Daytona seats in 355. Great execution! I'm impressed.

Ferrari 355 Spider | eBay

I stumbled upon this car on ebay and immediately noticed the custom Daytona Seats. I've seen other threads and other attempts, but I haven't seen any executed well enough to stop, look, and say to myself "DAMN." I was really impressed with how these turned out, so I thought I'd share it. Owner stated the work was done by a shop in L.A. I messaged him for more info. Hopefully, he replies.

I'm not a fan of the two tone Daytona scheme, but I do like contrast French double-stitching. I will be posting pictures as well as one of my pet peeves is when someone posts a link to a gallery or something and months later the link is dead and you're sitting there with your thumb up your ass wondering what all the fuss was about. SAVE these pictures, as this is not something you will see very often
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Slightly off topic... I've been doing some extensive research into upholstery and materials as I have a pair of bucket seats I would like re-upholstered. Anyone interested in upholstery work for your Ferrari .... this is a must read.

Up until 1999, Ferrari contracted Connolly (UK company) for their leather needs. Connolly has been out of business since 2002, so it is a bit challenging to source the leather. However, there are a few companies in the UK claim to have direct ties with the Connolly family and can source the leather. There are members on the board that have successfully sourced the leather as well. I am going to try to do so myself as well.

Technically, our leather is not "Italian" leather as it is processed by a company based in the UK and their leather is sourced from Scandinavia. I know a lot of upholstery shops like to advertise or respond, "yeah I can get high quality Italian leather and it will be a close match to your Ferrari." That's great an all, but it still isn't Connolly leather.

Now you're probably asking yourself, "well who cares? Quality leather is quality leather. As long as the color is close, I'm fine." Well, whatever floats your boat. After having done a ton of research on the subject, I have a new found appreciation for the leathers in our cars. The leathers on modern Ferraris are great, but there's something about the Connolly leathers that just give it that real Vintage leather feel. The softness, grain, texture, aroma, patina isn't the same in modern day Ferraris. They don't make em like this anymore.

Here's an article discussing how Connolly sourced and processed their hides and you tell me if "yeah-I-can-get-quality-Italian-Leather" is up to par.

Connolly Leather

Our black leathers are Connolly Vaumol. VM8500

 

Modern Ferraris are equipped with leathers from Poltrona Frau, under Pelle Frau automotive leather line. They are indeed an Italian company, but I don't know where their hides are sourced from.

 

Connolly made a bad move trying to expand into the American market hoping they could supply GM and FORD. They weren't buying and at the same time, the company was poorly managed stateside. I don't think they ever recovered from this move.

Cracks in Connolly's world of leather - Telegraph

Connolly says: "Where it went wrong was that we tried to compete with the major US volume producers of commodity leather for cars. We thought we could form good supplier relationships with the seating companies and that was the wrong move.

"They are not into top quality, they just want a piece of leather as cheaply as possible. The price points in the US did not allow us to make money.

"It was a mistake. History has taught us a lesson."


Re-upholstering in quality leather is fine, however, you'd want to get a good match and that would take re-upholstering the entire interior. If you're just looking to do seats or a few bits and pieces, I think it would make sense to try to source Connolly leather.

German cars have great leather. They have a nice high tech look to them. It looks perfect in a synthetic kind of way and sometimes you just end up asking yourself , "is this real leather or some synthetic leather?" With Connolly leather, there is no doubt whatsoever it is real deal pure leather.

Modern German cars (Porsche, MB, BMW, etcc) source their leathers from Boxmark in Austria. All hides come from Austria.

Boxmark - Best in Leather Interior

I've been through enough german cars to know it is not the same feel. Heck, my buckets seats are currently made in Boxmark leather. It's just not the same.

 

I wouldn't go as far to say leather manufacturers surpassed them when they were around. They were still #1 at the time. However, after Connolly closed, other companies needed to step up to the plate to replace them (Poltrona Frau, Boxmark) and now their leathers are found on modern day luxury cars. They are all good in their own kind of way. However, I would be hesitant to put a quality commodity leather that is not from PF or Boxmark at the same level as Connolly.