Page 13 - Edmonton Antique Car Club

Our Visit to SMS Auto Fabrics

By Harvey and Terry Diduch

The next step in restoring our ‘41 Cadillac
is to get the seats re-upholstered. To get original
or as close-to-original fabric as possible, we visit-
ed SMS Auto Fabrics in January on our way to
Palm Springs. We had visited SMS two years ago
for fabric for the headliner and door panels so we
were familiar with their operation.

SMS bills themselves as “the largest selec-
tion of auto interiors anywhere”, and that seems to
be the case. Opened in 1977 in Portland, SMS
has worked hard to build the world’s largest col-
lection of original and reproduction auto cloth and
vinyl for all American cars from the 1940s
through 2000s. In 2008, they built a large ware-
house and moved to Canby, Oregon (near Port-
land). Here they stock almost every cloth, vinyl,
headliner and vinyl top for all American-made
vehicles, regardless of make. And if they don’t
have what you need in stock, they can usually
make it because they also own fabric looms in the
US. Their inventory is staggering in volume—
and it is not computerized—they have their own
system of keeping track of what they carry.

We picked out upholstery fabrics from an
original 1941 Cadillac binder and fortunately,
SMS had the fabrics in stock so we were able to
take them with us. SMS receives emails and mail
requests daily from customers and will ship sam-
ples and fabrics globally.

SMS Auto Fabrics is well worth a visit if
you’re in the area, just to see their inventory. And
of course, SMS is a valuable resource for finding
that “special” fabric for your restoration project!

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