Auto Interiors & Design

Lucky Dan _{on Google}

Feb 7th, 2023

Took my 61 VW here for a new top after having one other shop unable to complete it and another that never called me back due to the same issue.
The issue was that I'd bought the top and headliner when I started the resto project back in 2016. They sat in the shipping box until 2020 which is when I finished all of the work (myself) on the car. At this point, the car was just a painted shell and sent to the 1st shop in Woodstock Illinois for it's top. They said it couldn't be stretched enough to remove the many wrinkles it had developed and most likely needed a pad between both. Their books indicated that the 61 did not use a pad & they couldn't make one due to the complexity.
The top's maker (Sewfine in California) said I should've been sold a pad but no longer made anything for the 61 as it was too difficult to make & install. They were also unable to provide the pattern as it was intellectual property. They did offer to make the pad but there was a 6 month backlog on orders so I took the car home so I could get everything back on and just address the top issue once it was done & driveable.
That's when I took it to a shop in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood which said the same thing about the pad, indicating they'd reach out to other shops and vendors and call me if they found a solution. Never got a call and a friend told me about this shop in Lake Bluff that had done the work for a couple of other VW owners we knew.
So a visit resulted in talking to the owner Luis that said they'd do their best to get it done. Also said they may not be able to remove the wrinkles but I told them to proceed as the top would only be used during rainy days.
It was October and I was scheduled for mid November due to the amount of work in their queue. Took the car in but the work was then delayed due to another car that finally came in from resto shop after having waited for rare parts and now had everyone focused on completing it.
Luis called to tell me this, about the additional delay and that he understood if I wanted to take it elsewhere. I had no rush since it wouldn't be driven until spring so I told him to keep it and continue when available.
They started on it about 3 weeks later which now had us in December. Ran into the same pad issue but they suggested buying one from another vendor and modify it as needed. They did show me which hardware parts also needed replacement so I ordered those while they got everything else ready.
I did visit the shop frequently to see the progress and was told in detail of the difficulties along with things that were done to improve the design.
They finished everything at the end of January and I was surprised at how well it turned out. They'd even gotten all of the wrinkles out !
The results fully justified giving them a five star rating especially since I knew how much work they put into it and literally doing what everyone else said could not be done.
Got the car home so I could install the remaining interior items that I'd modified in preparation for it's appearance at the 2023 World of Wheels show in Rosemont Illinois.
Kudos to Luis & his crew for the amazing work!

Saba Mahmood _{on Google}

Mar 17th, 2022

Louis provided me a fair quote (where others were offering me hundreds of dollars more). He completed the service on my Audi within 2 business days and was communicative throughout the whole process. It's rare to find an honest upholstery shop that does a good job and offers a reasonable price. I would 10/10 recommend this place. Service: Upholstery repair