Pictures of SMS Auto Fabrics warehouse

Hudson Grandpa wrote:

thats where my old rear door panels are headed Monday Morning, to be copied and replaced with new cloth and vinyl. Already have the fronts back from them, and they did an excellent job. Thicker backing material than what came from the factory.. Matches my new seat upholstery job to a "T".



I presume the main mans name is Doug Pollock.

Yes, Doug Pollock, I'm told, is the owner, and the man I discussed the '53 checkerboard project with. Luckily, I had a big picture of this material on hudsoncollector that we could look at (of the blue) because I didn't have an original sample with me at the time, but he'll also need samples for the top of seat trim material as well along the way somewhere I suppose too.



Hopefully, I can snip a chunk out of an old parts car sedan or something for him to use, but I think at this time he's more focused on the checkerboard stuff.



I'm hoping he can supply some trunk mat material for these cars too, and we did discuss that possibility, but again, I had no sample for him, so will have to send one. This is a "printed" pattern he says, and they can do lots of different styles, with proper samples. After seeing some of the really wierd patterns he already has on the shelves, I'm a believer ! The visit was unplanned when I left home, and sort of became an opportunity as we went along, so I kinda got caught without samples.



I should also mention that I only looked at materials in ONE warehouse. The staff member that showed me around told me that this is only one of several buildings in the area stuffed to the rafters with bolts of material !



Pretty amazing place !



silverone

bartibog1 wrote:

i also have been dealing with doug on the 53 checkerboard and a e mail from him in mid december assures me samples will be available right after the new year 2009. silverone did he mention what they were using with the checkerboard to complete the seats?

No, he didn't, bartibog, but I didn't think to ask him about that either at the time. We were more focused on the checkerboard material, and its progress to date.



Apparently, there was some hope that we'd have a sample to look at right after New Years, but that has been put off for a few more months due to the first attempt at a run not turning out quite up to expectations. As those of us who have been trying to get this stuff reproduced know, the material is called "figured velvet" and is woven in large loops for the raised squares, and then "shaved" to produce the knap. According to Doug, he dosen't have the machinery to do this "shaving", so has to resort to another method to try and achieve a similar result, but the first try didn't work out too well.



I had a run done myself a few years back using some sort of "fluffy" looking yarn for the raised squares, with also disappointing results, so gave up on that method. ( the squares were too fluffy along the edges). Maybe one could send the material away to a place where they have that shaving machine, but I didn't get that far along. Another wrinkle in this quest is that the material was a very early use of nylon in upholstery, and its hard to dye to just the right shade. ( has to be cooked in vats, I'm told). Trust Hudson to be on the leading edge in auto manufacturing, even in the upholstery department !!



Hopefully, we can overcome the problems, and get some of this stuff out there for the '53 owners at least. Once the hot rod Guys see it, I'll bet they'll sell a whack of it to them too, --- it's fabulous material by any standard.