Mondo 300

Have you priced up the leather? I know from experience that UK HIde aren't keen on selling part hides so you could well end up paying a lot of money for far more leather than you actually need! Perhaps you'd be better asking Jack or another trimmer if they have some spare that they'd like to sell you.

Us professionals have our favoured techniques. I know Jack favours Euro stitching on all of his wheels and that style is less labour-intensive than the "X-design" that I prefer to use. Euro is more elaborate and eye-catching but, as I said, I personally feel it stops looking as nice when any kind of curve is involved. My style is simpler (but takes longer to do) and, because it's all done by hand, I can vary the stitch size on a curve so it keeps a neat and uniform appearance. Again, it's all down to personal choice. I have used Euro stitch (and baseball stitch) in the past but I always come back to the X-stitch based solely on the finished look of a wheel, gearknob or handbrake grip.

If you plan to do Euro stitching, the entire cover has to be glued into place absolutely everywhere first. That style of stitching is purely decorative and, if you exert pressure by trying to pull the two edges together (to remove a gap between them, for example), you'll either snap the thread or tear the machine stitching through the cover material. I'm personally not a fan of Euro stitching. It looks good in a straight line but I think it looks untidy when it has to go round a curve. This is because the machine stitching is a uniform length throughout, rather than becoming smaller on the shorter edge of a curve, so the loops in the joining thread don't decrease in size accordingly. All down to personal preference though.

Ok, for starters: 6mm foam is too thick. Your wheel will feel like a big, round marshmallow and will more than likely struggle to keep a uniform shape when everything's stretched into place. And you will need to stretch it to get anything like a decent finish! If you don't need to stretch the cover severely to fit it, then you've made it completely wrong. As for leather versus pleather: your wheel is a seriously high-traffic item. It gets passed through your hands countless times and that means that synthetic leather will wear very quickly indeed. I can't advise you against pleather enough!

I admire your optimism and self-belief. That said, retrimming a steering wheel involves so much more than just knocking up a cover and buying some thread! I do this work for a living and it's not easy by any means. Should be interesting to see the end result.

Having made a couple of convertible hoods in my time, I have a huge amount of respect for those who make and fit them for a living. They can be seriously hard work to do and to get right!

Many moons ago, when I used to play ice hockey, my dad picked me up after training one night. He had a little Fiat Uno and my kitbag only just fit in the boot, whereas my sticks had to slide down the side of the passenger seat and rest on top of the rear seat. He was in a huge hurry for some reason so, rather than me putting the sticks in the car, he decided he'd do it this time. Seems he didn't quite push them far enough in so, when he slammed the bootlid down, the handles shattered his rear windscreen! I swear I could see the steam coming out of his ears as he stood there, absolutely silent....

2007: Vauxhall Calibra 16V (Redtop engine). At the time, it was both the newest and fastest car I'd owned. But it was fraught with problems, to say the least. 2027: I like to think I'd still have the 300ZX, as well as some sort of daily driver. If not the Zed though, maybe a TVR of some description. But hopefully still the Zed

I tried my hand at the violin at school, but that was a whole different ballgame! You'll have to keep us informed with how you're getting on

I've played since I was about 10 years old. Currently got my eye on a Les Paul Custom in Antique White, but not sure I can justify buying it as I don't really have any time to play very often these days...

Coming back from Spalding yesterday, I joined the A1 Northbound where it changes from the M1 - just before Junction 44, I believe. About 5.20pm, so a reasonable amount of traffic. And that area is notorious for slowing everyone down as people swap lanes and join the network. Cue the guy behind me in his BMW Whatever, who joins the road at speed with no indication whatsoever and proceeds to fish-tail his car almost completely sideways in his haste to get into the outside lane! As I said, the traffic was reasonably plentiful at the time so he caused a lot of other drivers to slam their brakes on, whilst he's drifting his way across the motorway! Absolutely can't stand idiots who drive like that!

I was previously a civil servant, with all the benefits that it entailed. Decided to go full-time as an upholsterer just over 2 years ago (partly for health reasons) which was a BIG leap of faith on my part, but I'm now booked up for the next 18 months in one form or another so I guess I must be doing something right!

Is now a good time to mention that I used to work in Tax Fraud Investigation for HMRC...? Anyway, haven't we already had a bit of a saga about rear window louvres manufactured here in the UK? I seem to remember that there was a considerable amount of R&D involved before anything even went into production. Also the poster seems to be forgetting that there will be man hours involved in creating these things - he didn't factor that into his "greed" calculations at all.

You assume correctly, mate

My mate's car, that one

I'd assume Falcon Performance in Middlesbrough.

You're referring to Gazwoz. He's definitely brought some cracking examples into the UK recently, but only if you want an automatic. I'm assuming that a TT manual would be around £11k - £13k imported and I don't think he expects many people to be prepared to drop that sort of money on one... Before I bought my old SS-III Beams, I was determined to get a GT-Four. I just couldn't find one within my price range at the time. I still love them, but I've grown rather fond of having turbos at my disposal and having open-top motoring at the same time...

I had some serious reservations as to whether my Zed was up to the required standard to be on display at the NEC. Yes, it won an award for Best Interior, but that didn't automatically mean that the exterior was up to scratch... But she didn't look out of place whatsoever there. She shined up nicely and really stood out. But then she did have some rot cut out and replaced earlier this year, then the whole underside was thoroughly cleaned and sealed. So she's completely solid now. A lot of the rotboxes have now either been broken for parts or have simply dissolved now, so the only examples that are left are decent (at least) and ones that have been well looked after. I think that's a large contributing factor as to why the prices are now on the rise

I liked the Diablos too - I didn't think they spoiled the look or anything like that. I love the CC-Fs though, and I've honestly lost count of how many people (at shows, on the street or even people just coming to the house) have said something along the lines of "Those wheels are perfect!" They're embellished enough to really stand out and to be obviously different to Recaro's original design, but still subtle enough to blend in with the overall look and finish of the car. That's my opinion, anyway

There's some hours gone into it, I know that much! It was a bit of a mad dash to the finish to get it all ready in time for the show. Thanks for the appreciative comments, guys

Holy good God... you've actually built a small nuclear power station and put it in your cave... You are Tony Stark and I claim my £5!!

Time to give this a little bit of an update! My humble old Datsun was recently on display at the huge classic show at the NEC, and that gave me a problem to sort out: the interior. Yes, it won "Best Interior" at our AGM earlier this year and yes, it was all very pretty and eye-catching BUT... I knew there were some parts of the seats that I wasn't happy with and I wasn't actually happy with the overall design... So I had to start planning. I wanted to keep the period-correct Recaro Speed seats but I wanted to update the design a little bit. Make them a little more "showy" without going too OTT with them. Considering that this car is kind of a mobile showcase for what I do, I had to come up with something that would reflect my current "abilities"... Not too radical a departure from the previous trim - still using exactly the same materials - but updated enough to make quite a large difference to the look. I built the new covers from scratch (as you'd expect) and adding the Alcantara inserts on the inner bolsters has helped to make the transition from that to the leather a little less blunt. All the topstitching and embroidery has been changed to silver from the original design's dark grey, and I think this really "pops" against the dark red leather. I've purposely avoided using silver thread on the Alcantara, so the only visible stitching on it (the vertical seams in the seat centres) blends in and keeps the look very subtle. I've also trimmed the three trim pieces behind the seats to match the new design, so there's now a reasonably seamless transition from the central T-piece to the armrest in front of it. I'm much happier with this design than I was with the previous one. I think it looks striking without being too "in your face." The car gots lots and lots of attention at the NEC and yes, a large proportion of that was people admiring the cabin. I had some pretty serious doubts about whether my Zed was of a suitable standard to be on display at such an event but she scrubbed up really well! 2017's plans include a brand new wiring loom, a new clutch and flywheel, a new engine bay, new brakes front and rear and, hopefully, a new rear spoiler. I love it to bits, but this car just makes me bleed cash....

I once had the gearstick in an old Fiat Uno snap on me. Late at night... on the moors... with a "lady friend" in the car... and looooong before the advent of mobile phones too... That fairly killed any passion that was building, let me tell ya!

Good to see her back in the land of the living, Andy!

My 24 year old 300ZX went through it's MOT in September without a single advisory.