A re-upholstery dilemma

[lurtch]

Hello Pagoda-Pals:

At long last,  I have the power-train of my '66  230SL in exceptionally good running order and I am ready to explore  re-upholstery options .

The data card block for my car  specifies "123", also known as "mittelblau", or medium blue.

I am finding that there is a problem with the  color availability of this particular vinyl.
It seems that this color was dropped in favor of the  darker blue (almost Navy)  when the earlier 113's morphed into 250SL's.

World Upholstery informs me that "mittelblau" is no longer available. They also say if I order their seat covers they will be the darker blue.
PerfectFit-McDonald  informs me that they do not have that color of spray-on dye available either.
Garys Uphlostery has numerous types and close-match colors of vinyl, as does Denver Fabrics, but I am conflicted about going in that direction.

I have not yet tried the German vendors.

 A further complication is that some of my vinyl surfaces do not need to be recovered. Therefore, it is possible that  I may wind up with a mish-mash of  three different colors of blue.

Have any of you folks already navigated this minefield? Should I resign myself to retrofitting the entire interior to the wrong color?  also - - writing a large check to an upholstery shop is not an option I wish to pursue - - -  

Thanks for any help and advice,   Larry in CA







Download Attachment: mittelblau.jpg
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[Douglas]

Larry,

Can't you get a vinyl dye made up in middle blue? I know Leatherique will mix colors to match a swatch. At least, that will guarantee uniformity in the job at its completion.

Douglas Kim
New York
USA

[Ben]

Is the interior you currently have correct and original ??

From that photo it doesnt appear to be as then centre parts of the seats were always the same colour, plus your door trim does not appear to be original ?

Not criticising obviously just hoping to help you avoid making a mistake !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[rwmastel]

Good eye, Ben.  I noticed the basket weave sections were different, but I did not notice the lack of the horizontal seams in the door panel.

Even though the current interior may be a replacement, he's still having a hard time finding anyone to supply the correct code on new material.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[enochbell]

Have you considered switching to blue leather?  As I recall it was not that much more than tex, and you can do most of it yourself if you are the least bit inclined.  The seats and doors are a no-brainer, the hardest pieces are the corners of the dash and the sewn-in tie back on the panels in the well behind the seats.  I had a "pro" tackle these for me and they came out great.  Just a thought,

g

'64 230sl, fully sorted out...ooops, spoke too soon

[KevinC]

Larry,

I am having the same problem myself with interior #113 bronze/brown. My 230 SL was produced in October 1966 so probably within a year of your car. All of the usual suspects are offering a dark brown for (the later cars) that is missing the "gold-ish red-ish" tones in my upholstery. I checked with Gernold at SL Tech and two German suppliers...same story. A local guy here says that we can try to get a close match and then send a piece to World Upolstery or GAHH to have covers made. Still they will never be "right" against the other panels and of course, no basket weave in the center panels   .

Let me know what you end up doing or vice versa, I have not made definitive plans as yet. An upolstery shop specializing in older Mercedes suggested sheepskin covers but I am not willing to give up as yet.

Kevin

Download Attachment: MB Seat Back.JPG
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Kevin Caputo
Boca Raton, FL
1967 230 SL Automatic
670 Light Ivory
113 Bronze/Brown MB Tex

[rhersberger]

Yesterday, I redyed most of my car's interior.  It's very easy to spray on the dye and it lasts a long time.  I pulled out the lower parts of the dash and masked the upper parts which are very difficult to remove and replace and beyond my ability. So, if you can have a custom dye made as suggested in another post, that might solve your problems.

Rod Hersberger

'68 280 SL, red, tan, 4sp, both tops
'01 Jag S Type

[waltklatt]

I am having the same problem myself with interior #113 bronze/brown.

Kevin,
I recently stopped by a classic car gallery this past weekend and saw a couple of older American muscle cars that were freshly restored.
While not my cup of tea, they were still beautiful to look at.  Tweo of them had this metallic bronze colored interior with a darker red stitching on the upholstery.  While these might be the same color as our W113's, the patterning might be difficult to match.  But the color looked just like your photo with a little bit of metallic in it.
Might try the local hot rodders or muscle car restoration shops in your area.
Walter Klatt
1967 220SL-diesl, being de-mothed
1963 230SL-gas carpetless

[merrill]

larry,
did you check GAHH.com?  they have 2 blue colors on their web site for sl interiors.  I am not sure if this will help or not

matt

[mdsalemi]

Lurtch, Kevin--

It depends on what you want.  If you don't do EVERYTHING inside you might very well end up with the mish-mash of colors--if not a mish-mash of old versus new.  Many can live with that; if you can't, better think about a new interior and put the old one on eBay.

The same holds true for chrome--you can't chrome (or replace) one piece of trim, for example, and expect it all to look well together with the others.  You have the dull versus bright, old versus new.  This is where an old replacement might work better then a new one.

Of course the same holds for paint as well--only the best of the best painters will be able to take into account the fading of colors, and certain colors like metallic silver are almost impossible to get right on a partial repaint.

It all depends on what you are willing to live with.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[KevinC]

Walter/Michael,

Thanks for the advice. I went to a restoration shop locally (was not driving my car that day). He reports that I can pick a vinyl with as close as possible match to mine and then send to GAHH or World and they will make the 113 covers (sans basket weave) for me. Will probably go that route.

Thanks!

quote:Originally posted by waltklatt

I am having the same problem myself with interior #113 bronze/brown.

Kevin,
I recently stopped by a classic car gallery this past weekend and saw a couple of older American muscle cars that were freshly restored.
While not my cup of tea, they were still beautiful to look at.  Tweo of them had this metallic bronze colored interior with a darker red stitching on the upholstery.  While these might be the same color as our W113's, the patterning might be difficult to match.  But the color looked just like your photo with a little bit of metallic in it.
Might try the local hot rodders or muscle car restoration shops in your area.
Walter Klatt
1967 220SL-diesl, being de-mothed
1963 230SL-gas carpetless

Kevin Caputo
Boca Raton, FL
1967 230 SL Automatic
670 Light Ivory
113 Bronze/Brown MB Tex

[Dick M]

quote:Originally posted by rhersberger

Yesterday, I redyed most of my car's interior.  It's very easy to spray on the dye and it lasts a long time.  I pulled out the lower parts of the dash and masked the upper parts which are very difficult to remove and replace and beyond my ability. So, if you can have a custom dye made as suggested in another post, that might solve your problems.

Rod Hersberger

'68 280 SL, red, tan, 4sp, both tops
'01 Jag S Type

Rod..
Can you post a couple of pictures of the result.  I've a mismatch because of seat covers and other.

Dick M
1970 280SL

[vincesy]

I just recently got a copy of my data card.  So I spent the requisite amount of time decoding it.  This site was really helpful.  I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for all the resource people on this group.

Anyway, I just discovered that my car originally came with "pastel white" interior.  I found it hard to believe but that's what the data card says "131" for Ausstattung.

Does the upholstery color refer to the seats, the dash and the sidings or just the seats?   Is it possible to have a black dash with white seats?  I don't think the dash has been redone and it's in black.  The previous owner claims the driver seat was re-upholstered but the passenger is still original.  I wish I knew how to read data cards before I bought the car 5 years ago.

Does anyone who have this interior color share a picture so I know what it looks like?  I'm thinking of having the seats re-sprung and if the seat covers are not original maybe they're not worth saving.

Also, is "131" MB tex or MB vinyl?

Thanks,
Vincent

By the way, the exterior on my 69 280sl is Horizon Blue and the top has been repainted Midnight Blue (I think)

[Douglas]

http://sl113.org/data/show_table.asp?table_name=usr_color_code_mbtex

Looks like 131 is the code for black MB Tex (which is synonymous with vinyl, incidentally). So what model SL do you have?

Douglas Kim
New York
USA

[rwmastel]

131 is the paint code for pearl white.  You must have been looking at the wrong table.
http://sl113.org/data/show_table.asp?table_name=usr_paint_codes

And, yes, the interior code does apply to the whole interior.  If you have 131 interior then the dash, doors, seats, soft top lid, etc.... should all be finished in the same black material.

Interior codes that begin with a 1 are MB-Tex (vinyl).
Interior codes that begin with a 2 are leather.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[vincesy]

Whew!  I looked at the interior again and thought if this was re-upholstered then they did a really good job.  I don't think I'll like the white interior though I do like the ivory steering wheel.  Not too crazy about black either but at least I'm used to it.  I wonder if an ivory steering wheel would look odd with black seats and interior.

I have a 69 280sl (horizon blue w/ midnight blue hardtop and hubcaps)
Hardtop was repainted as it was also originally horizon blue but I like this color combination.  I'm the 3rd owner.  2nd owner had the whole car repainted for $10k back in 1988.

[vincesy]

Can anyone recommend a good upholstery shop in Northern CA (Bay Area)?  How much should I budget for restoring the seats (69 280sl with headrests)?

Is it better to buy the materials and have an upholsterer do the job or should I just send it to a place like Bud's where they have the materials and expertise?  

The springs on the seat seem to be broken already but the seat covers are still original (as claimed by the previous owner)  Is it possible to just fix the frame, springs and re-foam and re-use the original seat covers?

[Douglas]

It can be a lot of work to re-use the original seatcovers, even if the exterior seems nice. There are pieces of felt behind the leather or Tex that form channels that give the covering its shape. To hold the felt in place, there's also a piece of cloth that's glued to the backside of everything. The problem is that over the years, the felt and cloth separate and everything becomes a sloppy mess that can take some work to straighten out. It can be done, but it's time and materials, even if the outer covering looks decent.

Douglas Kim
New York
USA