The Parts Place

I recently ordered and installed a pair of windshield pillar post covers for the interior of my 1971 Skylark Convertible. The parts were nice and heavy feeling but that is where my satisfaction ended.
1. I had to drill the holes for the screws out, there were indentations but no mounting holes.
2. The grain pattern is almost non existent. It is very faint.
3. The old pillar post covers had an arc to them that followed the contour of the pillar post. The new replacement covers do not have the contour (they are straight) and as such, fit poorly.

If my old pillar post covers were not in such bad shape I would have sent these parts back to the parts place. On a scale of 1 to 10 I think I would rate these parts a 4 or a 5.

Does anyone have a better source for quality interior parts?

 

Can't help you on repro stuff as a lot of it seems to "not quite get there" in terms of details and/or fit/finish as you mention.

Find the best original pieces you can and refinish those if possible.

If you don't need perfect convert A-pillar post pads I have a pair of green pads from a '71 Cutlass convert. These do have some defects.....see PIC #1

>1 is an area of minor lifting of the vinyl covering

>2 is a larger area of lifting

>3 is a wrinkle in the vinyl covering

However, the backside and metal inner structure appear VERY NICE on these. The exposed metal on the backside still shows bare, clean metal on part of it with VERY minor surface rust starting. This is key on these old pads with the metal inner structure. I see a lot of these where the internal metal is rusted out or weak. Not this pair.

These could be scrubbed and painted with a vinyl paint and look pretty nice but they'll never be perfect due to the defects on the vinyl surface I pointed out.

PM me if you have interest in these.

 

And this is why exactly I would rather buy OEM parts than take a chance with their parts. Years back when they started with the grille for 70's,I got not 1 but 2 and sent them back. I got rude,arrogant and ignorant people on the line and they even pointed the finger at me for wanting too nice of parts...Really? for that money? I guess I did. Now, I did buy one of their woodgrain 70 shifter handles,but 1 of the side screws holes wasn't the crispest,but I managed to get it to work. I would like to get one of their chrome shifter floor handles,as well as a repro 70 radiator support,but again, I am waiting out for nicer OEM parts.. I don't trust TPP myself,BUT THAT'S MY OPINION.

 

I appreciate the offer but for the time and effort and $$ already invested I am going to have to make do with the ones I have. I am thinking maybe some heavy duty double sided tape will help them stick to the pillar and fit better.

Thanks again for the offer!

Lee

 

The old "no one has ever complained about that before" line lol. Biting my tongue hard about PUI and PP...

 

Could you send the originals to a place like Just Dashes,and have them recovere? Might be worth a try.

 

Probably, but the arm or leg you would have to include for payment might be a packaging problem. Bio-Hazard issues... p

At last check, a dash pad is $900..

They do good work, but the price is over the top.

To be fair, your going to run into this issue, especially on interior soft trim and parts, from every supplier, not just TPP.

I always try and recolor or otherwise preserve interior soft trim parts, like armrests bases and pads, pillar covers on ragtops, windlaces ect ect.

JW

 

Saw an ad for a repro 78 88 Malibu/Monte/El Camino dash enclosure assembly recently. Possibly in hemmings. $1299. Ouch.