Pagoda Interior Refurbishment

[Nicolas Aristodemou]

I am about to embark on re-upholstering the interior of my 280SL. i have decided to opt for leather covers for the seats and headrests, however, I am still undecided as to how to tackle the refurbishment of the remaining interior items like door cards, rear panels behind seats and more importantly dashboard cover and trim.

Should I opt for leather or for vinyl of the same colour? I have been through several articles in the forum and I get the impression that both materials are acceptable with leather perhaps being more difficult to install.

How were these cars finished originally at the factory if the original buyer had opted for leather? Were the remaining upholstered areas also in leather or in matching MB tex?

Furthermore, since I live in a very hot climate during the summer, I do not think that a leather upholstered dashboard would last a long time. I have a very bad experience with my leather clad BMW 635CSi where every direct sunlight exposed leather trim seems to be greatly affected by the heat.

 Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[JamesL]

My car was retrimmed in the 1990s and the tex became leather. All of it, dash, doorcards etc.
I don't have the heat problem you have

[114015]

How were these cars finished originally at the factory if the original buyer had opted for leather? Were the remaining upholstered areas also in leather or in matching MB tex?

Hello Nicolas,

All our Pagodas were equiped either with MB-Tex (standard) or leather (optional).
That means that the whole interior - all interior bits you can see - were covered either - or.
There was no mix of both materials, although you can sometimes see cars which have that mixed - mostly in order to save costs.

MB-Tex (at least as long it is MB quality) is clearly more durable than leather, especially over the decades and more especially in the (hot) sun.

If you intend to exchange your whole interior, it is probably better to go only for one material, MB-Tex or leather, since this will better keep the value of your car - especially if you are heading for a high-end condition.

Other than that - it is your choice.

As to the heat-sensitivty of leather - yes, that is true but you can cover your dashboard with a bathroom towel or dashboard cover (has been very common for the W107; ask Bud's Benz or so...);
other than that regular care and maintenance of the leather surface (leather hide food) will do its job.

But how often are you actually exposing your car - top down - in the public during hot sun? 
Better protect (and keep) your car in the garage- unless you tour around ....


Achim

[Nicolas Aristodemou]

Thank you for your response Achim.

I will go along the full leather interior option then. It is true that the car is not exposed to the sun except when I drive it. Trouble is that with an upgraded AC unit I drive the car a lot 

I will order the leather seat covers and door cards from a US firm and will get an extra hide to cover the rest of the interior using my local trimmer. This is to avoid sending all the bits abroad to have them re-trimmed.

One other thing that makes me wonder is the look of the seats of cars seen in various classic car shows, for example this year’s Essen exhibition. The seats in almost all of these concours cars look very plush, but firm. Could it be that the horse hair seat stuffing has been replaced with foam or does that have to do with a thin lining sewn into the seat covers?

[450sl]

Hi Nicolas,

Please be aware that dash parts need to covered with very thin leather , its extra skimmed leather...

mark

[Nicolas Aristodemou]

Thanks Mark, will keep it in mind....

[mbzse]

.../...I will go along the full leather interior option then.../...

Some useful info about skivvied leather for instance in these Forum postings:

https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=10667.msg70789#msg70789
https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=27100.msg194616#msg194616
A posting describing overall re-upholstery subject:
https://www.sl113.org/wiki/PUB/Upholstery

[quattrouser]

I personally would put a plug in for Heritage Upholstery in Palm Springs. Tony is the owner, and their work is fairly quick (depending on backlog) and top notch. Skivvied leather and all, he does it RIGHT. We are almost done installing an entire interior package in ivory leather (vs. standard parchment mbtex). I’ll never sell it and the ivory is less yellow imo. Much nicer color. Look him up on YouTube and you’ll see some of his videos.

Peter

[Nicolas Aristodemou]

Looks very nice indeed Peter. I have sent an email to heritage (for the second time in 4 weeks) lets see if i get an answer this time.

My major concern is of course how I send all these bits to be re-trimmed to US and getting them back; time scale, risk of them getting lost being important factors.

But surely worth the effort....

The colour you chose is super  by the way......

[quattrouser]

Understand your concerns, I shared the same. I was lucky enough to live 9 hours from Heritage and was able to drop everything off in person once I was able to connect. The shop is impressive, but Tony can get busy and sometimes doesn’t return emails or calls for several days/week. There are many projects happening at the same time over there. When we dropped everything off, it took about 2 months to complete if I remember correctly. It wasn’t until I called/emailed that I was informed it was basically done. If you use them, expect to get little updates on progress. That being said, Heritage shipped everything back in a big box and was wrapped extremely well. I know they ship things to Hemmels frequently. Having seen the operation first hand, I wouldn’t be concerned. Even to Cyprus.

If you’re looking for top notch work and willing to push him, I think you’ll be happy with the results. There were times before I saw his shop where I thought, “is this guy going to call me back? Is he for real?”. I’m ultimately glad I kept after him, I didn’t have a backup and was feeling somewhat desperate. Like it was my only lead. If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me. I’d be happy to see if I can help connect. I have his phone info and might be able to ping him for you. Let me know.

Peter

[pj]

I didn't see the Essen photos, so I'm not sure I get your comment about the seats looking "plush." We ordered replacement seat pads from GAHH and I'm pretty sure the new ones are still made of some mix of horsehair and glue. However, I vaguely remember seeing Tony (from Heritage Trim) talk about a modern dense foam in one of his videos. (The video is really long, or I'd watch it again just to give you a reference.) If that's what you're interested in, you might find it after all. Our seats were put together by a trim shop near Detroit and we are pleased with the result.

[Taleb]

MB tex are more practical...

[Nicolas Aristodemou]

http://cars.verde.pl/cars/?lang=en

Above link to the Verde - Poland website which had a few cars exhibited in Essex in this year's show gives an idea of the kind of finish that impressed me, not only of the interior but the overall condition.

In fact for about 170k euro one could get a 280SL at such an impressive condition.

My only reservation for getting a car like that, fully rebuilt to such a concours condition, is that it would so perfect that you wouldn't want to spoil it by driving it.

I personally like to drive my classic cars, I currently own more than 10 of them, all sorts of brands and ages, so in my pagoda case I have started with a solid base car and I am constantly improving it; I have spent already more than 2/3 of the Verde cars price and I am almost happy except from the re-trimming part that is the last thing left. I have a very usable car though that I enjoy driving. I have also enjoyed the "painful" but rewarding process of getting to this point.

That said, if I was investing in classic cars, the Verde proposition would had been incredible value for money.

On the other hand, I do not think that many of us in this club belong to the "investor" category.

Nicolas

[Mike K]

Nicolas, just a suggestion, while you're redoing the interior. If you're going to replace the carpets and given the summer temps. in Cyprus it may not be a bad idea to insulate the floor panels under the carpets.

I did this when I had the car with me in S France, it made a huge difference in comfort, during the summer.
See my old post here: https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=21131.msg150884#msg150884

Best,
Mike

[Nicolas Aristodemou]

Thank Mike, I will look into this.

My carpets are actually in pretty god shape, but I have to see what is underneath them. To be honest I didn't notice any excessive heat from the floor and transmission tunnel when driving, although it did feel a little bit warm to the touch.

I have used this material that you suggest under the bonnet of my BMW 635CSi and both works and looks fine.

Thanks for the tip.

Nicolas

[Lotus211]

Hi Nicholas,
I send my complete interior for my 230SL from New Zealand to Heritage Upholstery in Palm Springs and I only recently received it back after about 3-4 months away.
I am extremely happy with the level of workmanship and would definitely recommend them.
The car is looking amazing in the new Cognac leather.
Paul

[Nicolas Aristodemou]

Thanks Paul, I have no doubt Heritage make an excellent job. At the moment my problem is that I do not want to be without my car for so long.... let me see if I can find a way forward....

[lowpad]

I have original MB Tex in my car from 1966 -- looks almost new.  Amazing stuff.  I use one of these covers when I'm in the sun during the day.  Seems to really reduce the heat load on the instrument panel.  It fits well and it's cheap.  https://www.covercraft.com/us/en/product/original-dashmat-custom-dash-cover.DMC

[Mike K]

I was looking at one for my RHDrive R107 300SL as protection when I have to park in the sun. The problem is they seem to come in LHD only? The same would apply to Cyprus which is RHDrive, unless Nicolas' car is LHDrive.

Are these covers the same finish on both sides? If so, I suppose and depending on how it's moulded, one could flip the cover over and it should then fit a RHDrive car.

Best
Mike