Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I haven't used their upholstery/fabric dyes but I did use the vinyl and leather dyes. Had a green custom color matched for a 54 Pacific vinyl headliner and Scottish Heather for the 56. The color match was very good and product seemed to work reasonably well.http://www.leathermagic.com/Pages/carpet-dye-prods.htm They could probably supply a good match in a fabric dye to your top color if the beige wasn't dark enough to throw it off. The vinyl dye was solid pigment but I have no idea how the fabric stuff would be.

As I mentioned earlier, I only did a handful of tops in color inside (all were blue except for two that were done in pink by Robbins Auto Top Company-one for me and another for a friend). But this was a lot of years ago...decades ago. If anything, dyes ought to be better and easier to find today.

I bought the convertible top fabric from automotive convertible top fabric suppliers in bulk on a roll, got it placed on a large flat trimmer's table outside in the sun, spayed it with special dyes I found many years ago... THEN sent the material out and had it made into tops. Just like the factory did.

While it may be possible in some circumstances for dye to leak past vinyl, if dyed in proper sequence on material that has not been over-stretched, there should be no leakage. And the type of dye I used was for fabrics, not vinyl.

On pre-assembled tops, of course, this begs the question of who made the top and how? Perforations around edging beads are unavoidable-but those can be carefully masked. And cotton dye should not do much of anything to vinyl if used properly and cleaned off immediately But other top seams OUGHT to be dielectrically heat sealed (welded) and really ought not be leaking anything-in or out.

As far as matching up pads in colors... often such color materials are already out there if you look hard enough and long enough. In the Los Angeles area there used to be several wholesale sources for automotive fabrics. Among these were King Textiles in Long Beach; Boething & Francis or Lindsay & Hall in downtown Los Angeles and several others These companies may no longer exist. No idea who is left still in business, but I used to look for the oldest suppliers and then go ask to check their stocks. Even they were often surprised at what we could find.

For tops with the pink insides, I remember finding some nice cotton fabric in magenta which I gave to Robbins Auto Top and they used it to make pads for the pink tops we did. Looked dead factory if you were sitting inside the car. But... I was mortified to discover later that after all that money spent and all the work done to get the top right, a subsequent owner very proudly yanked the beautiful top with the pink insides. THEN replaced it with an awful black canvas top thingie... tossed the pink interior in favor of a Halloween pie color... and then repainted the car black (it was originally Dover White, Scottish Heather and Maltese Gray)! Wow. It was then promptly dumped out onto the good 'ol classic car auction circuit... where it was deemed a "magnificent meticulous restoration"...and then several somebodies in a row paid increasingly huge dollars for what had been turned into a franken-bean. That poor car.

Anyway, if you are working with a professional trimmer, have him or her contact old trim shops in your area... also old time top suppliers like Robbins, Acme, Electron and others. Some of these old businesses still have bolts of old fabric sitting around.

If all else fails, with doing pads, just knuckle down and go searching general old fabric warehouses. you don't need a huge amount to do color pads facings. I never had to dye pads because I always found existing fabrics in the right colors to make professional-looking pads.

Leeedy- Thanks again for your info. Since you are familiar with the Hughes car and have done several replacements, does the original liner feel like fabric? I am leaning toward spraying the inner surface of a top from Hirsch which comes with a tan interior surface. They are sending a sample.

I have had contact with a supplier in California who asserts that their upholstery spray will adhere to the top and not crack....and can be produced in a color that matches the interior. However, if the sprayed tops do not look like the original liner, I may try to figure out how to use the fabric from the top I received from Kepich.
Let me know.
Stay well
RJR

You are most welcome. Yes, I did this stuff, but I also had involvement with the auto industry and the convertible biz since forever and I used raw materials off of a roll. And I knew many people and companies in the business, so it was fairly easy to pick up the phone and just call. Plus I had involvement with trim shop facilities where these things could be done with good success and the proper tools. But again, this was a long, long time ago.

People here are continuing to talk of "liners" as if this is a separate thing. While a separate color liner can be jerry-rigged, it really needs to be done by someone with serious experience in doing convertible tops. Even on the two tops we actually lined at Robbins, these had to be verrrrry carefully lowered and even then they tended to stack a little high. I don't recommend doing a liner, but rather dye the inner face of convertible top fabric with a tan inner layer.

The inner face of the original Caribbean tops was (aside from the color) no different from any other postwar American convertible top in construction. The inner face layer was calendared together with a layer of butyl and the outer layer-which in the case of 1955 was white Orlon. It was all one thing. One piece of fabric.

The inner layer was not a separate liner and was not anything unusual. It was the same stuff used on thousands of other convertible tops. Just a thin layer of cotton material (or today a poly-cotton blend), but instead of black or tan, it was a special color.

Here is how the Hughes/Peters top looked inside in the early 1970s. The color was actually very bright pink and I assure you the washed-out look here is due to the old faded paper photograph. I took these photos a long, long time ago in Beverly Hills. Yes, I actually drove the car.

The biggest problem here is trying to dye the inside of a top that has already been manufactured. One wrong move or one slip-up and you've got a ruined top. With the cost of one of these tops today, this is really something for a pro at an upholstery shop to tackle-or at least to advise. Suggest you look around and find the oldest auto trim shop in your area. Then talk to them about how to go about doing the color on the inside of a convertible top.

By the way, the top boot was white, not that crazy pink you'll see on one of the model cars released in recent years.

Hope this helps.

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After a considerable delay, I finally got a swatch of comvertible top material from Bill Hirsch for possible replacement of the top on the 55 Caribbean. It took a while,to secure a piece of material that was white on the top and tan on the underside. Apparently the most readily available tops are white with black inner liner color which I anticipated would be difficult to dye to match the interior.
The original swatch ( white/ black) and the material used by Keppich for my original top was clearly bright white pinpoint. The more recent offering( white/ tan) is white but has a tan cast to it.
I preserved some material from the "original" top that was on the car when I purchased it. I cannot be certain that this top was original to the car or a later replacement but it is very thin and carries the light green underside which matches the interior......the problem is that this material though aged and dirty appears to also have a tan cast to it.
The white paint on the car is clearly white- white.
Before making any decision on ordering a top from Hirsch with the tan lining, I am hoping that someone can advise whether the original top color was white or had any hint of a tan cast. It would,appear to clash but I have seen a few cars with tops that were not bright white.
If the top is originally bright white, I have to keep searching for appropriate material