Easy Muscle Car Interior Restoration with ColorBond
Muscle car interior restoration can be an expensive proposition. Replacement parts are often pricey and professional labor to have the work done can be a real budget buster. However, many aspects of an interior restoration can be economically done by the vehicle owner with ColorBond leather, vinyl and plastic paint and attention to detail.
Check out these economical, yet awesome muscle car interior restoration projects completed by ColorBond customers.
1979 Camaro
While restoring his 1979 Camaro, Brent Wallace found he wasn’t a fan of the original light blue interior. So, he decided to change the color to black. Knowing an aftermarket replacement interior would cost thousands of dollars, Brent looked into other options. That’s when he discovered he could use ColorBond LVP Refinisher to paint interior components with fantastic results.
After removing the interior from the Camaro, Brent cleaned it and performed light wet sanding to smooth the hard plastic interior trim pieces that had crazed because of oxidation. He then sprayed ColorBond LVP Refinisher in black to recolor the seats, dash, door panels, console, headliner, visors, and other interior trim pieces. Of note, ColorBond Adhesion Promoter was applied to the hard plastic trim pieces before painting. It turned out great.
“My biggest fear before using ColorBond was that there might be differences in sheen between parts that were sprayed, or that a part might appear mottled because of inconsistent sheen. Which often happens with spray paints.” Said Brent. “However, the paint went on great, and the finish was consistent on each part, with the sheen always appearing the same. I’ve tried other auto interior paints that didn’t turn out well. I might as well have used regular spray paint.” Brent laughs.
Brent used 12 cans of LVP Refinisher and a can of Adhesion Promoter at a cost of $301.00. Far less than the thousands of dollars a professional muscle car interior restoration would have cost!
1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass
Seat backs painted with ColorBond LVP Refinisher
Dan Mott shared the in-progress muscle car interior restoration of his 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass. The car was originally purchased new by his grandmother and after years of sitting in an outbuilding was ready for a restoration.
Arm rest and console painted with ColorBond LVP Refinisher
Before new paint
As part of this, he is using ColorBond LVP Refinisher to restore the hard plastic interior trim pieces. Dan said he learned about ColorBond through the shop that reupholstered his seats. So, far he used the paint to refinish the console, armrests and seat backs and is very happy with the results.
2016 Mustang GT
Mustang seat (left) painting in progress. On the right is the completed seat.
ColorBond customer “Voo Doo Daddy” restored the seats of his 2016 Mustang GT, and also took liberty in providing a new color scheme.
“Back in 2012, I saw a pearl White Mustang GT with what I would call kind of an “Ox Blood Red” leather interior. I thought it looked fantastic and I have wanted that color leather interior since then. I was thinking of going with having my seats re-covered in Katzkins red leather, but that was going to cost me somewhere around $1,500 with materials and labor to have a local shop do it. So, I decided to paint my leather seats from black to red using ColorBond LVP Refinisher.” Says Voo Doo Daddy.
First, the seats were removed from the car and cleaned using glass cleaner containing ammonia and a microfiber towel. Voo Doo Daddy said the ammonia did a great job of removing grease and oils. Next, he scuffed the leather sections of the seats with a Scotch-Brite pad to provide a surface for best adhesion of ColorBond LVP Refinisher. After scuffing the seats were wiped down with rubbing alcohol and surfaces that were not to be painted were masked with tape. Voo Doo Daddy found painting the black seats to red could take anywhere from 15-20 light coats to achieve the desired results.
“I love the look and I love the fact that it took $150-$170 in materials, and only a few hours of my time.” Voo Doo Daddy enthuses.
As our customers show us, muscle car interior restoration can be performed economically and with excellent results with ColorBond LVP Refinisher.
