What I found about 67 green carpet

[Patrick B.]

Recently I started a thread asking for recommendations and experiences about getting carpet for a 67 with green interior. No one had any suggestions except to request samples from suppliers. I eventually received samples from Corvette America, Al Knock and Stock Interiors. The results were disappointing.

The original green carpet is very dark. It looks almost black, but if you place a piece of black carpet next to it, you see it is clearly green. The samples I got were not very close. The pictures show samples placed on my original jack compartment cover. I put my black Kindle on it for contrast (but it was too shiny to represent black carpet). The darkest sample was from Corvette America, but it was pile carpet rather than a loop carpet and it has been discontinued. The next sample was from Al Knock. The rest of the samples were all the colors from Stock Interiors with the word green in the name. The best one was very similar to the Al Knock sample. I am meeting the Corvette America people at Lakeland on Saturday to get a sample of their loop carpet, but I doubt that it will be different from the Al Knock color.

I spoke to a gentleman from Romeo Carpets (who do not sell carpet for 65-67 Corvettes) and he said that all the Corvette carpet sources simply sell Auto Custom Carpet, and even Al Knock has quit sourcing his own carpet. He said the only way to get a better green is to have someone custom mix SEM carpet and vinyl dye and spray it on Auto Custom Carpet. The SEM brand was the only product he thought would work well. Unfortunately, custom mixed SEM dye only comes in gallons for about $250, and I don't know of any place in the DC area with mixing capability.

I got some Corvette America vinyl dye to paint some interior fiberglass panels. It seemed to be just spray lacquer, but it matched the interior panels pretty well. I wish I knew if this is SEM "dye" mixed by Corvette America. It would certainly darken the carpet even if it weren't a perfect match. Does anyone know if the SEM dye smells and drys like lacquer?

[Larry M.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

Pat:

I remember some using commercial carpet dye. There were places that used to sell it to individuals, and you had a good choice of colors. Don't know anymore if available or not, but you can Google and check.

Larry

EDIT: A quick check showed a few places to buy. Here is one: http://americolordyes.com/carpet-dye/ Then also custom tint for additional $$. You could have this done, and then resell your excess dye to another NCRS member in need.

[Alan D.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

Found using dyes resulted in a stiff finish, that and the clear fibers are now colored (thus missing). Since the loop carpet available is too dense and thus not period correct from any source, an exact match is next to impossible. So since a 100% credit may not be obtainable, do a trade off and just accept the deduct.
Agree with your old color it was dark!

Recently I used a product from PDH Distributors, 888-522-2465 available in small qualities.

[Patrick B.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

Larry and Alan ---- Thanks very much for the suggestions.

[Joseph S.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

Pat, Check out these samples from Auto Custom Carpets. 8-1011 Dk Green, 30-069 Dk Olive and 25-021 Blue Green. They are all darker than the samples you showed.

You can get ACC to make a corvette carpet set in any of these colors.

[Keith B.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

FYI Corvette America sells ACC brand carpet

[Dick W.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

Recently I started a thread asking for recommendations and experiences about getting carpet for a 67 with green interior. No one had any suggestions except to request samples from suppliers. I eventually received samples from Corvette America, Al Knock and Stock Interiors. The results were disappointing.

The original green carpet is very dark. It looks almost black, but if you place a piece of black carpet next to it, you see it is clearly green. The samples I got were not very close. The pictures show samples placed on my original jack compartment cover. I put my black Kindle on it for contrast (but it was too shiny to represent black carpet). The darkest sample was from Corvette America, but it was pile carpet rather than a loop carpet and it has been discontinued. The next sample was from Al Knock. The rest of the samples were all the colors from Stock Interiors with the word green in the name. The best one was very similar to the Al Knock sample. I am meeting the Corvette America people at Lakeland on Saturday to get a sample of their loop carpet, but I doubt that it will be different from the Al Knock color.

I spoke to a gentleman from Romeo Carpets (who do not sell carpet for 65-67 Corvettes) and he said that all the Corvette carpet sources simply sell Auto Custom Carpet, and even Al Knock has quit sourcing his own carpet. He said the only way to get a better green is to have someone custom mix SEM carpet and vinyl dye and spray it on Auto Custom Carpet. The SEM brand was the only product he thought would work well. Unfortunately, custom mixed SEM dye only comes in gallons for about $250, and I don't know of any place in the DC area with mixing capability.

I got some Corvette America vinyl dye to paint some interior fiberglass panels. It seemed to be just spray lacquer, but it matched the interior panels pretty well. I wish I knew if this is SEM "dye" mixed by Corvette America. It would certainly darken the carpet even if it weren't a perfect match. Does anyone know if the SEM dye smells and drys like lacquer?

Get some dark green Rit dye and add fabric softener

[Patrick B.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

Pat, Check out these samples from Auto Custom Carpets. 8-1011 Dk Green, 30-069 Dk Olive and 25-021 Blue Green. They are all darker than the samples you showed.

You can get ACC to make a corvette carpet set in any of these colors.

The samples in the picture include the dark green from Al Knock and Stock interiors. I just got a loop sample from Corvette America and it is the same as the other two. The dark olive was also in the picture, but it appeared more brown in the pic that it actually was. The samples all look darker in real life than in the picture (I don't know why), but the contrast to the original "Almost Black" shade of green is also stark in real life. I think all the samples are of Auto Custom Carpet. I'll try a picture of the samples again with a white background tomorrow to see if I can show the color more accurately.

It looks like I will have to settle for a lighter green or pursue one one the dye routes folks here have suggested. I'm still surprised that no one has reported on their experience with green carpet. Is it that rare or have all the green/green cars turned into red/black?

[Gene M.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

Get some dark green Rit dye and add fabric softener

This is a good suggestion. I did my 67 teal and 65 blue because NONE of the offerings from jobbers are correct color. The corn rows is another missing feature. Dye woun’t fix that. The dye applied by hand and rubbed in till uniform correct color is achieved. I didn’t use fabric softener just a bit of reducer on a rag. Dye needs to be hot. Start with a lighter carpet color and darken it till color is achieved. Pinch welting is another problem. Save the original and hand sew in original holes as original.

[Tim G.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

I ran into the same thing with blue carpet for my 1967 blue/white interior car. I ended up sourcing an original carpet set for my car. Here is the original stowage cover carpet next to the replacement stowage cover carpet. The new carpet sure is pretty, but it's not close. I have other original blue samples from under the seat.

[Ron E.]

Re: What I found about 67 green carpet

Corvette America's carpet sets are produced by ACC.