Double Take -- by Mark Sproxton

Beginning with the arm rest, the auto upholsterer quickly loosens the screws, removes the rest and moves on to the other door parts. With those out of the way he uses a carefully placed blade screw driver to begin removing the panel from the inside of the door. In a relatively short amount of time he has measured and cut a new piece of leather to fit the panel, affixed it in place and has the inside of the car door back together as good as new.

"It's very interesting," explains Theo De Greeve, auto upholsterer and general manager of De Greeve Auto Upholstery. "You're always getting something different. There's always somebody who wants something a little different than the others. There's not too much I don't like about it." He does have a favourite part of the work, however. "I enjoy doing the convertibles, custom cars and antiques." Some upholstery shops work on furniture in addition to vehicles, but De Greeve concentrates solely on cars, trucks, boats, motor homes and the like.

"Furniture is totally different," De Greeve said. "A chesterfield is way different than a car seat." Auto upholsterers, among other duties, measure and cut fabrics or leather with shears or electrical tools, sew pieces of fabric together and replace or repair seats and carpets. With 40 years experience, the auto upholsterer has long had good insight into the industry. "My dad started the company in 1930. When I finished high school I came into the business." He now works there with his sons.

While the vehicles have changed much since De Greeve first started working in the industry, the method of training remains the same. "It's basically all on the job," he said. "You have to be a pretty mechanical guy and like to move around. If you get somebody who wants to sit around a desk it's not going to work out." Moving around is especially common in spring, an auto upholsterer's busiest season, when people tend to bring out their boats and hot rods and fancy cars they don't or can't operate in the winter.

The materials themselves have remained similar over the years as well, but De Greeve has seen a number of changes in the industry recently. "You can get into add-ons. We can install seat heaters in cars that don't come with them. We can make a car look like a convertible when it's not." And then there's the leather he installed on the door panel. "A lot more people want leather than before. That's one change I would say has happened over the years."