1979 Chevrolet C10 - Dressed to Thrill

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the guys have been busy stripping the interior and prepping the replacement components for installation.

The new door panels and inserts from Chevy Duty are laid out and readied for assembly.

Tim, the truck's owner, helped out by stripping some of the door trim pieces that were to be reused from the original panels.

Wanda's right-hand man Ray stayed busy stripping out the original headliner and visor assemblies, and replacing them with new components from Chevy Duty.

Ray also installed the new carpeting and seatbelt assemblies, as well as all the freshly dyed and replacement trim pieces and kick panels back into the cab.

As Ray worked diligently in the truck cab, George Luz, Wanda's protg, assembled the new door panels. There were a couple of trim pieces on the original door panels that were distinct to the high-line Chevy interior and are not as yet reproduced. These pieces had seen better days, and George had to repair some of them before they could be reused on the new panels.

With the upholstery fabrication completed, it's time to begin their installation. Wanda started with the seat bottom upholstery by flipping the edges inside out and laying the seat surface in place. Wanda had sewn in strips of fabric at the front of the inserts where they meet the vinyl and inserted wire stiffeners in the strips. These strips were then inserted in the seam where the front edge foam met the seat bottom foam and hog ringed into place. This keeps the inserts in place and is done on both the seat bottom and backs.

With the upholstery hog-ringed in place, he then folds back the cover and sprays both the bottom side of the upholstery and the top side of the foam with contact cement. Once the cement has flashed (allowed to dry), the upholstery is deftly lowered into position on the foam and smoothed out.

With nearly instinctive ease Wanda tugs and pulls in all the correct places to position the cover perfectly and without even a hint of a ripple or imperfection.

The seat bottom is then flipped over and the outer perimeter tightly hog-ringed to the Glide seat frame.

Next came the seat backs. This looked to me to be a lot more difficult than the seat bottom but Wanda slipped 'em on without a hitch-perfectly aligned and smooth as silk.

Here's the finished seat assembly. It looks great and is going to be the centerpiece of an awesome interior.

With everything in place, Wanda and his professional crew have, as the old saying goes, made a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Not only does the truck's interior look like a million bucks, it's extremely comfortable, as well (I got to drive it home from the shop). As I said in the beginning, it might not be something the average enthusiast would attempt on our but now at least we know a bit more about what's involved in the making of a show-winning interior, and just how much work and talent goes into it.