Advice on trim please.

[Sleepy]

I have been offered the services of an upholsterer. He works with wheelchairs and his work is superb. He has offered to re-trim Olute's seats.

• Has anyone got any pictures or advice on what I should use?
• I've seen the "Elephant Hide" type vinyl on my Series 2 - was this the type of vinyl used in the 50's too?
• Was there a choice?
• Where's a good place to source the right covering?

Any other tips or hints would be appreciated.

Thanks

[JDNSW]

I have been offered the services of an upholsterer. He works with wheelchairs and his work is superb. He has offered to re-trim Olute's seats.

• Has anyone got any pictures or advice on what I should use?
  
  I have not owned an early fifties S1, so I may not be accurate! From memory, the original seats used foam rubber, which is unlikely to be available. 80" seat cushions from memory were a lot thicker than later S1 or indeed S2/3.
  
  
• I've seen the "Elephant Hide" type vinyl on my Series 2 - was this the type of vinyl used in the 50's too?
  
  I believe so, although I have an idea that very early ones were green.
  
  
• Was there a choice?
  
  No
  
  
• Where's a good place to source the right covering?
  
  The upholsterer may have suggestions, but as far as I know it is not available, although Exmoor Trim have advertised that they can supply cushions with it.

Any other tips or hints would be appreciated.

Thanks

My suggestion would be to ask the upholsterer to see how closely he can match the elephant hide, but remember when deciding on the material that it is likely to be exposed to the weather quite a bit, and the upholsterer should be aware of this in selecting material.

Hope this helps,

John

[Sleepy]

Thanks John,

I quite like the Elephant-hide look. Not so sure on green.

Good tip about the weather, I'll let him know that - I imagine, given that he specialises in Wheel-chairs, that he knows about those types of problems !!

I've got to replace the rubbers around the doors and cabin too. Probably should do that first eh?

[101RRS]

Some diagrams of seat bases for an 88 - should be the same.

Garry

[Sleepy]

Some diagrams of seat bases for an 88 - should be the same.

Garry

Thanks Garry. Looks the same seats. That green looks good. Mmmm Bugger, now I've got to make a decision!!

[p38arover]

• I've seen the "Elephant Hide" type vinyl on my Series 2 - was this the type of vinyl used in the 50's too?

Probably naugahyde. Unfortunately, the nauga is now extinct.

[Sleepy]

Probably naugahyde. Unfortunately, the nauga is now extinct.

"My chair is upholstered in real Naugahyde
When they killed that nauga, I sat down and cried!
Chim Chimeny
Chim Chimeny
Chim Chim Cheree
My Land Rover needs new upholstery"


( I got a song for everything!)

[101RRS]

Garry....I am going to start collecting info like this and make a sticky to contain it all....might make it easier to find the info rather than doing a forum search

Good idea - I think (but I cannot remember) that these came from the series 1 garage website.

The Series One Garage

But they are closing soon and I am not sure what will happen to them - they have lots of good stuff.

Garry

[cjc_td5]

Some diagrams of seat bases for an 88 - should be the same.

Garry

My S1 has no seat bases so I will have to make some up from scratch. I can see from the pics you posted the frame with tabs where it inserts in the front and rear of the seat box. Does a standard seat base have a solid base in it and what material it is (aluminium, plywood etc?)

Cheers
CC

[101RRS]

My S1 has no seat bases so I will have to make some up from scratch. I can see from the pics you posted the frame with tabs where it inserts in the front and rear of the seat box. Does a standard seat base have a solid base in it and what material it is (aluminium, plywood etc?)

Cheers
CC

I am not sure - maybe others can give a definite answer - as I inidcated I lifted the diagrams form the Series 1 Garage website - my 88 has a mix of front seats and all the bases are ply with spacers to lift it off the seat box - however this may not be correct.

The 56 I had 20 years ago also had plywood bases.

Someone was working on earlier series 1s (50?) and they were a web base. I suspect the the correct seats bases have a wooden frame with webbing etc but over time I suspect that it was just easier to replace this with a piece of ply rather than the wooden frame and webbing etc.

Anyway I am sure someone will come along and give a definite answer.


Garry