Dashboard leather
Anybody know whether leather for Cobra seats and dash panel came from the same cow (or same batch of leather) on the AC 'assembly line'? I'm talking about for individual cars ;)
And the door pockets....I'm assuming these were leather and not vinyl/naugahyde? Same grade as used on the seats? Cheers, Glen |
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Seat leather was not skived but all the rest was and there are several different ‘grain’ affects natural and man made. The only vinyl I have found in a Cobra (leaf spring chassis) is the red vinyl binding on red carpet, hood (a.k.a. top), side windows, most of the window pouch behind the seats, and most tool pouches. There are quite a few pieces of leather in an original Cobra. The leather covering the instrument panel and glove box door are the hardest 'pieces' to get a texture anything remotely close to what AC Cars used. The original leather was usually more deeply textured as compared to anything else in the cars. http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...um/leather.jpg scuttle hoop cover in glove box scuttle hoop supports at transmission both design versions of cockpit door latch pull straps cockpit door stay covers top bow storage strap rear inner wheel houses in cockpit black carpet and side window pouch bindings instrument panel exterior of glove box door glove box door stay |
Original leather seemed to be a lot shinier than what I see on cars today. Especially the dash. Possibly a difference in tanning chemicals or dyes?
Larry |
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connollizing the leather made it shiny, was sprayed with a lacquer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connolly_Leather |
Thanks for the information gentlemen.
It looks like the texture on the leather I have allocated for my dash panel is at least close to the ballpark… http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...for_dash_s.jpg Cheers, Glen |
I borrowed this photo from the guys at Rare Drive as it perfectly illustrates the leather placement on the scuttle hoop Dan was referring to. The smaller arrows point to tape on the firewall. Note the leather placement in two locations on the scuttle tube.
Larry https://s20.postimg.cc/wel9maglp/Dash_Leather.png |
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On the subject of trim leather, I've just fitted this in place of the Audi-style leather I had used originally. It's from UK Hide, worked out at around £200 for a full hide. It comes at 1.2mm thick (0.047"), which is pretty much what's required from Dan's figures on thickness. It's pretty soft so nice to work with but holds the grain and texture well. It's not quite glossy enough, but comes up quite nicely with good ol' boot polish!
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Larry |
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Nice/correct Smiths gauges as well. Cheers, Glen |
Maybe I got it wrong, but I thought it was a Naugahyde vynil of some sort on original dashboards.....thought I got that from an old thread on here???
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Roger,
You mentioned in another thread from around four years ago... Quote:
Also, the radius into my glovebox opening is quite severe; any suggestions as to how to handle this area? I'm assuming that the most likely solution here is pie-cutting? Cheers, Glen |
Hi Glen,
The leather I'm using this time, in full thickness as supplied (i.e. 0.040-0.050") stretched sufficiently to fit around the centre 'drop-down' area with little difficulty. The 'grain' is a little stretched in this area but this mirrors original cars, from photos I have seen. The glovebox returns were a different matter. The larger radius end was not too bad, but took a fair bit of pulling and stretching to get close. I took my time and gradually it moved in the right direction. I use a professional contact adhesive which is extremely strong and once the leather could reach where it needed to be the adhesive held it there OK. The smaller radius end was really tricky. I tried steam, and a hot air gun (having checked on scrap first!), but in truth this made little difference and in the end it was just down to careful stretching. I ended up using Mole Grips (Vise Grips in the US?? Not sure), pulling the leather up tight by closing the jaws until they locked. 4 pairs of these pulled it up where I needed it, but I was fully expecting the leather to tear. It's tough stuff - it didn't, and looks fine around that end too now. You can't pie-cut the bit that needs it, because this is the visible area on the glove box hole return. You can do the ends that are unseen for obvious reasons. I'm assuming the originals were done in a similar way. If you're used to working with leather (I'm getting there, but would never count myself an expert) I suspect this is a lot easier. I'll post photos when it's all done and dusted. |
Glovebox Leather
The glovebox leather has a very thin horsehair padding under it, so it is only glued to the back.
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It's actually a cotton wadding, not horsehair. Woolies sell this.
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