When I got my V8V a couple of years ago, one of my first projects was to replace the finisher panel on the door cards. My interior was spec'd out as Obsidian and Phantom Gray. Honestly, these two colors are so similar, I could barely tell there was a two-tone interior in my car. I was inspired by some of the V12V and DBS interiors which had the door finisher in alcantara, so I brought out my handy sewing machine and made new panels that matched the charcoal alcantara in the headliner.

Recently, there has been a lot of discussions on the "other" forum about boring Obsidian Black interiors spec'd out by dealers to be "safe" and someone posted pictures of their beautiful new Morning Frost V12V with black and red interior. I was inspired again!

Not wanting to copy someone else's black and red theme, I decided to go with a navy blue color for the inserts. I also remembered seeing pictures of the DBS Ultimate Edition with the diamond quilting pattern, so I decided to try my hand at that.

Below are some of the pics of my project. Sorry for the crappy iPhone quality - I'll take better ones at a later date.

Interior after I covered the original door card finishers and center armrest in charcoal alcantara to match the headliner.


Detail of the door after my initial project a couple of years ago.


Part of my goal when making mods to my car, was to allow me to revert back to the original spec if I chose. With that in mind, I decided to make new panels for the armrests and finishers out of Lexan. Curiously, the AM parts are also made of a similar transparent polycarbonate material underneath the leather.


I used a rotary multi-tool with a rotary cutting bit to rough cut the parts. Then sanded the edges smooth with a belt sander.


I sandwiched and glued to sheets of Lexan to build the proper thickness.


Test fit of the door finisher prior to covering in alcantara.


My handy-sewing machine. This little sucker is so strong it will actually sew through light pieces of wood!


Rough template of the door finisher in navy blue alcantara.


After sewing the diamond quilt pattern (chalk sewing guide lines not removed yet).


I made some piping for the top and leading edge of the finisher as a design element. I used some spare charcoal alcantara I had left over.


Passenger door finisher completed with quilted panel and piping.


Test fit of the new finisher (old armrest).


Center console pieces out of car.


Center armrest and another alcantara piece after quilting.


Starting to wrap the armrest.


I trimmed the oddments tray in the center armrest to match.


After my last project, I placed the V-1 radar locator concealed display in the ashtray. However, I wasn't too pleased with the results because I needed to keep the ashtray lid open to see the display and then it interfered with my arm while shifting. Since no one will ever smoke in my car, I decided to remove the ashtray completely and just mount the concealed display flush on the center console surface. This way, it was easily viewable while driving, but still not visible from behind the vehicle which was my original goal. Again, drilling into the ashtray lid was not an option as that would violate my principle of being able to revert to the original spec. So, more Lexan was used to build a panel that would sit flush with where the ashtray lid used to be.



I had to make a backing plate to hold the new panel in place. The cutouts are for the concealed display's power and signal cable.


Test fit the display.


Covering the center panel in alcantara to match



Assembled console ready to put back in car.


The final result. (Note that the iPhone's flash made the navy blue look a bit lighter than it really is)

 

Amazing work! Thank you for sharing. You are truly an inspiration and I think what makes the mods you do special is that you use creativity and think outside of the box thinking adding customized touches to personalize your car, rather then simply buying mods...the time, patience, and attention to detail expended on these custom changes is impressive. Well done Karl!

 

Truly interesting piece of customization! Had any thoughts on a larger diameter string used to saw it all together? Or are the images not showing the look clearly over here?

 

AM offers two types of thread options for their upholstery: fine or coarse. My car has fine stitching and the thread I used is a match. The pictures were taken in low light, though, so the stitching doesn't show very well.

 

Thought so! Recently I saw some custom leather work on a different car, diamond shaped stitching, black leather, somewhat larger stitch diameter, came out perfect! But overall, I like what you did with it. Simple, small yet clearly elegant.

 

Karl, that looks amazing. Nice job!!

 

How did you learn to use the sewing machine so well? I am very curious!

 

karlfranz you are a renaissance man! Impressive work.

 

I had done some experimenting and trial & error when I bought a cheap sewing machine from Walmart many years ago. I also watched my mom create new dresses and mend clothes for us on her sewing machine when we were young.

I had never attempted to do diamond quilting before so I just bought some scrap cloth and practiced on that—Alcantara is a VERY expensive fabric to practice on (about $100US per yard) so you do want to practice on the cheap stuff.

One thing that has been extremely helpful in picking up new skills and most people tend to overlook is YouTube. There are literally thousands of videos on just about anything you can think of. This is also where I learned about making fiberglass parts for my previous project (V1 Radar Locator install). You have to wade through a ton of horrible homemade videos, but there are plenty of gems hiding there to teach you anything you might want to learn.

BTW Many years ago, a friend of mine told me that he tried to learn a new skill (drawing, playing a musical instrument, etc.) each year of his adult life. I adopted his philosophy and have been building up my own résumé of skills ever since.

 

Amazing work. Looks great!

 

^^^ Karl you have a wonderfull life outlook. I only hope that with time I can develop the even a small bit of the patience and personal development skills that you've mastered

How long have you been learning new skills and applying them?

 

^^^ What he said!

 

Taught myself to play the piano at the age of 3. Formed a rock band by the age of 16. Minored in electronic music in college (major in electrical engineering). So I guess the personal development started very early. .

Thanx for the kind words.

 

Door panel looks great. Nicely done.

 

Karl-
Any chance you have pictures or guidance as to taking apart the center console pieces? I am looking to do something similar to my hardwired detector.