Interior Color Match for 230 SL Resolved!

[KevinC]

A mentioned here by others, many colors of MB Tex vinyl seat covers for the early cars are no longer available as stock items either here in the US or in Europe (believe me, I have checked!). I had nightmares about spending crazy amounts of money to get a matching dyed leather (not really the route I wanted to go) or changing the interior entirely even though my dash, door panels, etc are acceptable to me. Enter my LOCAL upholsterer and one of our recommended suppliers, GAHH. The owner of the shop and I picked out a very closely matching Porsche color from their catalog and GAHH made a seat kit INCLUDING the basketweave embossing AT NO ADDITIONAL cost!!!   .

Please let me know what you think of the results keeping in mind that the seat covers are new and the door panels, ashtray and soft top lid covers are original.

Kevin

PS: I know that the loop carpet is not "correct" for my car but I really prefer the look to the squareweave.

PPS: Refinished interior wood pieces are next!

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

[Peter van Es]

Kevin,

this looks great. I'm a little confused though...

- is it leather or MB Tex that you got finally ?
- is it an upholstery kit that you self installed or did you have the whole seat fixed again (incl inner work) and made to measure?
- what was the approx cost ?

Peter

Check out http://bali.esweb.nl for photographs of classic car events and my 1970 280 SL

[KevinC]

Peter,

Could any aftermarket vinyl truly be called MB Tex? Is that a trademark of MB or a widely used term? Anyway...what I received was heavy gauge vinyl from the Porsche section of the GAHH book. They then added the basketweave embossing which I am told is simply a stamp. The "graining" is extremely close to that which was in the car originally. I was charged $834.00 for the kit which is the price listed for the 4pc set for our cars on the GAHH website. The local shop did the installation which included re-tieing the seat springs and adding a bolster material to the seat bottom corners. The installer mentioned that the horsehair pads were not dry and crumbled like you often see so I did not replace them. I now probably sit about 2" higher in the seat. He also replaced the incorrectly-colored (tan) squareweave carpets with the darker brown nylon loop (better color, wrong material, I know). He also added Dynamat under the carpets. I am very pleased with the outcome.

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

[Ben]

Looks terrific, persistance pays !

Love the colour !

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

[hands_aus]

yes Kevin

The car looks great.

Bob Smith (Brisbane,Australia)
RHD,1967 early 250 SL, auto

[enochbell]

Kevin,

Looks great, so much improvement over the interior I saw this past summer.  You still in Boca?

g

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

[JPMOSE]

Kevin....that's great!  Not only did you find the rare brown match but grain as well.  I much prefer the smoother look of the earlier MB Tex to the later (no offense to anyone!).  I commend you for being patient in your search in order to maintain authenticity.

My 250SL has the earlier smooth Cognac MB Tex in near mint condition.  Ron's Restoration told me I should leave it alone, as it could possibly tear if I try to remove it in order to replace the horsehair pads.  So far the pads are fine but the day may come.  I will have to look at the Porsche colors and see if they have a match for Cognac.

Happy 2007!

Best Regards,

J. P. Mose
1968 250SL
1987 560SL

[KevinC]

Greg,

Still in Boca but that may change this Spring. Let me know if you are going to be in town over any future upcoming weekend. Aside from Chris, I have met THREE additional local 113 owners. One lives two miles from me!

Kevin

quote:Originally posted by enochbell

Kevin,

Looks great, so much improvement over the interior I saw this past summer.  You still in Boca?

g

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

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

[KevinC]

JP,

I had contacted Ron's about my dilemna, too and their answer was "buy sheepskin covers"  :x  !!

Essentially, it seems that GAHH will emboss and make into seat kits virtually any vinyl that they stock that will take the stamping proceedure. So that opens us up to a great deal more possibilities. I believe that they could make up the door panels, too.

Kevin

quote:Originally posted by JPMOSE

Kevin....that's great!  Not only did you find the rare brown match but grain as well.  I much prefer the smoother look of the earlier MB Tex to the later (no offense to anyone!).  I commend you for being patient in your search in order to maintain authenticity.

My 250SL has the earlier smooth Cognac MB Tex in near mint condition.  Ron's Restoration told me I should leave it alone, as it could possibly tear if I try to remove it in order to replace the horsehair pads.  So far the pads are fine but the day may come.  I will have to look at the Porsche colors and see if they have a match for Cognac.

Happy 2007!

Best Regards,

J. P. Mose
1968 250SL
1987 560SL

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

[Ed Cave]

Kevin:
Your new interior looks great! Here are some shots of the pleated and embossed covers GAHH did for my car in leather. I was very pleased with the quality of their work.

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Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA


1971 280SL
1973 911S
2006 GS430
2007 328i Coupe

[KevinC]

Ed,

Thanks for the compliment. Your interior is outstanding. I met with Brian Peters the last time I was in San Diego just so I could see the shop that turns out such great work!

Kevin

quote:Originally posted by Ed Cave

Kevin:
Your new interior looks great! Here are some shots of the pleated and embossed covers GAHH did for my car in leather. I was very pleased with the quality of their work.

Download Attachment: GAHH-emboss.jpg
39.82 KB

Download Attachment: GAHH-seatcover.jpg
54.97 KB

Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA


1971 280SL
1973 911S
2006 GS430
2007 328i Coupe

Kevin Caputo
Boca Raton, FL
1967 230 SL Automatic
670 Light Ivory
113 Bronze/Brown MB Tex
2007 Lava Gray Audi Q7