Help me decide on new leather or old

[paulsco]

I have a dilemma that I am hoping you can help me make a decision with.

A bit of background:

My cars interior was far from original when I bought it and the seats were recovered in crushed velvet and vinyl.

I bought some original covers on E-bay some time ago to replace them.
I have since discovered that they are probably off a 1.5 or early Series Two, as they have vinyl backs and a cut out on the sides of the backrest for the later hinges. The upshot of this is that they need new sides and Moquette backs.



I could not afford to justify new seat covers, so I decided to have a go at repairing these covers myself.

I decided to buy some leather to make up new sides for the backrests and base. The base sides were in vinyl and I believe the originals Series One's are leather.













As far as I can tell, new Connolly Vaumol leather is not the same texture as the original Connolly Vaumol. The old leather was smooth and had a painted finish, where as the new leather has a courser texture and is coloured all the way through.

viewtopic.php?t=7205

https://www.ukhide.co.uk/product/connol ... 500-black/

The leather I found is not Vaumol, as I am on a budget, but has a similar texture to the new Vaumol.

Because I needed some long pieces of leather to go around the backrest and the base, I ended up buying a full hide, so I thought, why not make some faces as well.

I haven’t completed them yet, but I am now having second thoughts about the all new covers and am wondering if I should retain some patina by just replacing the sides and back and restore the leather on the faces.

I think I should add that the rest of the interior is new.

What do you think?

Regards,

Paul

[265bhp]

Paul

If you can keep the faces then I would do so...you cannot replace the character of old leather
I recover and repair leather steering wheels for early 911’s, as a hobby ( of sorts) so appreciate the quality and character of originality

Why don’t you begin try it and see what you think...if you are not happy you can change your mind

All the best
Jonathan

[paulsco]

Hi Jonathan,

I am eager to finish this project as it has been going on nearly 10 years now and I would like to be able to use the car this summer.

Having said that, it would be such a shame to discard these covers and not at least try to use them, I just wanted the opinions of the group first.

I think I may well do as you suggest.

My wife thinks I should use the new leather, but that is mainly because she wants it finished and doesn't quite get the 'patina' angle

I had no option but to renew the rest of the interior and I cannot be sure if old seats will fit in or look odd with this.

Thank you for your help.

Paul

[jenniechase]

Please show me the pictures of your project, cause I have the same seats for my car and I have also changed the interior completely it was very costly to do it once for me so I used St. Patrick's Day coupons] to buy all the stuff and that costs me so discounted so I did. Let me know if you want to have a look.