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Bentley leather (connelly) seats for the upmarket workshop.


artyone

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My brothers been able to source these Bentley seats from Hong Kong, which are surplus (bit scuffed but negligible), from a guy that brings in the cars and I'm going to be welding up a frame, sports car space frame 50's style and we'll be seeing whether it might take off. My bro re-does leather, as in paint systems, and I'm hoping he'll come to the party and paint some dark blue racing stripes on it.

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They're basically free and the only cost is freight from Hong Kong.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My Bro said yesterday that he's getting some cash today so he'll most probably be able to flick me a hundy and a bit to go get the steel to finally start building this. I've been absolutely poor for ages as in just enough cash to keep up the bacccy habit by sheer unashamed begging.... so I really need to create some cashflow to be able to do all these other projects and I really hope this one will catch on.

 

I've got the humongous gas bottles on rental and managed to scrape together enough to get some full ones a month or two back but Air Liquide has sent the letter, still unopened, which is asking for the years rental in advance so, as last year, I should be able to go at least another month before they get ornery but that's the way it is these days.

 

And how, in any sane economy, which basically translates as insane, can a set of connelly leather Bentley seats set up as a couch using a racing car aesthetic not be a must have thing for someone with more money than sense, or in polite terms, more money than my sense might describe as surplus to needs?

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I think the problem might be that they still look like back seats from a car. They could just as easily have been from a leather equipped Toyota in my opinion.

You would have to tell everyone that they are from a Bentley.

Anyone upmarket would probably rather sit in and look at an actual leather couch of which there are plenty available for not a huge amount of money.

I'm a cock for saying it but probably others are thinking it too.

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I think if you do a good job, some rich fulla will want it for his mancave.

Rich guys all want stuff that none of their friends can buy, and everyone's seen topgear...

Might be tricky finding the buyer though, as I doubt the guy will be spending his spare time scouring trademe for it.

Maybe find some design shop to buy it off you. They'll want a 100% markup, but can probably sell it for a lot more than you can.

I'd probably go for a luxury look with walnut trim rather than racing style, but it's your chair

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I know what you guys mean as it all either needs to be authenticated in some way or so darn obvious, as in having Bentley written across it, that they really are just like another other seat and regardless then the sell is all about where it's for sale and how good a story the salesman puts across.

 

Contemplating actually doing the work, meaning getting down to the brass tacks of buying material and clearing space to begin the slogg, and looking a little closer they really are very problematic but it still doesn't take away the fact that they are a cheap resource. It really is good leather and even whilst the workmanship leaves a lot to be desired it would still take alot more investment in materials and man hours to get what's actually available.

 

So I'm looking at it and realise it needs a bed to sit in, just like the car chassis was, (unlike old seats it has no internal framing and is cupped by the car chassis shape) and my brother said we can just fill up the back with expandable foam, and me ever the cost cutter, reply with yeah... but after we fill most of the spaces with polystyrene then just finish with a shallow layer of foam, sand and the fibreglass... which means alot of work so it'll have to be reproducible to get costs down. Which also means we have to get a supply of exactly the same seats to make mold making cost effective. And all that is just the work required to have something rigid enough to accept what ever styling holds it off the ground.

 

My initial idea was to put racing stripes on it and even a Bentley emblem but then my brother reminded me that this type of paint system skins off really fast, it needs to be a pliable but resilient skin to stay with the leather underneath and what this means is that masking off means small tears in the paint where you follow a line as the skin itself carries on over the tape... which adds time repairing by hand with a brush then sanding back.

 

So it's kinda gone into the too hard bin for the moment simply because times are too tight to warrant the amount of time and effort required just to find out if it would even sell. And it has to go to the top and the real estate for selling to those people is just too damned expensive these days.

 

It's a pity really but in a sense if they're only available 'cause it's surplus from Hong Kong kinda tells you it's going to be a tricky proposition. Selling the rich their own rubbish is best done by the already rich.

 

If it's an ugly dog to begin with then cutting it's hair to make it uglier... that's weird and though I've tried in the past to get it, and this is one of those instances... it's still a fucking ugly dog!

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If ur doing a one off and don't care about durability (its just a couch, not a car) then there is no need for a mold.

Just fg over your foam then sand bog sand bog. Will just take time ( and since you don't have a real job I'm guessing you have plenty)

Or fg over foam then thin memory foam then leather.

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SO theres a coupla other seats I'll do first I think.

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This is one outta 6mm rod and theres no brazing so it was able to be galvanised... which came out rougher than I thought with lotsa really sharp drips which I'll sand off and see what I'm left with.

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Then theres this old late forties fender which still has kinda nice rough paint on the outside but was completely rusty on the inside so I got it blasted. I'm starting in today On adding some room for more sitting area at the tall end and it's gonna be another two seater chaise lounge kinda thing.

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there is a place in newmarket that sells "upmarket" lasercut cardboard furnature

if they can make new market rent selling cardboard, you should atleast try this

i wouldnt purchase one, but i wouldnt purchase a chrisco hamper either, but people seem too as mrs chrisco lives in a mansion

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I also get around to painting every so often... actually I'm supposed to be doing that now as I've arranged to have an Exhibition in a cafe in K Rd next month.

1WorkinMetalsintheBigPictureHouse.jpg

Meta Lido... kinda means Big viewing House, but is also Metal I do.

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