Lancia Motor Club

Chaps,

I think I have probably asked this before, but has anyone had a set of carpets made for their car by anyone that that they could recommend.

I have made enquiries with some of the obvious Lancia places but the costs are far in excess of what I could afford.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

Are there any local general upholstery people around?

AJ Watts of colchester did a set from patterns (old carpets) for my Fulvia. Not sure what carpeting he carries in stock and is quite busy on commercial stuff. Worth a visit and conversation though.

Agree with Richard - for my Augusta in the 1980s, I used a local carpet shop and they cut and did edges to my brown paper templates - fine and I remember being really surprised how cheap it was!

I have been quoted ........ wait for it,  £1200.00 ! from a well known Lancia specialist, which is far too much for me to afford/justify.

Any help would really be appreciated,.

Bob

Strewth, finest Persian, hand woven on the thighs of young maidens.......or am I confusing them with Cohiba No5s??!!


;)


P

Not carpet, but The last pair of Fulvia Sport seats I had reupholstered were 75 pounds each around ten years ago. And were done very well, by John Black in Kent. Now retired I am afraid. But there is an LMC member on the South coast who advertises trimming services in VL sometimes. Name escapes me at present.

Richard, You are probably thinking of Brian Cates. Brian is a Fulvia owner and well known trimmer based in Bournemouth - he sometimes posts on this forum. Brian's email address is: zagatoseven@hotmail.com

Colin

Colin,

Thanks for that, I have e-mailed Brian to see if he could help.

Chaps,

I returned from a few days away last night and found the following e-mail from Brian Cates in my inbox.

Bob, got to say I think it very rude of you not to at least acknowledge my reply to your request concerning supply of a carpet set for your Flavia. I took the trouble to get back to you almost immediately and attempted to help.
If you have found another avenue to explore, fine by me, but you could at least have said 'thanks, but no thanks'. I own several Lancias that I play with but these days have little time for my fellow Lancisti, of which you seem typical. Got a couple of 70'S Alfas too and have to say that Alfa people are far more approachable, helpfull and friendly too. This is the reason I no longer am a member of the LMC and have no interest in taking my cars to any LMC event in the future.
A little eccentricity I do not mind-in fact it goes with the territory when owning a Lancia- but there is no excuse for rudeness. I used to undertake a lot of Interior trim work for an Aurelia specialist, but decided to call it a day when I read in a Classic Car Magazine and I am quoting the specialist- 'I look after many, many Aurelias,in the UK and Overseas, but of all the ones I look after, MINE IS THE BEST'. Terrible attitude, but again typical of many Lancia owners I have met.
I was extremely fortunate to acquire 5 years ago, almost my 'dream car', a rare RHD Flaminia GT to restore, for a very reasonable sum. The purchase, from a fellow Lancisti, was fraught to say the least and it took three and a half years after leaving a deposit, to finally secure my car and only then after I threatened legal action. On telling other Lancia owners of my good fortune in obtaining such a car, rather than be pleased for me, one can clearly see the 'green mist' rising within them.
Terrible attitude.
B.

As you can imagine I was flabbergasted !

He obviously has a problem with Lancia owners, and to imply that any one person`s  approachability, helpfulness or friendliness is directly related to the make of car they drive is frankly absurd !

Who`d have thought that a simple request for help with carpets would illicit such a venomous e-mail.

Bob

Bob, I have had happy dealings with Brian and I am surprised to see what you have posted. My guess is that you got him on a bad day!

Colin

Sorry Colin but catching him on a bad day is no excuse for such a level of rudeness, he obviously didn't consider the fact that Bob might have been away and hadn't seen his reply, as for his other outbursts regarding Lancia owners in general, it seems his attitude to Lancia owners is coloured by his own bad experiences, with which I can sympathise, but he doesn't seem to have heard of the saying don't tar everyone with the same brush, as we're not all like that!

I know I'm a lot more cranky with advancing years than I used to be, but I'm glad I'm not as bad as this.

Brian
8227 8)

Bob, I would venture no great loss for LMC! Indefensible rudeness.

 your email DOES NOT SUPRISE ME! I fell out with him a number of years ago , not really prepared to state publically why we fell out but I am prepared to say that I found him to be totally untrustworthy , sad really as I've always found other Lancia enthusiasts trustworthy people and for a short period of time he destroyed my faith in the Lancia community

I don’t like the sound of this – it seems like ganging up to have a go at someone who might not fully deserve it. For sure Brian C shouldn’t have written in the way he did, but it’s possible that his first message was a quick offer to help for which he might reasonably have expected a quick reply. No doubt had Brian expected his second message to go on-forum he would have written in different terms.

I would award Brian 8 black marks out of 10 for writing as he did. And 5 black marks out of 10 to Bob for choosing to go public on the open side of this forum, leading to a character assassination, which is likely to jeopardise Brian’s business.

I have no reason to defend Brian, but I do know that he has done good work in the past for Lancia folk who have been pleased with the results.

Colin 

I would stay well clear of Brian. He did two cars for me the Aprilia seats were okay the door cards a disaster, but then my series 3 Appia was a nightmare from
Hell.
He did what he wanted to do and 8 months later with serious threats did I get my car back and all I can say is stay well clear.
Don Cross nows a chap whos sone his Thema seats his worth a try the worked looked really good.
Another place is called cooper trimmers in east London they did the aurelia  they were good but not cheap.

Okay chaps,

I did not mean to start any sort of character assassination on Brian, I was just a bit surprised at the message he sent me.

Lets leave this subject now before it gets out of hand.

Bob

agreed, I wouldn't like to have my name dragged through the dirt on here , however with all due respect he's assassinated himself with more than 1 person , shame really

Agreed. Enough said.

Also a neighbour (works from home) is in the business of motorcar upholstery. Forgot about him until I bumped into his brother yesterday. Location is Kent.