Modern Bespoke Luggage, fitted for the Rear Boot of a 308!

By now, I would imagine that most folks are familiar with the Schedoni luggage which was custom designed for the rear boot of our 308’s. (If not, do a Search).

While I’ve always thought that this vintage luggage set was a really neat deal, the age and scarcity of these sets makes them to be extremely expensive. And if you can find a set, they might not always be in the best of condition.

So, searching for a modern alternative, I stumbled across an episode (Season 3, Episode 5 / Alfa Spider and Renault Alpine) of the British TV series "Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars” which highlighted the work of a British custom car luggage company: https://bag-world.co/ And so I reached out to them a while ago and, working together with them, we have custom designed a pair of bags for the rear boot of my USA-spec 308. (Comment: USA-spec cars have a shallower rear boot as compared to the Euro versions, so to allow space below for the USA-spec cat converters).

These bags arrived today, and I am absolutely gobsmacked over their fit and quality. I -Could Not- be more pleased!

Pictures follow:

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Notice the reproduction of the 308’s ‘scalloped’ stitching on the bag lids, the black bag piping which matches the color of my seats, the embroidered black Prancing Horse (mirror matched on the pair of bags) and even their red interior, which again matches my car (and which was a sneaky surprise on the part of the manufacturer)!

While the manufacturer can do leather as a bag raw material, they were unable to find a close color and texture match to a small sample of my interior leather which I had sent across to them. So, instead, the bags are made in a very durable leather-look vinyl which is a very close color match, and which arguably is better served for the function as a bag since it is so easy to clean. Plus the vinyl was roughly half the price of leather, had a suitable leather sample been found to be available.

Speaking of price, I don’t want to comment publicly here about this, as that’s a private matter between the seller and the buyer. But suffice to say that those of you who are used to Schedoni-level pricing will be very pleasantly surprised!

Two Huge Thumbs Up!

 

Fantastic work, Dave! They look to be very well made, great style, and a better (more useful) shape than the long shallow Schedoni bags. Is the manufacturer offering colour options?

Cheers,
Gordon

 

Yes, absolutely! Check their website for lots of other colors and styles.

If you can view the TV episode that I noted, you will see the feature on their firm. Well worth the view time, and it will also give you a general idea concerning their cost.

Since these are all bespoke to order, you can have them made to 1001 different shapes and sizes, seemingly whatever you might wish.

 

Very nicely done and thanks for the lead! I’ve come to the conclusion Schedoni never made a set for the US spec 308 (with cat) despite a few sellers claiming to have them. This then becomes the set to have if you have a “catted” 398.

 

I like and I want

 

In response to a couple of PM's, I thought that I'd post the info here for posterity.

Each of my bags measures approx. 20-1/2" wide by 12" deep. These dimensions would hold for both a USA- or Euro-spec car. The height dimension of my USA-spec car's bags is 9-1/2" tall, and I suspect that a Euro-spec car would need to be something in the 13" to 14" tall range for this dimension, as noted in my original posting above. Keep in mind that since these are soft-sided bags, there is a bit of inherent 'squishiness' in them, such that the bags will compress a bit.

I made the specific decision to make these pair of bags in the sizes as I have noted, which is -not- the same style as the Schedoni OEM set. There is a pretty good recent photo set and description of such a set here: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/schedoni-luggage/. There is no reason whatsoever why you could not work together with Bag World to copy these Schedoni sizes and shapes, if that's what you wanted to do, as they are very accommodating folks who are very easy to work with. Note that the above link has photos which show the dimensions of each Schedoni bag, which can serve to guide you in your design work. And no, your end result should be -nowhere near- to the huge cost of the above BaT's selling price!

Me, I simply thought that the sizes of the pair of bags which we uniquely developed would be much more useful in the Real World, as compared to the somewhat odd shapes of the Schedoni set. Even so, I can certainly appreciate that some folks would instead have a keen interest in owning a Schedoni clone set, so have at it.

Should anyone here reading this end up working together with Bag World for a set of luggage for their own 308 (or, any other such car - see their website link in the original posting for some ideas of their past work), please do add your pictures of the completed bags here in this thread, so to be handy for future reference.

Enjoy - DM

 

We have measured the two Schedoni luggage sets with Alberto two years ago, the one for cars without cats, and the one for cars with cats; there is a difference in height, but it isn't considerable: the two large rectangular cases are only 2 cm shorter in height (about 6/8 of an inch) and shorter in length by 4cm (or about one inch and a half); conversely, the cubic vanity case is indeed shorter in height, but larger in width by 5 cm (or two inches).

Rgds

 

Thanks for the info!

So to make it clear for future reference use, in your opinion and based upon the dimensions as shown in their pictures, are the bags that were offered in the BaT link shown above best suited for a catted USA- or a non-cat Euro-spec car?

 

It is not a matter of "opinion", Dave: the two sets cannot be confused, the bags are visually very different.
The bags of the two Schedoni sets, the one for non-catalysed cars, and the one for catalysed cars, are not of the same construction, so their can be no doubt about which set you are seing.
The one in the BaT link is the set for catalysed cars (USA, Australia, etc; and, as far as 328s go, swiss cars after 1987).

The easiest tell-tale are two small cases: the vanity case and the shoe box.
First, the handles: look at the way they fold:
- on the set for non-catalysed cars, they fold "like a pantograph": you push them flat, front or back
- on the set for catalysed cars, they fold simply by lying on their side.
Second, the shape of the shoe box and how the handle is affixed to it.
- on the set for non-catalysed car, the shoe box stands on its smallest side (which has the four metal plots for this) and the handle is affixed at its top exactly in the same way than it is on the vanity case, so that shoe box just look like the vanity case, but with a curved side.
- on the set for ctalaysed cars, the shoe box lies on its largest side, and the handle is affixed on the curved side, not on its top, but in the middle, and oriented longitudinally.

Visually, the vanity case (the cubic one) of the "non-catalysed set" looks taller: it is not, but it is less wide than the one of the "catalysed set" which is wider by two inches and looks more "cubic".

See the two sets on the two pictures side-by-side in the middle of the page on the enclosed link: the brown one is for non-catalysed cars, the black one is for catalysed cars; compare the two small cases, and the way their handles fold...compare the shoe boxes, how they stand and how their handle is affixed...

Rgds

http://www.308-328.com/308/308spectechqven.html

 

What a beautiful well made set! Looks like a much more practical solution.

 

I emailed them, and I'm getting photos of my car's interior for them to look at the colors. I could not find the youtube video, so if anyone can post a link to it, that would be great. Two reasonable size bags that would fill the boot would be perfect.

 

The video (Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars S3 • E5) noted in my original post appears to be available for purchase here:

Alfa Romeo Spider & Renault Alpine GTA (youtube.com)

No idea if it's available for free viewing on some other website, but Happy Hunting.

Assuming that you are working with Colin at Bag World, I'd suggest that you drop my name to him and have him pull his records for my order as your starting point.

Keep us all posted! - DM

 

Thank you, Dave, for this very useful information. I have emailed Colin photos of my car's interior- mine is black with red piping, kind of a dull red which he thinks he can match. The dimensions of your set will be fine for my car, which is a USA spec car, although the catalysts seem to vanished while in the care of a prior owner. Hoping to get the process started soon.

I don't show my car, and besides there are a variety of non-original elements to it (Euro bumpers and lights, aftermarket exhaust, so a set of bags which are functionally fine and look like the interior of the car will serve admirably. The Schedoni bag set is very nice but as you say, very expensive, and I'd be afraid to use them.

I have a couple of other cars which perhaps could look good with bespoke luggage, so we'll see how all this goes.

 

Jim - You will not be disappointed. Even though you might not competitively show your car (same as me, aside from those occasional informal Cars And Coffee sort of things), think forward in time to that "someday" when the time comes to sell your car. And imagine the positive impression to be made then when your prospective buyer admires the time and effort you've gone thru today.

Please do advise us all of any updates! - DM

 

I’ve been in touch with Colin- he’s well pleased at the extra interest this thread has generated. I have pale crème leather seats with maroon piping and he’s sending samples. I’ve also asked about an insulated removable “liner” so it can also be used to keep the beer cool /picnic hamper!

 

Meant to add I’m in the uk so I may just take the car to him!

 

Michael - Please do give Colin my best! No, I've yet to meet him personally, but he is a true gentleman and a genuine pleasure to work with, even (for me) from a distance away.

And, simply as a FYI, after receiving his 308 kit, I worked with him to design a pair of similarly fitted bags for the frunk of my 986-era Porsche Boxster. It is my understanding that the 986 frunk is identical in size to the 996, the same era's 911 series. They fit perfectly (as I fully expected!), so should anyone own a 986 / 996, that design work's been already done for you.

As with Jim above, please do post pictures!

Cheers - DM

 

Dave-samples should arrive next week. I have a mate with a 911 so I’ll show him the bags when they’re made. I agree Colin is really enthusiastic- a great guy to deal with!

 

colin made me a set in black with red piping too

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That is exactly what I want for my car. Just a darker red for the piping.

 

The photos are brighter than real life. I’m sure your red piping is the same as mine (I’m not sure there was more than one color of red piping on those seats).

 

Colin has a range of piping (mine is maroon) so is able to match. I sent a photo of the seat and he then sent sample of material and piping. It was a perfect match!

 

Correct - we did the same. He even stitched the red piping between two swatches of black to have a crystal clear idea of what the piping would look like.

 

Those are fantastic!
Price you paid for the set?

 

what was the cost for the two bags?