In the early and mid 1950s Ferrari used Arbo Tan leather (coming from Switzerland). Here's two samples, talk about grain……… leather was much thicker and heavier and not as soft and flat as the "furniture" leather seen these days. Marcel Massini Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
More from Arbo Tan, Ferrari's leather in the 1950s. Marcel Massini Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
My dream car! Thanks Marcel. A very large amount of what I've learned about this subject has been through your generosity with answering my questions.
Rest of the seat covering materials don't seem to resemble anything originally produced & used 45+ years ago. Would it be right to assume some modern/todays “Connolly”* or equivalent was used instead of HvL hides ? *I'd imagine experienced restorers/trimmers know "Connolly" leather produced today (and in past 2-3 decades) have very little, if anything, to do with what the company (same in name only) produced 40+ years ago.
This may be true, but from what I know (by asking them personally) at least one very well known and highly regarded interior restoration firm in the UK frequently uses Connolly hides to restore at least some vintage Ferrari's...275's, 365's, etc. They may also use HVL. Perhaps it depends on what is right for the specific car (nevermind specific customer desires), versus "one company is right, one company is wrong".
TTR, The owner of the 1974 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer opted to use the Black AutoLux leather A8500. His call not mine. The car still showed well with a 97 out of 100 and only 3 minor mechanical issues. Image Unavailable, Please Login
not only is the leather selection critical to an authentic restoration, so is the selection of the foam. many seats, especially Lusso’s and 275 gtb’s, have that puffed up over stuffed look. refer to vintage photos for reference to obtain correct appearance.
Thank you for clarifying and congratulations to owner (and you) on Platinum. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful car and restoration, but this just illustrates how judges may not always be aware of all aspects of authenticity or correct details, even at shows like Cavallino Classic.
Like to share a lesson learned... when you have the leather shipped from Connolly, make sure they roll it in a manner that leaves no creases or folds in the roll. They are hard to remove with steam and you end up having to work around some of them, which means waste. john
Thank You TTR, actually the explanation given to me by the owner after he did some extensive research on the car when we started the project is that the seats in this car were originally covered in a rather ugly cloth, burlap looking type material and at some the seats were swapped out by probably some dealer someplace with a pair of black leather seats most likely because there was a buyer interested in the car but didn't want the cloth seats so they were replaced with leather seats from another car in order to sell this car. These are not the original seats that came with the car from the factory. Also, the inside pockets on the door panels were covered in this same cloth burlap type material that was still there. The owner tried to source out the material with no luck. Maybe Marcel can shed a bit of light on this as I and the owner would be very interested in knowing what and why a few of these cars had this cloth material on the seats and inside door pockets?
Ah, the legendary potato sack material!! Absolutely love it. First couple 365 BB‘s had that originally but most were replaced with leather prior to delivery. This material can still be bought from Tappezzeria MAIELI near Mantova, Italy. Top interior people and highly recommended. Marcel Massini
Thank You Marcel, I thought you might be able to solve the Potato Sack Mystery Material. I'll pass it along to the owner.
Just received my Vaumol samples from Connolly Brothers, very nice and very impressive sample card. I received the samples in less than a week from the first email I sent to Ben Connolly. I'm now leaning towards Connolly Bros. for this leather rather than HVL. CB has the Beige VM 3218 which they now call VM 3218 Luxan Fawn in stock and ready to ship. HVL says they are in the process of moving into a larger building and could probably not begin start the process until the 3rd week of December. In addition CB will supply a Certificate of Authenticity which I and the owner think would be a great document to include with his other restoration documents and he is a documents type guy. I sent off a sample, just waiting for his approval. That beautiful, rich leather aroma or perfume this leather has brings back memories of days gone by. Kinda like a whiff of perfume that reminds you of an old girlfriend! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's the revised story on the 365 BB seats and the Potato Sack material. The owner receive his confirmation from Ferrari Classiche, this goes back to long before he ever owned the car but his car did originally come with black A8500 leather seats. Those leather seats were taken out of his to put in another car that had the Potato Sack seats and the Potato Sack seats ended up in his car. Here's a photo of the cloth seats from another car, but interesting just the same. Can see why nobody wanted these Potato Sack seats. Some where along the way somebody attempted to recover the seats in black and red leather. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Fascinating. As a purist, I would stick to the original factory spec. But, if it had that "potato sack" material, I can't say I would be happy about it.
Potato sack material was not just on the seats but also inside the doors. Marcel Massini Image Unavailable, Please Login
I retrimmed my own 308GT4 in VM3104. It isn’t original but I love the color and the feel. Frankly the original GT4 seat materials were substandard, in my opinion. I spoke to Jonathan Connolly at length before making the purchase. I learned that his father owned a couple of GT4s.....carried his dogs in the back. I love the way the Brits use their cars!
Unless that “Potato sack” material is/was vinyl, I’d absolutely would prefer it, if it was originally used in a car I own/drove It think it looks, not only more interesting than leather, but also very period style. Anyone have close-up picture(s) of its composition and texture ?
I saw the Connolly Vaumol sample about a year ago and it doesn´t looked period correct. At least for Daytonas and BBs. It is a high quality leather without a doubt but the grain is wrong and it looks too matte. A highly respected trimmer in the UK used it in a few cars I saw and the craftsmanship was beyond doubt but it looked like a fantastic interior with new leather from today.