Dark interiors going the way of dodo

Is there a future for wood trim in auto interiors? According to Monica Link, special correspondent for Automotive News, there definitely is a future and baby boomers are driving the trend because they can afford to buy the luxury cars and trucks that usually feature the look in their interiors.

Ironically, and for no apparent reason, boomers who were born between 1946 through 1964 prefer wood in interiors with dark tones and the younger generation born after 1977 like lighter interiors, whether wood or other material. According to figures provided by J. D. Power and Associates, both groups are now purchasing more than 49 percent of luxury and mid-sized vehicles sales in recent months.

According to Ms. Lisa Tucci, color and design manager at interior supplier Lear Corporation of Southfield, Mich., "the younger generation does not have to see real wood." Meaning that interior trim can be highlighted with either wood trim or metallic finishes like brushed or polished aluminum. However, she goes on to say that "the baby boomers want real wood."

While many cars feature the look of wood - like my 2001 Dodge Neon with the leather interior option - it is not the real thing. Rather, it is probably a photograph or a film of real wood glued to a piece of metal. On my Neon, the fake wood looks absolutely natural and I resisted the urge early on to remove the panels and install instead painted or brushed metal replacements. I'm sure that many people reading this column have owned cars in the past that featured so-called wood interior pieces where the quality was so poor that even a woodpecker with vision problems could tell the difference.

Most luxury makers, however, do use real wood and carefully follow the market to be sure that the tone of wood offered is what clients want. When in doubt, like Infiniti a couple years back, some makers are hedging their bet and are offering wood trim in two tones, light (burled maple) and dark (walnut).

Sherry Sabbagh, a designer for automotive interiors supplier Johnson Controls Inc. in Plymouth, Mich., was quoted in the Auto News article saying that" interior colors often determine what types of woods are used." She goes on to say "Bleached wood in mango and banana colors are very popular. There is no longer just the traditional medium brown."

Burled woods are very popular in cars right now. Automotive wood supplier Behr Industries Corp. of Grand Rapids, Mich., makes 70 percent of its product from burled woods that are harvested in California and Europe. Lincoln, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are big customers of Behr.

What is the next new wood for use in auto interiors? Would you believe bamboo. It is an attractive alternative to the popular walnut and maple because of its light finish and the fact that the wood grows as much as 3 feet a day - which keeps supply up and prices down.

Photo of me

Retired in Florida

A very special Father's Day gift

Everyone wants to find the perfect gift for dad on Fathers Day. But what to buy? He has all the ties that he needs. I have a story that just might be the template to follow next year when deciding on a perfect gift for father.

It's pretty universal that most dads like cars, especially the car that they remember from youthful experiences. Who can forget the car they learned to drive in? Or the car they owned when dating their now-wife?

This is a story about a dad in the Twin Cities, who wishes to remain anonymous, who experienced the Father's Day of a lifetime two years ago when his wife and two daughters went to a lot of trouble and surprised him with a gift of the old car of his dreams.

It is a fascinating story, filled with disappointments, surprises and a happy ending. The story starts in 2003 and ends on Father's Day, 2004. The dad in question, a hardworking, A-type, workaholic with a business of his own, had always wanted a 1957 Chevy. He had owned one as a youngster but it was what he called a "dog." The hardtop Bel Air was powered by the old "Stovebolt Six" engine and equipped with the Powerglide 2-speed transmission. This made peeling rubber at the stoplight virtually impossible. He was looking for a '57 Chevy - now one of the most sought after cars of the 50s - and he wanted not the old Stovebolt under the hood, but one with the 283 cubic inch small block V-8 engine with a 3-speed manual transmission.

Knowing all this, his wife set into motion a search for the car of her husband's dreams. She started out by calling Watervliet resident Les Fairbanks, president of the local Southwestern Michigan Car Collectors club. He offered to help. After reading one of my columns about the North American International Auto Show, she gave me a call and asked for my advice.

All of her efforts were fruitless until she began to use the Internet. On the Net she had success in finding '57 Chevys for sale but was startled by the high prices being asked and also didn't have a clue if the cars being offered for sale were decently restored. Then a light bulb went on in her head and she thought of calling her husband's friend Rich Kepner. Rich, known by most old car owners in the region, is the president and owner of Kepner's Precision Auto Krafters located on Nickerson Road in Benton Township.

Rich, an old car collector himself, operates a highly regarded body shop and also is very involved with restoring old cars. Readers may recall an article on a restoration project undertaken by Rich for Lonnie Ali in The Herald Palladium a couple years back. He and his crew totally restored Mohammad Ali's Rolls Royce.

Rich agreed to help find a car. In the months that followed he attended two Kruse auctions at Auburn and followed up on leads around the country. Finally two cars were located by the wife on the Internet that warranted a look-see in the Midwest - one in Illinois and one in Wisconsin. During the search, the wife had decided that if she was going to buy her husband a '57 Chevy V-8, she wanted him to have a convertible. Luckily both of the Midwest cars were convertibles, both had the required 283 engine and both had stick transmissions.

Rich jumped into his rig with the trailer and headed west. The Guerney, IL car had an amateurish restoration and did not meet Rich's minimum expectations. He couldn't reach the Wisconsin owner and returned to Michigan. But a call the next morning to the Brookfield, WI owner gave Rich some cause for hope. The car had all the equipment that Rich was looking for. The California-built, Texas-owned 1957 Chevy was a convertible, it had the Power-Pak 283 4-barrel carburetor V-8 and it had the "three on the tree" transmission. He jumped into his trailer rig again and headed west.

This time he wasn't disappointed. A ten-year old restoration still looked good on the Chevy. The car even had its original floor pan, a good sign of a rust-free car. The only problem was price. The wife had set a maximum price that she could pay and the Wisconsin owner wanted a 20 percent premium over her minimum. Rich made a quick call to the vacationing wife, who was on a ski trip at the time.

The situation put the wife in a very tough spot. She knew her daughters wanted this car as a very special Father's Day present for their dad. While the dad had been a very busy businessman all is life, he had always made the effort to be there 24/7 for them, at school and athletic events, as they grew up. This car would be a perfect gift to show their love and support.

She didn't know where she would find the additional funds, but she decided on the spot to give the okay for Rich to buy the car. The convertible with 60,000 miles on the odometer was on the trailer in no time and heading for Kepner's shop.

The car was in really good shape and it took Rich and his staff only a few months to bring the car up to Concours standards. Then the fun began.

The youngest daughter was to graduate from Northwestern University on Father's Day 2004. Elaborate plans were made to have the convertible delivered to the dad at the graduation party. Because neither daughter could drive a stick shift, they asked their grandfather to do the honor.

Listening to comments from both the wife and from Rich about how the dad responded to his gift from his family was heart warming indeed. A lot of tears of happiness were shed that day, mostly by the dad. The dad himself admits that he cried like a baby for several days after. The wife tells a wonderful story of how the dad, while taking his Chevy on a drive down Red Arrow Highway soon after Father's Day, would acknowledge people's "high fives" with the boastful retort "This is my car!"

As a car guy, I can't think of a more appropriate gift for Father's Day than receiving the keys to a special car. It would be a thrill of a lifetime!

Post Script: Ironically, the car I learned to drive in was a 1957 Chevy. Only my dad's car was not a Bel Air, not a V-8, not a hardtop, didn't even have an automatic tranny. Instead, my high school ride was a lowly 2-door One Fifty sedan. The only option on the car was a two-tone paint job. It was a slug but it would be a hoot to have it sitting in my driveway on Father's Day!