Thread: 'Elephant Hide' Vinyl

Has anyone had any joy in finding an equivalent modern vinyl ?

I know I can get it from Exmoor but I've seen several comments that it's not the same as the original elephant hide. If anyone has Exmoor elephant hide could they post a picture.

I've found some 'similar' vinyl but only in the USA, locally I can find grey with a similar grain but not the light surface with dark in the creases.




Colin

Originally Posted by gromit

Restore - To bring back to a former, original or normal condition.

You can of course fit whatever seats/covers you like but, as always, originality (or as close as possible/practical to originality) is often a value add.

To some it isn't important, and I understand that.
Personally it depends on the individual vehicle. I have a Series I which has a lot of period modifications, I won't try to revert most of the mods back to standard. The seatbacks are the originals but the bases have been changed, I may replace the bases and make them closer to original in the future.
My Dormobile is original so my aim is for the seatcovers to be as close to original as possible. It currently has it's original elephant hide seat covers but the fronts are beyond repair.
I'm about to recover the seats in my FFR, I can't match the colour exactly but otherwise I'll try to match the originals.

Each to their own. You could fit leopard skin covers and paint the outside bright pink but you may find you limit your market when it comes time to sell.


Colin

Leopard skin with pink I'm pretty sure that is a no-no. Now leopard skin and gold paint is traditional. With pink you would have either tiger or white rhino upholstery depending upon your predisposition Predisposition to what you may ask

Seriously though. $1k for seat covers Is that already made up and stitched but requiring foam and fitting or is that just sufficient cover material to cover the seats Colin? I gather that's the landed cost because you can buy a full set of new seats from Exmoor for a "modest" price as I recall.

Mine has the elephant hide upholstery including the fitted "de luxe" roof liner although the underlying colour of the roof liner appears to my eye to be a darker grey than the seats. Whether the difference is a function of age and exposure to UV is uncertain. SO you have the added 'resto's' dilemma: which colour do I try to replicate? I suppose the obvious answer is the roof liner but then you may not be restoring the seats to the colour they were originally. Just another of life's puzzles wrapped in an enigma.

But mine will be a working truck even if, along the way, I pretty-up something -with a new coat of paint, for example. I envisage doing the re-upholstering myself since I have the time and an old sewing machine. Maybe I can just go for something traditionally Land Rover, like the tan, rather than elephant hide. Or just plain black, with or without a texture. Someone else can always change them in the future since it's not a "structural" alteration.

My two bobs worth.