Aquamarine Leather Interior

[glcg123]

My 1965 230SL has aquamarine blue leather interior - mercedes code 341. The seats are showing their age. Does anyone know where I can purchase a hide so that I can send it to the World Upholstery factory in California for having new seat covers made?

George

[mdsalemi]

George,

No direct experience but go to Google or another search engine and search for this: custom dyed leather hides

I did and came across a few people that looked like they could help you, with a specialty in automotive.  Then, get on the phone!!

Gorgeous color, try hard to match it!  Beautiful!!!

[dseretakis]

That's a very interesting interior. Must be quite rare. Definitely worth preserving.

[glcg123]

My upholsterer is sewing up one of the seat seams as we speak. Even if he is successful I will try to source the leather. I did use your Search words Mike and there are lots of companies there. Thanks!

George

[zoegrlh]

Try GAHH, they just might have the color and can make the seats for you.  They have many colors of hides.
Bob

[114015]

Dear George,

From the little (size) of what I can see from your picture,
this aquamarine leather looks fantastic!
Please keep it (and repair where necessary) as is.

Please try to preserve your 45+ years old leather as long as possible. There is nothing that compares with nice and mild-aged factory-original leather. Please keep this appearance as much as you can - especially with such a rare color!
New leather is "boring"; "everybody" has that and only the minority of interiors with new leather do really look (factory) correct from their grain, shade ans shine.

IMHO....
Achim

[Bonnyboy]

I echo the comment about saving the old leather if possible - it just looks so cool.

If the leather is just old they may be salvagable. 

When I rescued my car in October the leather seats were so hard I was afraid that I would crack the leather if I sat in them.  I started with a leather Wash - from the tack shop for mouldy saddles - to clean the mould and spider and bird crap off them.  After only two rubdowns with the wash the cloth the leather no longer felt brittle.  Then I applied leather food and then reapplied food every couple month to areas that still look they could be improved.   I'm only down 1/3 of the bottle and its harder and harder to find areas that need to be fed.  The seats are now soft and supple and ready to be used starting next week as I just received the call that my license plates have arrived.

Almost everyone that sees my car notes that they like the leather - the two most common questions have been - is it real leather - is it original.

 

 

[zoegrlh]

The trouble with softening old hard leather, is that once the juices work their magic, the leather is more acceptable to tears, and you will find once sitting on the seats for a time, they will tear along the existing creases of the leather.  There is a product call "Leather Rejuvenate" that works really well.  You wipe this on the leather seats, very generously, then cover seats with plastic bag, and tie bag, then let sit for a week or two.  As I said it works really good, but the leather becomes acceptable.
Bob

[Nate]

Is it worth trying to dye the original leather? If its too far gone contact German Auto Tops in Hollywood. They supply all the leather, canvas, etc. to GAHH.

[mdsalemi]

If the seats are firmed up with new horsehair pads, and the springs bolstered, the seat movement minimizes, becomes considerably more comfortable (in my opinion) and might make the leather last longer.  (this is for when your leather is rejuvenated)

That being said, I searched for the product that zoegrl talked about without success--but did happen upon a company in Florida called Air Interiors that specializes in restoration of leather seats for the aircraft industry.  They are probably worth a look and call, and searching out other firms that do the same kind of thing.  www.airinterior.com  Find the tab for leather rejuvenation.

[zoegrlh]

Michael, and all,
Sorry for the mix-up, the product is rejuvenating oil, and cleaning cream, the proper name of the product is Leatherique.  It comes as a "system/kit", a 16 oz. bottle each of Leatherique Leather Rejuvenation, and Leatherique Prestine Clean. You can find it in catalog at www.emmonscoachworks.com, or direct at www.leatherique.com.
Bob

[glcg123]

I got my seat back today. The upholsterer restitched most of the seams and it looks great. None of the leather was torn, just some of the seams.  He did say that the leather is quite old. I will try the restorer that was mentioned.

Thanks for all your help guys.

George