8track cover rebuild

[abiddle]

I was very disappointed in the 8 track cover reproduction I bought, so I decided to have the old original restored.

Here's a picture of what it looks like with the vinyl removed.

I'll post another picture when its complete. They may need to rebuild it completely because the cushion is falling apart.

[68L30]

Interesting! I'll be following along with this one. About 30 years ago I wanted to make one. Mine was missing and all I had was a dyed outline of where it was. I made a metal form I had planned to line with foam and have it covered in white vinayl. Not long after I started,  I found a cover on the west coast. Bad news, it was lost by UPS during shipment and never found again. Later, I found a almost NOS pad which is on my car now. I still have the form and two more players that need pads....hope yours works out!

Steve

[abiddle]

My original goal was just to have them re-vinyl over the original vinyl. They tried this, but he said it looked awful because it showed all the misshaped issues of the original pad. I was going to ask him to just return it, I'll keep the original as-is, when he told me they already removed the original vinyl. Then I knew I was already past a point of any return, so I asked my wife to drop off my other old 8track player for them to use as a form and take a picture.

The "funny" part of the story is this picture where the upholstery man is holding it, asking my wife if he could make the sides longer so he could cover the holes. I screamed no no no, exactly as is! She put me on speaker then...

[68L30]

Here's what the start of mine looked like. I thought a metal form would hold the foam well and give the foam something to stick too. I know it's different then the Factory piece, but over time I bet it would have held up and worked better.

Steve   

[abiddle]

Failure. I must be speaking a different language when I say I want something to look just like the original. The shape and size and even the grain is close, the cushion is really nice too. In nearly every aspect they got it right (although the color is too light, I can fix that with dye). But for some reason they decided to use seams. I didn't pay too much and honestly I like the looks of it, but it won't win any originality awards.

But I still have the original pad (uncovered), so I can try again somewhere else.