El Nomado™ Project - Say NO to Gillin

Well Let's start with the seats.  This is the way the car was supposedly "Finished".  First, we have to say the actual seat base is the wrong color.  It does not match nor does it compliment the leather on the seat.  It is also missing the seat belt blank out.  The seat mounting is another issue.  The tracks are obviously showing and could have been hidden. 

Remember, this is a show car!...and this is a VERY Expensive Leather interior!

There are more issues with the seat(s) and we will explain in detail in other pictures.

Here we have the lever for the seat actually scraping on the leather...are you kidding me here??? 

Again, we go back to poor workmanship.  Keeping in mind that this occurred after about 5 times of opening the seatback.

This is simply not acceptable.

Here you see an area forward of the actual door. The welting here should actually disappear under the carpet.  Instead it is too sort and was just cut and left to dangle.

Also notice the carpet was not finished off on the edges.  That is a 'cut edge' facing towards the door hinge.

Here is part of the carpet that is just behind the front seat(s). An unfinished edge.

Keep in mind this car is only a two-seater.  In this application, the carpet should have been one piece.  If not one piece, at least finish off the edges of the carpet.

Here is just one of the seams that illustrates the workmanship (or lack thereof) on this project.  We like French seams but French seams MUST be equal-distant between the threads.

This has enough waves to make you sea-sick.  We feel Gillin Custom Design really missed the mark on this...and a great deal more.  Perhaps if it were just one seam, maybe you could let it go, but this was very indicative of the level of workmanship by Gillin Custom Design on the ENTIRE project.

This is more of the same panel. The seam does not get any better.  As a matter of fact...it gets worse.  And you can see that it is not only where the "white" meets "tan", but also notice the burgundy leather (center left).  Nope, no straight seams there either.

Here you can see more of the bad seams and just plain bad workmanship by Gillin Custom Design.

Not only are the seams themselves crooked but the panels are not straight or proportional.   This will be illustrated in greater detail in other pictures.

And yes, the leather is actual lifting off the panel.  This was after just 1 week!

Here we see some bad seams and you notice that the stitching on the "tan" panel is burgundy.  Okay, well, Gillin Custom Design actually thought that it was okay to back-stitch on this panel.  This really shows lack of skill, experience and workmanship.  The two ends should have been pulled through the panel to the other side and either tied or glued off.

And the seam is still crooked.  Keep in mind this was a $10K interior!

This is yet another spot on the same panel we have been examining.  Uneven seams and the back-stitching.  This is just plain sloppy work.

This is really bad workmanship.  You will notice the bad seams.  And the "shape" that Gillin Custom Design put in the bed of the vehicle was lop-sided.  This picture was not taken with any special lenses.  The shape is actually that mis-proportioned.

You will also notice the puckering in the leather.  This was just poor technique or lack of skill or both.

Here is the same panel as above from a different angle. Notice the shape is wider on the lower right. 

Gillin Custom Design actually thought this was acceptable.  This interior was VERY EXPENSIVE!  In our opinion, this is not $10k level work.

This is just plain gross.  This is a shot of the inside of the door panel after is was removed.  Gillin Custom Design apparently ran short on material and thought it would be okay to STAPLE another small piece to the TOP of the door panel.  Are you kidding here???

The door panel was also a light fiberboard.  Much like heavy cardboard.  This is NOT what an expensive custom interior should consist of.  The panel should have been made with either a heavier grade of fiberboard (something moisture resistant) or plastic.

This is another view of the door after it was removed.  This was after we decided to have the interior redone.  In the top of the picture, you can see a mock-up of the NEW interior that was NOT done by Gillin.  After the workmanship that we saw and the other sub-standard materials we found, we knew that Gillin Custom Design was not able to provide us with an interior or workmanship that met our standards.

Here is the headrest on the seat.  Notice the seam...

Looks more like a bag of quarters than a leather headrest.

This is just plain poor design.  We are not quite sure where Gillin Custom Design came up with this design, but it does not 'fit' the car or the project at all.  Not to mention the color of the burgundy leather clashes with the subtle red tones in the paint.

The shape in the door panel does not belong on this car.  On the outside of a MOPAR with "HEMI" or "440" or "CUDA" in it...  But not the interior of this vehicle.

A cup holder covered in leather and then not only is the leather wrinkled but the whole thing is attached with screws from the top!

Now this really is a contender for 'hack job' of the year. We can not believe that someone at Gillin Custom Design looked at this and said to themselves that this looks good or thought this was the proper way to attach this trim piece.

This is a trim bezel that goes around the dash board.  Notice the ragged edges.  The leather was glued and then cut with something semi-sharp.  Right against an almost irreplaceable piece of anodized aluminum trim...digging into the trim piece and leaving gouges in places.

This should have been done by making a template and cutting a 'backing plate" out of thin sheet aluminum.  Then the leather attached to that and wrapped around the edges.  Then the whole thing glued or fastened to the original trim piece.

This is another part of the dashboard trim that was covered with leather.  And you can see more ragged edges.

This is where two pieces were supposed to 'butt' together.  The leather here was not even attached to the trim piece on the edges and is now just swinging in the breeze.

Again, all we can say is sloppy workmanship. 

This is some of the puckering of the leather on some panels.  Again, bad workmanship.  Would you pay $10k for this???  Don't think so...

More puckering.  This is on the same panel as the bad seams.  Looks like a multitude of issues with this interior.

We just have a hard time believing that someone thought this was good work.  Gillin Custom Design actually thought their work was Excellent and that they gave "110% on this job".

We are not sure what that 110% was but it was not skill, knowledge, attention to detail, technique or anything else that was going to make this interior look good.

More puckering...what else can we say.

More Puckering...

We were told that the white material used on the seat and throughout the vehicle was "Airplane Grade Leather".  We did not realize that this apparently a code word for VINYL.  At least at Gillin Custom Design, that must be it because when we took some of this stuff apart, we found VINYL...NOT the leather that we paid for!

There is something ethically wrong with it and perhaps legally as well, but we believe in Karma. 

Notice the wrinkles in the headliner. This should have been a solid Molded unit.  Gillin Custom Design decided that suspending the leather would be okay.  Not from where we are standing.

Here are the wrinkles and slack in different light.

We had contacted them regarding this interior and how disappointed we were.  We received an email from Gillin stating that they had "done their job and done it well..."  you get the idea. You can choose anyone you want to do your interior.  This has been our experience with Gillin Custom Design.  

If you have questions, feel free to contact us.