Tijuana Kustoms Experience
Tijuana Kustoms Experience
I would like to share with the Forum my experience with Tijuana Kustoms ( Tom). It started off with my interest in his molded carpet. It escalated into; a full blown interior and a Haartz cloth covered roof with an awesome headliner! During our initial phone conversation about the carpet, Tom expressed interest and great enthusism about getting me to bring my Manxter body over to his shop so that he could make templates for interior side panels. I mentioned that I wanted to have my roof covered, and he said, "bring it". Fortunately, I have a nice 20' enclosed car trailer so bringing the freshly painted body, the roll cage, roof, all 4 seats wasn't a big problem and weather wouldn't be a factor. Not to mention driving across the George Washington Bridge, the Cross Bronx Expy. another bridge and then the Long Island Expy. I have to say, I was a little apprehensive about taking my freshly painted Manxter body to some stranger. But Tom's enthusism, and true dedication to the Dune Buggy hobby, put me at ease. Tom also had a couple of real Manx's in the shop as well as a current project that is in progress which had a spectacular paint job! I was feeling comfortable. After making the templates we started to discuss patterns, fabrics, for the panels. I brought the seats along thinking that we could match them. After carrying the seats into the shop, Tom just stared at them in disbelief. He was not impressed with my brand new Beard low backs but more so he could not believe how badly the rear seat (buckets) covers fit. He went on to inform me how poor the material was and that infact it appeared to be simply headliner material. After looking and feeling some other materials and seeing his own line of Tijuana Kustoms Dune Buggy seats, I was convinced, let's re-cover the Beards. They now look absolutely beautiful! The interior side panels really finish off the inside of the Manxter and I think that they warrent consideration for any Manxter owner. If you are worried about them getting wet, don't, because Tom's Dune Buggy experience comes into play here. He can help you pick fabrics and vinyls that can withstand some abuse. ( I picked a material from a Pathfinder along with a vinyl. Remember those commercials where they would show people getting in all muddy after mountain biking?) He also favors the use of ABS as a backer board. So, no worries. I am really excited about the finished product! The roof. From day 1 of seeing the Manxter I knew that I wanted to cover the roof in Black Haartz cloth. Not only do I really like that look ( very, very Street Rod) but it would cover up the blemishes ( a sizable chip along the leading edge amongst many smaller ones) that it had and get rid of the Frankenstein ( IMHO ) hardware. Tom pulled off EXACTLY what I wanted. Gorgeous! He suprised me with a stunning headliner that matches the rest of the interior. I had the front hinge brackets as well as the large center bracket powder coated satin black ahead of time. The carpet. What can I say? It is top notch. It is OEM quality. It will hug where it should and tuck into every corner as it should. You could save a few bucks and get some Beetle multi piece kit but after you see either a Manx (or clone) or Manxter with Tom's molded carpet you will rip that junk out and get his carpet. If you have or are building a Manx or a Manxter you really should consider what Tijuana has to offer. Molded carpet, interior side panels, seats, and he even has transparent scuff guards that can be applied to the body. Yes, he took templates off of my Manxter, so he has them for Manxters too. I got a sneek peek at the Manx convertible top prototype. Very nice. I really am happy with everything that Tom from Tijuana Kustoms did for me! It isn't very often that I have been able to leave a shop (that would explain why I do mostly my own work) feeling this excited and felt the need to share. If you don't know Tom's contact info, it is; 516 338 8746 or http://www.tjkustoms.com Olli P.S. For the record, Tom does all the cutting and stiching.
I have received my clear scruff guard from TJkustoms but the weather has prevented me from installing them at this point. The one thing I was taken by surprise is the heavy duty thicknes of the scuff guards. I cut a piece of the scuff guard material from a area that would not be used and put it on a marble top table-----It just disapppeared-----I had to feel the top to find it. After the way my carpet turned out, I guess I should not be surprised by the quality of the scuff guard. Tom is working miracles for the dune buggy world with top quality above most any other products I have looked at.