Upholstery

[PSGuy]

I am trying to recover the seats in a 1967 230SL.  The MBTex color is 117, or red 2500.  Having a heck of time finding a match.  It the darker red color not the bright red or the maroon.  No one seems to have it - not Gahh or even the classic center.  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[mdsalemi]

When new, there was a very large palette of colors for both interior and exterior. That was then...
Even 20 years ago upon restoration of my car, it was clear that the available color palette from any/all sources wasn't as comprehensive as when new...which is why I chose black. There will always be black available.

That being said, AlexD one of our board members had a similar challenge with carpet. He went to extraordinary, even heroic lengths to get turquoise carpet made to match his original It was written up in a PW some time ago.

You may need to have custom leather dyed to match, and then seat covers custom made. It's not going to be cheap, easy or quick.

Thankfully, there is a fairly well known upholstery shop in your backyard: Heritage Upholstery. If you are serious about your project, a visit to Tony Hazell would be worth your while. They are in Palm Springs.
If you are totally dedicated to absolute perfection in color match, there's a guy in the Netherlands, probably the world's expert. Henk van Lith, at HVL Exclusive Italian Interiors...but he can offer some insight. info@carinteriors.nl.  www.hvlclassleathers.com. His specialty is Italian, but I'm sure he can help you.  Good luck!

[Garry]

Did you try Cabrio.de?

[PSGuy]

Thank you!

[lreppond]

If you are looking for MBTex only, you may be out of luck.  Btw, Heritage doesn’t use MBTex at all as far as I know.  Leather only. 

If leather is a possibility, look up Hans Reinke OldTimer leather.  They have the three different reds used on vintage MB: Light Red (Hellrot) Red (Rot) and Dark Red (Dunkelrot).   It is my understanding that when Roser closed up shop, HR purchased not only the dye vats but also their formulas.  Like the original Roser leathers, this line is surface dyed with vegetable sourced pigments.  Elsewhere on this site, you can find information about the differences between modern aniline dyed leathers vs vegetable.  The hand, look and fragrance of vegetable dyed leather is second to none.  The hides are substantially more expensive than aniline.  The tanning and dying is much more complicated and takes approximately 100 days to complete.  Aniline (drum dyed) can be done over night. 

If MBTex is a must, you could probably surface paint yardage to match.  Leatherique (and other such companies) can provide you with color matched products.  I believe several members have posted their experiences in surface painting MBTex.