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Bob at Classic 9 recovered my old cracked vinyl dash in stitched leather. Its one of my favorite parts of my car. I don't know about their seat work, but if its anything like the dash (and I bet it is), i think their work is great!
I converted regular seats to soft back seats and had the seat upholstery re-done in a mid-80s Porsche 928 inspired stitching --- all by Paul Champage. http://www.designpaulchampagne.com/928.html His work is excellent and I would not hesitate to avail myself of his services again. He is a super duper well kept secret in the 928 community ---- 928 guys are a close knit bunch --- super resourceful. Paul himself was super patient in listening to my ideas and combining them with his own. Of course, the seats are super comfortable and really hug your torso.
Paul also redid my steering wheel, center console, shift ****, handbrake, and airbag in matching leather.
At the same time, I also availed myself of the service of Bob (Classic 9) ---- Bob covered my upper dash, lower dash, door panels, rear deck, rear sides, and door handles in the same austin gunmetal leather and green stitching. I can't say enough good things about Bob's superlative work. He also really helped guide me replace all my carpeting myself --- he was super patient about giving me a bit of technical help when I had episodes in the middle of replacing the carpet where I was unsure of myself.
My sense is that Bob knows 928s and 911s both really well --- and he has a team of folks. Bob I think started out as a 928 leather restoration specialist and then evolved into "Classic-9 Porsche Restoration". If you want something done exactly as it was by Porsche, then Bob is your man! He seemingly knows everything there is to know about these cars. When I was having a little trouble fitting the '98 door panels to my '96 car, Bob was there, informing me that I had to use 10mm longer bolts because of minor changes in the fastening design between 96 and 98. When I was scratching my head over my top dash cover's "extra foam padded piece", Bob was there informing me that the later 993 upper dashpads (leather) differed from the earlier ones because the earlier ones lacked that extra piece that eliminates the convenient "well".
Paul knows 928s extraordinarily well and is a little less familiar with 911s, but man, Paul really specializes in SEATS. (All the seats in all the 80s/90s models --- 928, 944, 964, 993, 968, ... they all [mostly except for the early 928 OB seats] used the same recaro frame underneath --- just the stitching of the leather/fabric on top is different). Paul is all about seats and I can tell that he not only enjoys restoring seats, but he also enjoys a good challenge (resto-mod seats). Check out the seat resto-mod details ---- the laser etching of the PORSCHE logo, and the seat belt covers. If you check out his website, you will discover he has also completely rengineered the stitching (3 times) pattern on the 928 leather dashboards to eliminate the warpage that is commonly seen on 928 dashes. Now THAT is a specialist --- He just keeps iterating and iterating and interating until he hits perfection. Paul doesn't have a team --- it is just him and his wife Linda. Great pair.
You can't go wrong with either set of establishments.
Last edited by Jlaa; 09-29-2016 at 11:12 AM.
Reason: typos
For anyone who has done this, how do the converted seats compare to factory soft back sport seats? I would want them to be as close to indistinguishable as possible.
When I asked for the conversion, Paul C noted to me that :
- externally, converted sports seats are identical to factory original
- internally, the differences are ----
a) Paul welded in solid tubes vs. factory hollow tubes as used by the factory as the support for the bigger foam
b) Paul laminated different densities of foam together to make the bolsters vs. molded factory foams --- to capitalize of advancements in foam tech in the past 20 years.
I've sat in factory soft back sport seats before --- but honestly they feel so similar that I think I would need to sit in factory seats vs. my conversion seats side by side on the same day to "Remember" the difference.
When I asked for the conversion, Paul C noted to me that :
- externally, converted sports seats are identical to factory original
- internally, the differences are ----
a) Paul welded in solid tubes vs. factory hollow tubes as used by the factory as the support for the bigger foam
b) Paul laminated different densities of foam together to make the bolsters vs. molded factory foams --- to capitalize of advancements in foam tech in the past 20 years.
I've sat in factory soft back sport seats before --- but honestly they feel so similar that I think I would need to sit in factory seats vs. my conversion seats side by side on the same day to "Remember" the difference.
What is the average cost for a job like this?
Also if one is converting comfort seats to softback sport seats do new leather covers need to be used or is there enough extra material in the stock seats to compensate for the extra bolstering?
Paul C does list his price here - http://www.designpaulchampagne.com/PorscheOrder.html
As well, since Bob @ Classic 9 does the conversion work too, you can email him and ask him for his latest price list (since Bob's is not posted on his website).
The conversion is "fairly inexpensive" as far as Porsche stuff goes. The stuff that costs is the new leather and the professional installation. It doesn't make sense to do the conversion and then re-use the old leather --- you cannot reuse "regular non-sport-seat" leather anyways.
Last edited by Jlaa; 09-30-2016 at 11:35 AM.
Reason: Additional Info
Paul C does list his price here - http://www.designpaulchampagne.com/PorscheOrder.html
As well, since Bob @ Classic 9 does the conversion work too, you can email him and ask him for his latest price list (since Bob's is not posted on his website).
The conversion is "fairly inexpensive" as far as Porsche stuff goes. The stuff that costs is the new leather and the professional installation. It doesn't make sense to do the conversion and then re-use the old leather --- you cannot reuse "regular non-sport-seat" leather anyways.
Thanks for the info.
My only concern is that if I were to install new leather for the 2 front seats it may make my rear seats look "old" even though my interior is immaculate..
I purchased new seat leather for my hard back seats from Bob at classic 9, quality was great. I have seen sport seat conversions where the side blusters were made much taller. In the example I saw the seats looked a little cartoonish. I would consider using a foam underlayment that is only slightly taller than the stock seat foam. Here are the parts pictures from a hard back sport seats for reference:
My only concern is that if I were to install new leather for the 2 front seats it may make my rear seats look "old" even though my interior is immaculate..
This is exactly how slippery slopes start. I set out with the intention of just getting a leather covered airbag. I started conversing with Opo about a leather covered airbag --- one thing lead to another ---- and then I replaced everything in my car's interior, including the carpet.
This is exactly how slippery slopes start. I set out with the intention of just getting a leather covered airbag. I started conversing with Opo about a leather covered airbag --- one thing lead to another ---- and then I replaced everything in my car's interior, including the carpet.
09-28-2016, 11:47 PM
Sport softback seat conversion
