Joined: Jan 2018 Posts: 3 Threads: 1
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The leather seats in my '37 Ruby De Luxe are orginal and far from perfect which is fine. At some point I believe they were 'painted' and the leather is anything but supple. It leads me to wonder what the original finish was (gloss, satin or matt for want of better terms) and what to treat the seats with to get as near an original look/feel as possible? Modern re-trims seem to use matt sometimes satin finished leather whereas on prewar vehicles that I have seen that apparently have original leather seats they are very glossy. Any thoughts gratefully received.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 3,417 Threads: 107
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Location: Darkest Bedfordshire
A fact which seems not widely appreciated is that a great proportion of modern automotive upholstery leather is in effect plastic coated thus expensive potions have little effect on it and it will never age in quite the same way as the original stuff.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 2,748 Threads: 31
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Location: Auckland, NZ
27-10-2021, 07:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 27-10-2021, 07:26 AM by Bob Culver.)
I dont know how leather is/was finished originally but paint for leather was widely available. The railways seemd to regularly treat the train seats (at least in 2nd class !) I used some on Jowett seats. Unfortunately it rendered adjacent imitation leather panels permanently tacky but the buyer did not notice.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 934 Threads: 22
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Location: Near Cambridge, UK
Car type: 1928 tourer (mag type), short chassis Gould Ulster
I can remember using shoe cream of suitable colour to stain the scuffs and cracks on old leather, afterwards polishing with plain wax to prevent the colour coming off. It was all done with soft brushes.
Joined: Jan 2018 Posts: 3 Threads: 1
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The rear seat squab was redone some time in the late 60s in vinyl. It too was painted and is sticky just as you describe.
Joined: Sep 2021 Posts: 2 Threads: 0
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Location: London
Car type: Type 65
AS Chris KC says above, modern producers of leather seem to go to great lengths to make leather look like plastic. The modern matt leathers are entirely inappropriate for any vintage car, of classic car for that matter. It's now very difficult to find leather with a nice 'sheen' to it. Sheen is perhaps the best word to use to describe leathers of old. They get polished to gloss by years of use as can be seen in the various posts above. Nice leathercloth is available from Ratchford's, suitable for the door and interior trim panels..
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 3,019 Threads: 169
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Location: Sherwood Forest
Car type: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
I've deleted the post, Hugh; rest easy, everyone!
