Answerman
Senior Member
Offline
Hey guys: as you might have seen in my post in "New Members" (even though I'm not a new member, but I have a new acquisition) I have added to the stable a 1949 Alvis TA14 saloon. I'm still wrapping my head around the whole project, but one thing I am taking a hard look at is the upholstery.
It's very old school: the seats are thin leather over horsehair. In looking closely at them, other than a couple of minor tears and some general wear marks (it's 70 years old, no surprises there!) the leather actually is in surprisingly good condition. More than anything, it's dirty. And it's rather stiff. I'm thinking a good cleaning and conditioning may bring it back to an acceptable appearance. Having said that, who's done something like this? I'm looking for advice on which products to use, procedure, etc. I'd really like to keep the original upholstery if possible since I'm trying to keep the car as original as I can, and also cost and availability (not like anyone makes replacement seat covers for this).
It's very old school: the seats are thin leather over horsehair. In looking closely at them, other than a couple of minor tears and some general wear marks (it's 70 years old, no surprises there!) the leather actually is in surprisingly good condition. More than anything, it's dirty. And it's rather stiff. I'm thinking a good cleaning and conditioning may bring it back to an acceptable appearance. Having said that, who's done something like this? I'm looking for advice on which products to use, procedure, etc. I'd really like to keep the original upholstery if possible since I'm trying to keep the car as original as I can, and also cost and availability (not like anyone makes replacement seat covers for this).