The Upholstery Forum

This project is a bugger. See what I did there? So this 49 Buick was infested with carpet bugs. Over the years they ate away at seat fabric on the side of the seats, carpet, door panels and any door jam material. It wasn't until I removed the seats did I find all the old bugs in piles. At first nothing seemed active, car was from the north and sat in the Texas summer sun in over 100 degree heat for over 45 days straight. I figured they were cooked. As a precaution, I worked on my templates from the old fabric outside my garage. I put the old fabric in sealed bags for storage in cause I needed to see how things went together. When I opened a bag a few weeks later I found a few of these little guys. They only seem to eat fabric and not foam. I removed what old foam I could, and all the old carpet. I'm on a budget so I sprayed the burlap and any old foam and burlap with standard bug killer from the hardware store. I vacuumed the car out and I'm about to spray the inside of the car with bug spray as well after I pull the carpet from the trunk. Then I'll install all the new vinyl seats, door panels and carpet. Open to another advice if I'm missing anything.....and burning the car is not an option

I think you need to "fog" the car with pesticides or do what the termite guys do with entire houses, encapsulate it with plastic and fill it full of nitrogen for a week.

Hmm, you got me thinking. It only takes one to live and repeat the process in the future. I'll look into my options. I appreciate the recommendation.

In my opinion, you have two options - either fight the bugs or burn everything to hell! I would choose the second option :D
But seriously, as MalcolmM said, you need a bug fogger as soon as possible. You will need to use it as directed, not just throw it in the car and slam the door shut as I would do.
But on the other hand, how badly do you need that old upholstery? I would make completely new seats. As for me, it is much more pleasant to realize that you will definitely not find any bugs anywhere.

Were those dead casing? They look like maggot shells.

That looks like a nightmare. I hope your charging extra for all that. I would dispose of all the fabric right away and fumigate every inch of that car multiple times. You dont want those things finding their way in to your house and reeking havoc in you home.