TR2/3/3A TR3A seat piping

[TFB]

My 59's original seats where red with white piping,although i am changing to black with white.The piping color across the front bottom of seat is red.I have seen some seats where all the piping is white,as opposed to across the front bottom being seat color.
Was this variation a year change?
Thanks
Tom

 

[Tr3aguy]

T R A
IN-11
Interior -- Seats
II. Seats
A. Seat Upholstery - Both leather and vinyl trim was available on the cars, first as an option, then as standard. On
the seats, only the seat facings were trimmed in leather, the rest of the seat upholstery being vinyl. In TR2s,
neither seat folds forward. In later cars, the passenger's seat was hinged to fold forward, the driver's was not;
this change was made at TS8637 when the gas tank was made smaller allowing room for an occasional seat
1. Seat Upholstery Pattern - There were two major patterns of seat upholstery, with TS 22013 being the
changeover point. AT TS 8637 (?) the front of the cushion was changed from a sloping or bevelled shape
to a vertical one, and there may have been some changes to the internal assembly of the seat which is not
noticeable. The two major patterns are illustrated below, courtesy of The Roadster Factory.



2. Seat Upholstery Construction - The seats were assembled using horsehair mats, cotton wadding, wood
strips, and split rivets. The trim was actually attached to the steel seat frames and spring cases using #3
tacks and "blued" clips. Hog Rings may have been used on earlier cars to attach the trim to the spring case.
These seats were trimmed by hand, so variance of detail is expected.
3. Seat Upholstery Color - The colors available for seats and other interior trim components varied from
time to time during the production run, and are documented in the attached materials. Major points of
change are noted here:
At TS 8637, contrasting piping was introduced for some colors. Usually the piping shade was white or
cream. Some neutral colors, such as Grey or Stone, retained non-contrasting piping through this period.
At TS 22014, the amount of piping was increased, creating more contrast with certain colors. by
September, 1958, cream piping was phased out. By TS 500000, and probably a good bit earlier, noncontrasting
piping was phased out also.
B. Seat Slides - Both seats were fitted to clear cadmium plated seat slide assemblies, two per seat. The seat slides
were mounted to the body with cadmium plated slotted body bolts, with the lock release lever assembly
mounted on the outboard slide. This lever is marked "A.W. Chapment/Leveroll/London S.W.6".
C. Seat Hardware - Most of the upholstery hardware is described above. Note that the passenger's seat had a
black oxide or blued bushing between the bottom seat pan and the folding squab frame, and is finished with
chrome bevelled washers and domed nuts. The seat frames were generally painted black or left in red oxide
primer. Spring cases were mostly plated or natural.
T R A
IN-12
D. Occasional Seat Upholstery - Occasional seats, when fitted, were trimmed in vinyl or leather and vinyl to
match the seats. Leather was on the cushion and squab (when fitted) facings only.
When introduced with TS 8637, the occasional seat assemblies consisted of an upholstered cushion board and
upholstered squab board, both of wood. These boards were secured by iron brackets, or a single "S" shaped
iron bracket painted black or more commonly, to match the trim.
From TS 22014, the upholstery pattern was changed to match the new trim, and the separate squab board was
deleted in favor of a padded rear bulkhead panel used on all cars. The iron brackets were "C" shaped.
From TS 60000, the retooling of the body eliminated the need for the heavy iron brackets, and the cushion
board was fastened to the shelf by spring devices.
Most occasional seats were attached to the floor using slotted body bolts, although hex headed bolts are known.
Screws and "T" nuts held the boards to the brackets.

This is from the judging guide!

JP

 

[Geo Hahn]

...At TS 22014, the amount of piping was increased, creating more contrast with certain colors. by
September, 1958, cream piping was phased out. By TS 500000, and probably a good bit earlier, noncontrasting piping was phased out also...

Interesting. For a visual, here's what mine look like now (do not recall what the originals had though I did find them after I peeled off not one but two vinyl re-covers).

 

[Vaark01]

Very nice. My '62 TR3-B seats look just like yours.
Paul

 

[TFB]

Thanks Jp.
Geo,those are exactly the Seats I want.Are they from Too/tall in leather by any chance?
thanks
Tom

 

[Geo Hahn]

Leather from Moss, circa 1991 but reworked in 2001.

 

[bnw]

So, the black leather with red piping on my 57 is not an original factory issue?

 

[Geo Hahn]

I would say almost anything is possible.

IOW, I'm wary of any pronoucement of 'this way and no other' and most originality experts will at least measure their words and say something like "I've never seen an original like that" or "all the ones I've seen were this way".

 

[vivdownunder]

bnw, I know of two red 3A's with custom black trim piped red and they look very smart, but it wasn't listed as an original offering. That said, for very late cars when sales slowed to a crawl, you could pretty much custom order, but as I understand, not so for '57 when the 3A was fresh and sales were thriving.

But as we know, there are exceptions.

Dealers were known to swap trims to secure an order - say all black for all red in a white car. Theoretically, a dealer could have had a black trim re-piped red for a valued customer.

Viv.

 

[bnw]

I have a complete interior kit from TRF in black/white that I intended to have the piping changed to red like the seats I pulled from my car. About $250 for the swap. The car will be signal red. I am making every attempt to restore this car to "original" Just for sake of discussion, WWYD?

 

[Geo Hahn]

...WWYD?

Whatever I pleased to most enjoy the car -- which sounds like exactly what you have in mind.