Boxer interior leather re-trim

Hi all,

I'm looking to re-trim the interior of my '83 BBi, and I'm hoping some of you who have done this can point me in the right direction.

I've looked into Worlduph a bit. They sent me a sample of 3218 (beige / saddle); which was Autolux. I asked about Vaumol, which they said they could acquire from "the tannery in England". Any idea if this is UK Hides? That sample is on the way.

Worlduph lists the BBi seat kit on their website, but I was informed that the patterns were "lost in the move", so they'd only be able to provide the hides.

Re-Originals also lists seat covers, but I haven't reached out to them yet.

I've also seen HVL highly praised in the threads.

Anyone with experiences here? Thanks in advance.

 

HVL is the go to especially for correct materials. He is expensive but that's quickly forgotten when you sit in the car. Luppi makes good work, compromises a bit on the materials but the pricing is fair. For my Dino I bought materials from HVL and UK hides and send the hole lot to Luppi for fabrication / installation. For my 512 I had Luppi recovering the dash using his own preferred leather and I was very happy with the result. I believe the seats kit sold by Mr Fiat is produced by Luppi, but I don't think they are made of leather from UK hide (Connolly branded). For my 308 I bought seat covers from US (GAHH) and installed them myself and I'm quite happy with the result and the quality of the covers.

Best, Peter

 

Thanks Peter, that's helpful. Seems like you've used a few of the folks in the business. If you were going to recover your 512 seats, any particular route you'd go? Eg, source from UK hides and have Luppi do the work?

 

Good day Robert,

I had looked at using Luppi to redo the interior of my 365 (GT4 2+2) a number of years ago and the price was reasonable given the materials (6 full hides) and efforts needed. However, the issue for me was the packaging/shipping of the entire interior ... from the seats (front/rear), to side panels, dash, etc (easily 20+ pieces)... all to Luppi and then return shipping of all the bits back. Given the number of pieces, the physical shipping size, and the need for a crate (to protect all the bits to/from), the logistics of it all was a lot. On top of this, there is risk that the items could get damaged/lost because of the shipping distance and multiple carriers that would be handling the shipment (previous bad experience with shipping something similar). Then there would be the documentation needed to/from, as the Euro side may think I was selling these goods... and on the return side Canada Customs may think I am buying all the bits and assess various importation taxes. Ultimately, I decided against and found an excellent local shop that could do all the work with the materials I sourced from HVL (Henk is fantastic and a pleasure to work with) and others. The cost was less with great results. Was the result as good as what Luppi could have done? I will simply not know, as a side by side comparison would need to be done. However, I am pleased at the results and did not have to deal with all of the logistics needed + no concerns with lost/damaged items that are mostly NLA.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Living where you do I would buy a complete set of seat covers from Luppi or Mr Fiat (Consider to let Luppi use the leather he prefer to work with. I remember him complaining over the thick connolly leather I showed up with) and install it locally. Either do the install yourself or send it out. It's actually not that completed a job unless the foam is damaged and needs to be repaired / replaced. This is a relatively cheap solution and I think it's "good enough" for a BBi if you know what I mean. If money is no issue send the whole lot to HVL, Luppi or some one else of the top Italien masters. This doesn't come cheap and it will not be a good business investment taking the value of a BBi into account.

Best, Peter