Rob Roy

Paul,

Very nice work. I was looking at some peanut Grade 2s for my resto mod. IIRC they were $280 a hide from a US supplier, but the South African ones are recognized as the best. I will be doing front and rear seat inserts, center console insert, and door panel inserts. Can I ask who your supplier was, and the price per hide (or per sq. ft.)?

Keep up the good work!

Champagne

Hey Rob,

I got my hides directly from an importer. The wholesale price per square feet is: Grade 1- $18.50, Grade 2- $17.50
The size range is 15.75-17.50 square ft.

These are full hides, ready to use, but the nature of the beast and the African tanning techniques makes for leather that varies greatly in thickness from area to area.

The pod and steering took about 12 sq ft. from one #1 hide.

Drop me an email: champagn@stx.rr.com and I'll point you in the right direction.

Paul

mpesik

You musta had on heck of a ThanksGiving Dinner!
I admire your work but- That's kinda Gross!

Nicole

Holy guacamole! This looks amazing!

Chuck Schreiber

Paul,

Did you get some boots to match??

sublimate

If the horns were installed so they swung up and out like the headlights at a push of a button that'd be pretty cool.

Warren928

"SHAGGA-DELIC !!!"
It beautiful work, an interior Austin Powers would be proud of. It does look like something that one of the high end british cars would have, they love all that fancy specialty wood and leather.

John Struthers

Paul,
How can you possibly expect us to believe that this is not an extreme photo-shop effort on your behalf?
Just looking at the rear of the -photo- pod one can readily see pod innards without a speck of dust let alone the 'REAL'faded connectors, brittle wires, and the ubiqueous standard issue spider or three complete with webs. Why even the Swabisshers who originally installed the pods never saw such a clean/pristene pod with immaculate connectors, wires, resistors, bulb holders, 'board' and surround proper.
I demand a retraction of this obvious fraud!
As I recall you originally intended to assign the task to you and the wife...
Did you get any help with the stretching/trimming/forming -especially on those small pieces- ?
Are you going to do the cargo cover as well?
I can only imagine the task of removal, cleaning, prepping ... you have my respect for taking on yoemans' work for such detail oriented craftsmanship. This is the upholstry version of Sterlings Vari-o-cam work. Texas Vison or what?
Now if you can talk Randy into sending his topless sHARk out here for the Bird conversion I'll be able to laterally transfer his intake to Pattycakes 4.5
Great work, document everything, someday I want to see it go for 200K on Barret/Jackson
A question:
Did you apply that burled band around the pod as a visual detail, a clamp for the skin (sic) , or both?
For the detractors: Have you seen the RED Weissach on Ebay?

Randy V

Worthy of a display in the Smithonian!

perrys4

Anyone from Florida going to do an alligator interior? I love the wood accent pieces. What color is your car? Looks black in your avatar but was curious what interior/exterior were.

Champagne

Thank you all for your kind words.
Again, all personal tastes aside, I think this is a good example of another way to update the shark's interior. The same concept can be applied with different materials.

Hey John: my bank account wished it was CGI, but no, it's the actual thing
I added the wood banding to the top of the pod to break off the expanse of leather. I didn't want to detail each joint with a double stitch like you usually see because it didn't work with ostrich. So the bordered wood will the constant highlight detail all through the interior.

Perrys4: the car is Expresso brown and the interior was originally brown and linen. When finished, the interior will be cognac with linen carpets. The contrasts will be one of texture between regular leather and ostrich highlights.

Thanks again for all the comments.

Paul