ashmason

When I got my 90GT the interior was more than a little tired. Dash cracks, steering wheel showing wear and seats in what can only be called trashed (dirty, cracked and holes in the bolster).

And that was ok, I had plans to recover the dash, pod, steering wheel and console and recovering the seats. I was about to pull the trigger and have a local shop tackle the seats when the car decided to stop idling. My regular mechanic suspected an idle control valve failure, and that's under the intake. After 190k and 22 years that was going to mean an intake refresh. Off it went to Greg Brown to get the job done, and my interior plans went out the window for 6 to 12 months. Sigh.

Then I remembered an ad I saw on craigslist for repair and restoration. I figured I would give it a try. Jack at Magic Touch called me back after I left a message and asked for pictures of the problem area's. I sent him the following:

Steering wheel and dash pod cracks

Drivers Seat

More Dash Pod cracks

Passenger Seat

Drivers Seat again

More Dash cracks

and yet more dash cracks


Jack got back to me and expressed concern about the drivers seat but gave me a price and agreed to come over. Apparently the steering wheel and dash would be no problem.

When he arrived he immediately said the drivers seat would need new panels and he did not do that. It was too far gone, but he could save the rest of the seat and I could probably get the two pieces replaced for maybe $200. Since he was not going to repair the seat he insisted on cleaning and redoing the back seats to get a good color match, otherwise it would not look right. This should have cost a little more but he said we would do it for the quoted price.

I left him and his son Aris to get started at 2pm. I checked in around 4pm to find things looking really good. Jack had decided he could not stand to let me take the car to an upholstery shop with a hole in the seat so had decided to give it a go at fixing it anyway as a courtesy. Wow, who does that anymore these days?

They finally finished up at 7:30pm and I was delighted. This has put most of my interior plans on the back burner, make that way on he back burner!

Jack told me the seat repair could last a week or a year. The dash looks so good now that I am in no rush to cover up the fantastic work they did. The steering wheel looks brand new, and the seats now get spousal approval. Yes you heard that right. My wife hated getting into the car before saying it just felt dirty.

Here are the after pics.
Steering wheel looking brand new

Pod and dash cracks not only gone, it looks new.

Passenger seat, now a nice place to be

Drivers seat, a minor miracle

No more cracks by the airbag, a nice satin finish

Overall interior looking very inviting


My only problem now is the carpet looks really dirty!

Anyway before spending a bunch of money consider giving these guys a call if you are in the Los Angeles area. Magic Touch Restoration, Jack & Aris 949 500-8899

Jack has been at this 25 years and it shows. You can also find them on craigslist, and there are a bunch of examples of their work here on youtube.



How much did this cost me? I don't think its fair to them to say exactly, but I will say it was about just a little over a third of the cost I was quoted to recover the front seats only. So a huge saving.

Ashley

JWise

I must say that's a vast improvement. Nice to know there are still craftsmen out there who take pride in their work and exceed your expectations. Thanks for sharing.

Dean_Fuller

WOW! Let us know how it holds up. I would never of thought that driver seat could be fixed without a new panel.

PC-85-928S

How do they fill the dash and pod cracks?

928 at last

Wow, nice job.
Wish I could find someone to do this type of work up here......

ashmason

Yup on close inspection the seat is a little lumpy where the repair is but I don't really care. Time will tell how long this will last, Jack told me no special care needed, just keep it out of the sun as much as possible.

I am not sure how they filled the cracks in the dash and pod, I missed it. But he did say they fill, feather and spray. Exactly what with? I didn't ask. I will report wear and tear as and when it happens.

Shark_Week

woo, that came out nice

Barry Chan

wow that looks like new, i am going to phone around to see if anyone up here can match that!

mickster

There are hardening fillers and repairs for vinyl and leather. You fill, level and texture (as well as matching color).

There's a guy here on Long Island (actually 2 I know of) who can do this.

One works for a number of car dealers. He works on private vehicles on weekends. I will have him work on my car after I get a few more things straightened out.

Michael

NoVector

Wow! Very nice Wondering what he used too to fill the dash cracks. Kind of looks like the SEM texture spray was put on top. Color looks perfect too.

brealytrent

Looks awesome

I need someone who can do that in western Wisconsin! My dash needs cracks taken care of and the drivers seat could use a refresh (passenger's fubar).

djantlive

looks good. i had a mobile uphostery guy and results are decent but not perfect. in general, i don't use craigslist for repairs. glad it worked well for you.

Randy V

Does he come as far south as San Diego?

I have a couple areas that could use that magic touch.

curtisr

Or east to Kingston, Ontario, Canada?

Chuck Schreiber

Ashley,
That looks great!

I had the same thing done on my GTS and the results were unreal!
(Crack under the key on the pod, rip in side bolster)

I agree, before anyone goes and starts looking to recover everything in their car, try these repair specialists out. As you said, they are about 1/3 the cost of recovering or replacing. In the case of my pod, it was about 1/5 the price.