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Leather seats?

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HerronScott

HerronScott

Darth Vader
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All 3 of my Triumphs came with leather originally. I was curious if anyone knows if almost all of the TR3/TR4/TR4A's came with leather?

Scott
 
I do not know the numbers but I would guess most came with Vinyl since Leather was a pricey option.
 
I'm not sure for the later cars, but for the side screen cars, both leather and vinyl trim was available on the cars, first as an option, then as standard. On the seats, only the seat facings (the area in contact with your back, buttocks and thighs) were trimmed in leather, the rest of the seat upholstery being vinyl. So, if you selected the leather option, the seat was trimmed with leather and vynide. In the photo below only those areas identified with the white arrows would be leather.

leatherseats.jpg


In addition to the seats, the following were leather (if leather option was selected):

quarter elbow capping
door edge roll trim
scuttle edge roll trim

Everything else was trimmed with vynide.
 
Scott - If you like the look and feel of leather and you are looking for long-term durability, ask suppliers if they can provide the entire interior in leather. I know some TR owners have done this, mainly to eliminate the variation in shading between the vinyl and the leather that might not match perfectly. I have never heard of any TR owner ever having points deducted at a TRA concours because of the entire interior being made from leather. The carpet sets can also be edged in the same leather to match perfectly.

It really depends on how you want your TR to be. After all it's your TR.
 
HerronScott said:
All 3 of my Triumphs came with leather originally. I was curious if anyone knows if almost all of the TR3/TR4/TR4A's came with leather?
Click to expand...
My "gut" feeling, based only on observations over the years, is that probably a very large portion of sidescreen cars sold in the US would've had the leather, with the possible exception of the 3B series. I've also seen a fair number of original TR4 models over the years with original leather faced seats; I'm really not sure at all about the 4A, but I'll wager that, under Leyland ownership, costs were cut any way they could be and that leather seating in the later cars was still less common. Again, that's really only a guess.

Now leather seat facings in a Herald? Well, that's another story...for another post...soon.... :devilgrin:
 
Small n survey:
I've owned three TR3s, a '57 and 2 '59s. I am reasonably certain they all came to me with the original interior intact. (Tatty, but unchanged.) None of them came to me with leather interior.

Conclusion:
No TR3s ever had leather interior.
Margin of error: +or- 90%
 
Don Elliott said:
I have never heard of any TR owner ever having points deducted at a TRA concours because of the entire interior being made from leather.
Click to expand...

Yeah but Don, I think that's because its hard for judges to argue with the original owner about what was original!
 
TS13571L originally had leather as did a previous 59 TR3A (somewhere between TS50K and TS60K).

TS39781LO and TS11xxxL apparently did not. Most of the various parts cars (including an early TR4) seemed to not have leather, but at least one of them had been completely reupholstered (so hard to tell).

Still far too small a sample to be statistically significant, of course.
 
Moseso said:
Small n survey:
I've owned three TR3s, a '57 and 2 '59s. I am reasonably certain they all came to me with the original interior intact. (Tatty, but unchanged.) None of them came to me with leather interior.

Conclusion:
No TR3s ever had leather interior.
Margin of error: +or- 90%
Click to expand...
With a conclusion like that, you must be (like me) a government worker! :devilgrin:

Seriously, though, one could make an interesting study/survey of this (I'm not volunteering), to see if there might be a pattern, say, on a regional basis. In other words, did the different regional distributors generally order cars with certain specifications based on expected sales or customer demands? Maybe Genser-Forman and Cal Sales had less trouble selling "optioned-out" cars than Mid-West distributors?
 
angelfj said:
I'm not sure for the later cars, but for the side screen cars, both leather and vinyl trim was available on the cars, first as an option, then as standard.
Click to expand...

So leather was standard on later sidescreen cars?

angelfj said:
On the seats, only the seat facings (the area in contact with your back, buttocks and thighs) were trimmed in leather, the rest of the seat upholstery being vinyl. So, if you selected the leather option, the seat was trimmed with leather and vynide.
Click to expand...

I was familiar with it only being the seat facings in leather although I did not know any additional pieces on the TR3's.

angelfj said:
In addition to the seats, the following were leather (if leather option was selected):

quarter elbow capping
door edge roll trim
scuttle edge roll trim

Everything else was trimmed with vynide.
Click to expand...

I need to inspect my later TR4A closely since the interior is original but I would bet that's it was only the seat facings on the TR4A.
 
TR4nut said:
Yeah but Don, I think that's because its hard for judges to argue with the original owner about what was original!
Click to expand...

Randy,

Not exactly true for us TR4/4A owners since leather trim was indicated on the commission plate along with the color! Of course someone could leave the H off if they replaced the commission plate with a new one.

Scott
 
Well interesting to hear there definitely was a mix. I just was wondering what the odds were that all 3 of my cars had leather unless it was a pretty common option. Moses is skewing that with at least with the TR3's since none of his had leather. :smile:

(And Don, I have no idea whether I'll go back with leather or vinyl when I restore mine. Costs may drive that of course when the time comes!)

Scott
 
TR4 said:
I do not know the numbers but I would guess most came with Vinyl since Leather was a pricey option.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know what the leather option cost was?

Scott
 
Frank I'm not sure if you will see this or not, but the two pictures you posted show the capping, or dash rail to be much wider on the later car. Is that a factory change or something other?
 
HerronScott said:
Does anyone know what the leather option cost was?
Click to expand...
Oddly enough, the 1957 sales brochure I just checked indicates it was standard!
 
Even more fun, I just looked at a 1960 brochure that says it was both optional and standard :laugh:

But alas, no prices in these.
 
(Sorry for the poor quality, not my scans)
 
mallard said:
Frank I'm not sure if you will see this or not, but the two pictures you posted show the capping, or dash rail to be much wider on the later car. Is that a factory change or something other?
Click to expand...
Hmmm, wonder if it coincided with the addition of the cowl vent...and the knob to open/close same?
 
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