When you drive a car with a shoddy interior, it can't be ignored. Dirty engine bay? Simple, don't pop the hood. Dented quarter-panel and faded paint? That can't really be seen from the driver's seat. However, a thrashed interior surrounds you in ugly every time you go for a spin. The new car smell is decades gone, and instead your olfactory senses are assaulted with a musty stench that has built up over the decades, especially in a neglected interior like ours.
When we bought g/28, it had the interior of a 30-year-old, $2,300 ride. Shredded upholstery, a warped dash and dirt on top of grime were everywhere you looked. It was sad. Now that the engine bay looks respectable, it's time to relieve the cockpit of its Third World status and freshen it up.
Luckily, many of the parts are available as reproductions. Because the Camaro is a child of the mid-'70s, there's plastic everywhere you look, and it requires different techniques to refinish. Fortunately, we were helped by Dupli-Color, a company with coatings specifically made to refresh plastic, and Year One makes ordering new parts as easy as flipping through a catalog or surfing online.
Of interest is that we spent a total of $3,213.97 on the interior, and that's with us doing virtually all of the work and getting most of the parts from Year One. (We did spend $70 to have our seats re-upholstered, a relatively small amount.) To put it into proper perspective, this is the equivalent outlay of a decent paint job. On a less desirable car like ours, we'd at least break even on those dollars if we sold it, especially given our car's initial ratty condition. On a more desirable car like a '69 Camaro, you can count on getting double the value you put into it-plus you won't be embarrassed to show off your pride and joy. We itemized all our parts with the exception of normal consumables like shop rags and lacquer thinner.
Parts List-Year One Rear seat replacement vinyl-Firethorn SR874M30 $114 Assembled upper door panel-Firethorn IF876M30 $268 Door panel watershields WSF70C $14 Door panel inside handle bezels HY434M30 $32.95 Cut pile carpet - Firethorn 7681F83521 $124 Carpet underlayment SW605 $58 Firewall pad PA663 $55 Left-hand sill plate 19NLH $71 Right-hand sill plate 19NRH $71 Covan's Classic cluster with gauges CP115 $779 Center console for manual trans JJ369 $257 Console lid CD209BLK $55 Rear console plate cover QF93 $21.95 Console glove box GB73 $48.95 Dash pad - Firethorn DP878FIRA $364 Package tray - Firethorn PSF70RED $32.95 Interior screw kit SK874 $27.95 Dome lamp base DL22 $12.{{{80}}} Dome lamp lens DL23 $4.30 Package tray jute padding JBF70 $10.80 Headliner board HB7418 $108 Headliner material - Firethorn AHF73103F $61 Glove box GSF70 $19.30 Lower shift boot $19.95 Upper shift boot $18.30 Shift boot trim ring $19.95 Shifter bezel tunnel $27.95 Window crank handle (qty. 2) WC69 $7.50 Dupli-Color vinyl & fabric coating, red (qty. 6) HVP107 $5.99 Dupli-Color vinyl & fabric coating, black (qty. 1) HVP106 $5.99 Dupli-Color Charcoal texture paint MX101 $5.99 Seat upholstery labor n/a $70 Modo Innovations pedals MI-130 $135 Flaming River "D" steering wheel FR20130BK $229 Total Interior job: $5,946.02
