New member with W111 250se Coupe saying hello

[Aaron h]

I echo what Jon says.   Regardless of what type of leather is used as long as it's done right and all at one time the results will be very acceptable.  Not all of us can afford the nice leather from Aeristo, Steenbuck, or Hans-Reinke.  So we resort to buying what most of the world sells that's most readily available.  SO don't be too bent out of shape.  It is what it is.  Just take your time, don't take short cuts or think you can improve upon how something is fitted, pay attention to the order of assembly and disassembly, and take a lot of pictures if you don't have a photographic memory.  Pictures can be priceless.  But even if you run into a snag just reach out.  There are many on here who'll be able to help you! 

[austinado16]

I would prefer to have the car back in it's original colors, inside and out, and whatever those would have been.  It's never going to be rotisserie, concours, judged, etc., but I do want it to be as correct as I can afford.  I also want to think (and spend) in terms of; I won't ever be doing this again, so I want to spend the money right, and have it be as right as possible.  It's always going to be a car that I drive often, so I want to keep that in mind. 

So with regard to the leather, if I can find a source that has the right color stippling, instead of an incorrect color...which will always aggravate me as not being correct....then I'm going to try to go with that.  That doesn't mean I'm going to spend at the level of taking the car to Pebble Beach, but hopefully you get my meaning.  I hope I don't come off as a prima-donna.  That's not how I meant all this gibberish.

Plus, as you say, if it's all done in the same leather, there won't be differences.  Also, I think in terms of, no one (at least not in the circles that I travel in with the car) is going to walk up to it, or get in, and say/think, "Too bad he didn't do it right."

The car will also have a bit of my personality/preferences, so it won't be 100% original.  For example, the 4.5 rearend that's under it, the new Blaupunkt speakers in the kick panels (to replace the rotted Alpines that someone put in it), the larger body Becker Mexico, the aftermarket wheel opening trim, and the W114 Hellas on the front (in place of the original USA turn signals).

[Aaron h]

Well, the stippling on Cognac was originally a darker brown.  When surface dyed leather ages the hide and the colors darken.  Some areas may fade a little that are exposed to sun, too.  So what you're seeing is likely aged Cognac.  Sadly, none of the suppliers I make mention of, Aeristo, Steenbuck, and Hans-Reinke, have yet to be able to replicate the original Cognac.  What they offer is close, but not exact.  This complicates things because it causes us to have to recover everything inside of the car in order to have everything match.  However, with all of these cars being 50+ years old it's not likely that any original leather would match new surface dyed leather anyway due to the darkening and fading of the hides and colors. 

It'll be hard not to spend a lot of money on the good leather.  The suppliers don't take into consideration that we won't end up having a Pebble Beach car.  Each hide is priced the same for all of us.  I guess it all boils down to how determined we are to make it right.  I'm one of the crazy ones that will spend my last red cent to make it right.  I've not regrets, but I have a lot less money now. haha 

[austinado16]

That's interesting about the stippling being a brown.  It's definitely maroon in my car, even on the back sides of the rear quarter panels that have never seen the light of day.  But as you say, it is all 54 years old.  I did notice though that one of websites you reference has photos showing it to be maroon.  This is all really good info for me to have now because it allows me to learn a whole lot more about the car and about what's available and where.  I'm a ways from redoing the seats, which I had redone in a cognac vinyl in about 2004/5, because that's all we could afford and it was much better than the destroyed and very cheaply done vinyl that was in the car.  The cheap carpeting has been a source of frustration for a long time too, and so is high on the list of priorities.

I'm really thankful for the help and I'm enjoying learning more.  So thanks for all the time you've spent on me.

[hansr433]

It is impossible to get "exactly" matching leather to repair a section or one seat, or whatever needs fixing.  When you are ordering a new leather interior from World, GAHH or anyone else, you will receive hides from ONE dye lot, dyed to as close as possible to the original colour.  ONE dye lot is the watchword here, as the colour from one dye lot to the other changes minutely.  No need to angst over such minutiae.  Before restoration of my car, I discovered 3 different shades of colour in the leather.  There was discoloration from sun exposure and various repairs.

[austinado16]

Thanks, I definitely understand what you're saying!  It's not so much "angst" as it is the thought of; "If I'm spending the money anyway, why not try to do it as correct as possible/as correct as I can afford."  For example, the carpet kit in the speckled cognac from World is $1,200ish.  It's $800ish for the non-speckled version.  But on GAHH, it's $1,400ish for their speckled, which (unless the photo just isn't that accurate) looks like a more subtle speckling, and looks better.  So the difference is $200, which is sort of nothing, in terms of the total cost.  And I'd prefer the speckled carpet, knowing that it's more correct than the plain version, so for me at least, the $800 option isn't worth considering.

[hansr433]

Todd, all respectable suppliers will send you samples of their products, and I would never dream of buying blind.  Do you know about this supplier from Munich?  https://www.mah.de  They just sent me their sample package of oldtimer carpeting specific for Mercedes.  Unfortunately, I am in quarantine somewhere else so I cannot feel the samples, but this company comes highly recommended.  Here is a photo of the sample kit.  There is also cabrio.de as a potential supplier.

[austinado16]

Thank you for the links!

On a side note, I hope you and your family are safe and healthy.  We are a week into our "shelter-at-home" order, but I don't see how it's going to be very effective when a) people aren't staying home  b) young people aren't abiding by it at all  c) grocery stores, gas stations, and coffee places are still open, so people are all touching the same credit card keyboards, door handles, shopping carts/baskets, and products as the 1,000 people who came before them.

The shop I work for is still open, so I go to work each day as per normal.

[hansr433]

Todd, thank you for asking.  I am currently in the UK self-isolating.  As a caution for all Forum members reading this, please, please take the quarantine VERY seriously.  Your President thinks that by Easter this will be all over, but if he listened to the advice of his experts, he would say otherwise.  I don't want to start a political discussion, but having a son on the front lines with first hand experience of this crisis, I am taken my son's advice very seriously and only go out if I absolutely need to, fully masked and without physical contact to anything.  I pay contactless with my credit card.

[austinado16]

I couldn't agree more.  I read that yesterday....that he wants to have the economy up and running by April 12th.  Non-sense.  People are treating the business/job closures as holiday, and are out in the parks, at the beaches, and on the hiking trails in large groups.  And we've all seen what Florida has allowed.

I'll share the info that I've shared with my friends in hopes that it provides some assistance, and in your down time, youtube vids by Dr. Eric Berg, and also by Dr. Mercola (among others) may be helpful as well.

-Vitamin D3, taken with K2 (they have to be taken together) at about 10,000-15,000iu daily, year round, will really bolster the immune system.  My family and I started doing this on the advice of my oncologist, after I survived a wicked little case of cancer during the summer of 2014.  The fall-out has been that we've stopped getting seasonal colds and flu.  My daughter, and former wife aren't as religious about it as I am, so their results are a little less, but I literally don't get sick any more.  Even everyone at work is getting sick, staying sick for weeks, missing days of work, I never get it.

-During times when we are exposed to people who are sick, or there's something major going around that everyone seems to be getting, we start taking 50mg of zinc once a day.  We only do this during this specific time, and only while the threat is present.  It's not a year-round thing.

-Like the application of zinc, we start eating a lot of fresh garlic daily.  Literally 6-8 cloves, in some sort of food/soup, all at once, and we'll do that 1 or more times per day.  We use one of those pampered chef garlic presses, so we don't have to peel and chop.  Handiest little tool ever.  There are other companies making them btw.  I've found that there's something about it being in scrambled eggs that makes it so it isn't really that spicy, and can barely be tasted.  Not sure why, but that's what I've discovered.  Apparently, it has to be fresh, as opposed to pills or powder, because the active ingredient is only viable for about 30min after it's cut/crushed.

-I'd forgotten about Oil of Oregano, but we used to take that when exposed.   

-UVC Sterilize Wands (like what hospitals use) can be a good tool for sterilizing surfaces, packages, and the packaging that food/groceries comes in.

I guess the point of all this is; attempting to make your body inhospitable to the virus, so that even if you get it, the virus won't replicate and flourish.   I'm not saying it's the cure for covid19.  All I'm saying is, it's a good group of tools to have on board, and if it helps it to become less of an event, should someone contract it, then all the better.

[austinado16]

Finally, it's a real car again. Nice to have this all behind me, and a good feeling to be able to drive it whenever I want.

Now all I need is an NOS body shell, carpeting, headliner, seat/door/dash/rear qtr panel/parcel shelf upholstery, weather stripping, and all chrome pieces. lol....please just shoot me.

[Aaron h]

Haha.  Story of my life.  It always snowballs really fast. 

[austinado16]

Just back from a 60mi run on the freeway.  Windows down, roof open.  She's just as loud ever!  The drive north includes a 1,500' 7-8% freeway grade and is a great place for cooling system and ignition timing testing.  To make the shake-down a bit more interesting, about 2 miles before my exit to turn around and head home, it started raining hard.  I don't even wash this car, let alone drive it in the rain, so that was "fun."  Car ran fine the entire way and responded well to being pushed a little.