interior restoration.

 

source: http://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/mercedes-190sl/

 

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Dash Board Restoration Bay Area - 1999 Ferrari F355 - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

The F355 was originally launched as a replacement to the 348 in 1994 with two models - the GTS and the Berlinetta. The Spider came a year later. This article describes the options that were available and the various special editions that were produced during the manufacturing period.

F1 Gearbox

In 1997, Ferrari launched the 355F1. The 'F' was dropped from the model designation for this model, presumably because F355F1 sounded a bit ridiculous. The F1 gearbox is not an automatic. It is a manual gearbox complete with clutch, which is hydraulically controlled such that moving either the up or down shift paddle carries out all of the same actions as in a manual car, except it is controlled by computer and is done in around 150ms. This produces astonishingly fast gearshifts, which although brilliant has been improved even further in 360 and 430 models.

Here is a dash reconstruction we are doing.

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source: http://www.the355.com/mambo/content/view/16/27/

Convertible Top Restoration Bay Area - 1965 Chevy Malibu Convertible - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

We understand that a great looking, long lasting top installation often begins by identifying and correcting problems with your frame and lift system before we install your new top. Our team of experts have an extensive knowledge of both new and Classic Scissor convertible tops.  In addition we excel at locating those difficult to find replacement parts and will have you back on the road in time to enjoy the summer and keep dry in the winter.

The Chevy Malibu proved to be the most popular with the highest sales records mainly because of interior upgrades like tailored fabrics with metallic thread accents. It also sold well because it had the most model options including: sport coupe, convertible, 4-door sedan, and 2-seat wagon.

This car will look better than new when we are finished with this top.

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source: http://myclassicgarage.com/marketplace/knowledge_base/1965-chevrolet-chevelle

Porsche Interior Restoration Bay Area - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

If you are looking for the finest and highest quality interior work, then you have come to the right place. We are specialists in Porsche, Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls Royce to mention a few.

Check out the before picture of this Porsche we are currently restoring.

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Car Seat Restoration Bay Area - Seat Restoration Update Ford Bronco - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

Here is an update on this project. The seats are finished and ready to go back in the truck.

Responding to what Ford saw as a competitive trend, the Bronco became a full-sized SUV for the 1978 model year. This new Bronco was based on the Ford F-Series pickup. In fact, the F-150 SuperCab four-wheel drive floor plan and steering linkage were used on the Bronco. The new Bronco boasted a 104.7 inch wheelbase and more room. Compared to the classic Bronco the new model offered 15% more front hip room, 30% more rear hip room. The cargo capacity was increased from 16.6 cubic feet to 49.3 to 97.4 depending on the rear seat configuration. The new Bronco was larger outside too, five inches higher, ten inches wider, and two feet longer than the original. The new Bronco featured a removable fiberglass hardtop (or should we say half top). When this top was removed it gave the new Bronco the open air feel everyone expected while keeping the front passengers covered. This feature stemmed from the fact that the Bronco was essentially the same as the F-Series pickup from the B-pillar forward.

We are the preferred leather and seat repair facility for Ferrari Maserati Silicon Valley, Putnam Lexus and many other of our local dealerships.

 Many factors will influence whether or not your leather or seats can be repaired or will need to be replaced.  These include but are not limited to:  Excessive cracking, the size of the area and personal preference.  In these instances, we recommend replacement of the damaged section using O.E.M. materials, which allows our team to make the best possible repair and restore your vehicle to its original state.

source: http://www.angelfire.com/wv/fordbroncos/History.html

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Auto Upholstery Bay Area - Lincoln Headliner Restoration Project - Update - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

In 1922, Henry and Wilford Leland's Lincoln Motor Company was purchased by the Ford Motor Company. The LeLands had gone into business in 1917 building Liberty airplane engines. When the war ended they eventually switched to luxury automobile production but financial calamity forced the sale to Ford.

Edsel Ford took the helm with an eye towards upgrading Lincoln styling. To that end he enlisted the finest American coachbuilders to produce stylish new bodies for the company. Edsel had always been influenced by European automobile styling. He began working with the designer E.T. Gregorie, Jr. to bring his ideas into fruition. 

Lincoln introduced the Zephyr line as a 1936 model, featuring an extremely modern, aerodynamic design with a low, raked windshield and integrated fenders. It was positioned to bridge the gap between the Ford and the exclusive Lincoln K series. It successfully reignited Lincoln sales accounting for 80% of vehicles sold in its first year.

Here is a project update as the new headliner is in the process of being installed.

 

History source: http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z10071/Lincoln-Series-86H-Zephyr.aspx

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