Replacing Head liner?

[The Newell]

Hello,

My family and I recently purchased a 1976 Newell Classic, We are eager to start our travels but one of the main things that need replacement is the head liner material. We are looking for tips, tricks and how to's on how to replace the head liner in a Newell Classic.

Thank You,
Joseph

[Erika]

This must be a tougher question than I would have thought. I asked a similar question a while back over at Newell Coach and never received a response. Hopefully someone will have an answer. I am going to go into a couple of the bus conversion sites and see if they are installed in a similar fashion.

Ken

[karlb]

Hello,

My family and I recently purchased a 1976 Newell Classic, We are eager to start our travels but one of the main things that need replacement is the head liner material. We are looking for tips, tricks and how to's on how to replace the head liner in a Newell Classic.

Thank You,
Joseph

This is actually not a tough job.

An experienced uphostery shop can determine the details regarding how the Newell "soft ceiling" is installed simply by carefully removing it. Then new material can be installed in the same manner as the prior ceiling material.

While a variety of materials will work, with few exceptions, Newell has used a high quality, durable white vinyl for soft ceilings. Certain fabrics, or even leather, would also work well. The material chosen is stapled to plywood strips on the ceiling. Some of the details have changed through the years, and in recent years, rather complicated decorative ceilings have been incorporated. But the soft ceilings installed in all Newell Classics is a very simple construction that looks quite nice..

The Newell Service Department in Miami offers soft ceiling replacement routinely. While the hourly charge is most likely higher than an independant upholstery shop, experienced Newell technicians are likely to be faster, mitigating or eliminating the total labor cost difference, and the completed job will be authentic in appearance and quality.

In any case, replacing the soft ceiling in a Newell Classic is a pretty simple deal.

[Erika]

Hi karlb! Thank you for your response. I have been thinking of tackling the job on one of my Newell's and my only concern is how to install the seem strips? They appear to have built in staples. Does it take a special tool to install the seem strips? Can the old seem strips be reused?

Thank you,
Ken

[The Newell]

Yes, Thank you for the reply Karl, It answered my question and I think I will be contacting Newell for a price quote.

Joseph