Caribou carpets

["Bain, Bill" <Bill.Bain@domain.elided>]

A couple of Digests back, someone inquired about Caribou's carpet sets and
there was a negative response.  I'm in the process of installing one (blue
loop, not pile) in my '83 Spider so I thought that this might even be an
Alfa subject I do know something about!

The loop carpet that I received appears to be of just about the same grade
as the original carpet it is replacing.  The price of the set was around
$150, which makes it nearly $200 less than those from some other mail order
parts houses, IF they could supply one in blue.  Whether the sets from other
vendors would be of higher quality, I can't say, but there was/is a pretty
significant price difference that I couldn't justify to the family Exchequer
of the Treasury.  :-)

When I ordered it, Ed requested that I send a swatch of the old carpet so
that he could try to match up the color as best he could, which I did.  The
original blue was a sort of blue "salt and pepper"; what I got was a solid
blue with a slight greenish tint that complements the color (Celeste
Metallique) of the car nicely and Ed was very up front about how close he
could come, color wise.

As a warm-up, I have done the rear package shelf.  I first replaced the
warped fiberboard with 1/8" birch plywood, and added a piano hinge so that
access to the "brain box" would be easier.  Hinging it also makes it easier
to remove when I want to bolt the roll bar in.  For padding I used some
1/16" closed cell packing material that comes in sheets for wrapping items
for shipping -- the material won't absorb water, which is nice.  But, I
digress.   It looks like the carpet for the package shelf is a bit wider
than the original carpet it replaced  -- I suspect that all Alfas from 1971
on are not quite as identical as one would believe.  .The carpet set I
received did not accommodate the shrouds for the seat belt retractors --I
tried using a steam iron to mold the carpet around the shrouds, but it
didn't work.  There's not enough extra material to cover the shrouds
separately (Ed, if you're "listening", a 18" by 12" piece would be more than
enough).  In my case, I decided to cover the shrouds in vinyl that matches
the recovered door pillars and door panels.  Other than that, The carpet
folded nicely over the panel and was easily stapled in place.   Right now
I'm waiting for that great imported parts store JC Whitney to deliver the
padding so that I can do the floor pans.

Overall, I'm pleased and the quality was no worse than OEM so I think I got
a good deal.  My Spider isn't a concours candidate so that fact that it
wasn't a precise color match wasn't an issue for me, but YMMV.

Bill Bain
AROC Atlanta
'83 Spider (daily driver again)
'87 Milano (getting the A/C fixed before it gets too hot -- they don't call
it Hot'lanta for nothing!)
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided