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As my project progresses, I'm giving thought to trimming the beast.

My car is numbered TS70L, and it is my understanding that 'very early'

TR2s were only fitted with leather upholstery.

Can anyone tell me if that means ALL leather in totality or was there any vinyl

used, seat backs, draught excluder etc etc?At this stage it's easier, and cheaper,

to get the details right first time if possible.

Many thanks

Roger M-E

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Hi Roger,

Mine is as you know an early car although not as early as yours and the bits covered in leather were not that many. dash top, door caps, 's' caps on quarter panels, seat cushions, and seat fronts. I have no reason the suppose it is not original

So the following trim was in Leatherette type material. Dash, the narrow Hockey stick section holding covered draft excluder, door panels and pockets internally, quarter panel covers. and three parts of the rear capping. Also the rear flat cockpit cover over the tank was in the same material.

The material is not vinyl but much thinner and not very stretchy unless heated a little. It took a lot of work finding the equivalent modern material and it is similar to covers used on old valve radios. This stuff is about 1mm -1.5mm thick and it goes brittle with age, the thickness is very important particularly on the "hockey" stick sections that hold the draft excluders also covered in the same material. The thin plywood needs the very thin material to show the definition of the rounded edges.

Rightly or wrongly I made my door pockets from Plywood 3-4 mm thick same as the cardboard and also the rear compartment board in scored ply the get the support and definition.

Don't quote me but the boot fuel tank cover was painted body colour not black on my car, how original that is I have no idea.

Note the end caps for door caps have end "buttons " made from material and not chrome buttons like the 3a and also foot well sides in very thin carpets. The original carpets were in a very thin and the gearbox cover in multi sections. I had mine made specially from a sample of the original material.

I stand to be corrected as normal if I have it wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope this helps.

Best 

Rod.

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3 hours ago, Rodbr said:

Hi Roger,

Mine is as you know an early car although not as early as yours and the bits covered in leather were not that many. dash top, door caps, 's' caps on quarter panels, seat cushions, and seat fronts. I have no reason the suppose it is not original

So the following trim was in Leatherette type material. Dash, the narrow Hockey stick section holding covered draft excluder, door panels and pockets internally, quarter panel covers. and three parts of the rear capping. Also the rear flat cockpit cover over the tank was in the same material.

The material is not vinyl but much thinner and not very stretchy unless heated a little. It took a lot of work finding the equivalent modern material and it is similar to covers used on old valve radios. This stuff is about 1mm -1.5mm thick and it goes brittle with age, the thickness is very important particularly on the "hockey" stick sections that hold the draft excluders also covered in the same material. The thin plywood needs the very thin material to show the definition of the rounded edges.

Rightly or wrongly I made my door pockets from Plywood 3-4 mm thick same as the cardboard and also the rear compartment board in scored ply the get the support and definition.

Don't quote me but the boot fuel tank cover was painted body colour not black on my car, how original that is I have no idea.

Note the end caps for door caps have end "buttons " made from material and not chrome buttons like the 3a and also foot well sides in very thin carpets. The original carpets were in a very thin and the gearbox cover in multi sections. I had mine made specially from a sample of the original material.

I stand to be corrected as normal if I have it wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope this helps.

Best 

Rod.

My car is not as early as yours, TS3732O, but I have much of the original interior.

It has leather cappings on the front sections back to the hockey stick pieces behind the doors, and vinyl on the rear three pieces.

Seat faces were leather and the rest vinyl, The wheel arches are also vinyl.

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Thank you Gentlemen,

Apart from your responses, others have also quoted similar leather/leatherette

combinations, so I have to believe that 'leather' means 'some leather but a lot of

leatherette'!

I had read in one of the many publications that ' the early TR2s were all leather interiors'

which could be read as all the early TR2s were all leather interiors or that  the later leatherette

substitutions for the various facings had not yet become standardised.

It does seem that Skinners trim do produce the correct combinations if I wish to go in that

direction.

Next problem will be where to source 'Ice Blue' weather equipment!

 

Roger M-E

 

 

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Hi Roger,

As you know my TR 2 is January 1954 and so within the first 500 so I suspect that the trim in it was original and yours is really only a few weeks/months earlier in real terms. Don't be tempted to go with any trim until you have seen samples.of the material if you really want to get as close to original as possible.

As I have said in the past, if in doubt "DO IT YOURSELF", you can't blame anyone else then. Do your research, get copious samples and use a company with a personal touch as I did.

Also forgot to mention that the door pulls are also in leather.

Believe me I know that the vinyl used does look good but not as good as a closer spec material. As far as weather gear is concerned keep trying to find Nos item as they do turn up and not always as expensive as you might think. I have bought NOS hoods for both my TR2 and my 3a in beige and white, not popular colours but right for me. I then bought the material to match and intend having them covered or getting my Nos frames recovered, even down to the hair removing zips in the sidescreens!

Drop me a message and I will show you the difference in the trim materials.

Rod

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Rod,

I'm very much with you on the 'do your homework' theme, when it comes to anything.

As I see it, these days the main problem, esp. with interior trim is to match the colours

of the various differing materials, on top of guessing the correct shade of the particular

trim one's car was originally done in, what with the availibility of original cars and a guarantee

that they represent 'original' if one should find one. Without getting too precious about it I'm leaning towards

doing all upholstery and trim in leather.If one does happen to go the TR specialist route then

you have to hope(!) that their reputation/s will provide instant gratification, but at a price.

I'm in the process of trying to nail down the correct colour trim for my car.I had a search done

by the Standard Motor Co (of which I'm a member) and was given Geranium.Since then, I've

been advised by a trustworthy authority that it was Grey, so I have a bit more checking to do!

If it was Grey, then I'm thinking that possibly includes the use of 'metric', a few fragments of which

came with car along with a great deal of very stretchy scarlet vinyl.I'm really not overly bothered

whether it originally was Geranium or Grey, but in the first case, as much as I'm drawn to a red hue

there's already quite a few Ice Blue TR2s around with red trim but I'm also going to have almost

insurmountable problems sourcing metric cloth to go with the leather facings if that's how my car was

finished.So possibly all leather in grey.

Fortunately I've given myself until end Feb before making a final decision, as I've still to flat and polish

the paint (by hand) and refit everything possible.Wiring could be tricky without the trimmed dash in place.
Oh for a magic wand!

Roger M-E

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Hi Roger,

I take your point but would put forward the following:

Given the very small production figures for the earliest of cars it would not be a big stretch to consider that the stock levels for the various component parts and if the supply chain was even set up fully. Furthermore the factory possibly used materials from stock for other models, this could be borne out by the idea that some totally "original" TR's had different gauges in the centre panel i.e Smiths and Jaeger, Perhaps it was more of a lottery as to what was in the stores on the day. It might be worth checking colour combinations available on other period models produced at the factory.

If it was me I would find the closest "vinyl" leatherette to the colour I want and have leather matched to it, colour dye can always be matched. I would not go down of all leather in totality as I feel that it apes trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. They aren't and never will be an XK.

Give me a shout and we can discuss finding trimmers with very old stock and a less of a production line orientated trim supply. The concours white gloved people leave me cold and I do not see the point. IMHO a good car is all about being as close as possible to how it left the factory. After all is said and done you would not search out 1953 oil, air or even tyres.

TR's leaked, dripped oil, had poorly fitting panels and that's why we love them.

This is just my alternative viewpoint,  thinking out of the box and I fully expect to be shot down in flames by the "as we all now know" brigade. 

You refer to Stretchy scarlet vinyl the car came with and I would be pretty sure that ain't even close to original. The original stuff ain't got no give unless you steam it and it goes brittle with time.

If you really want to get into it the leather grain can be difficult to match because tanning techniques and dying processes also moved on. The only place you get the grain close to being a good sample is where it was hidden in folds out of sight. See pics of closest samples I found to my original trim. Carpets are a total other story and the originals are more like velvet than carpet.

The car will only ever be a restored car lovingly done with best efforts to get as close as possible to how it left the factory. Personally I don't like blacks cars with black trim but the do exist.

An example in point is the rear reflectors and the mountings, the rear chrome shrouds and squarish lights are indicators of an early car but few people would really notice anyway if they had been changed for the later ones.

Best regards

Rod

 

PA160081.JPG

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I would like to add an opinion here.

I spent months researching the paint and trim colours for my restoration.  I have the original interior, albeit in varying stages of deterioration. I wanted the closest match as possible.

I worked with Jonathon Skinner over some months to match his available colours with my samples. Jonathon was absolutely outstanding, he must have sent 3 or more samples to me in Australia and me in the other direction.

The New Tan leather/vinyl and the brown carpets he has are a very close match to the brown that my car had originally.

The interior is very nice indeed. The carpets are more difficult. These cars vary a bit in shape and things like the gearbox tunnel alignment varies a lot. The carpet fit is very good but not as good as the interior kit.

Jonathon's after sales service has been fantastic, even from this distance.

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