Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[peter scott]

I don't tend to watch car restoration programs but have just watched Car SOS "restore" a 1928 Austin 12/4.

The owner who knew nothing of the work initiated by his son was presented with his car in roadworthy condition after many years of lying idle due to accumulated problems.

He was obviously pleased to have his car up and running again but if I were he I would be quietly fuming at the loss of the original leather seats. These had become dry and friable and had torn in places but could have been patched and strengthened by feeding the old leather but "oh no!" the seat repair was left in the hands of light weight who had no understanding of conservation with the unfortunate result that the old covers were completely replaced by new characterless leather!

Must leave a note for myself not to watch such programs again.

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Riley Blue]

I find there are few restoration programmes that don't have me disagreeing with something that has been done to the subject vehicle. I guess that's the nature of classic vehicle restoration - we're all individuals!
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David

1963 Riley 1.5
1965 Riley 1.5

[peter scott]

Yes, I guess I'm just failing to see it from the point of view of the program's producer. You must add some controversy or your program will not be discussed.

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[colwyn500]

I guess that concours perfection,(as long as you have deep pockets) is easier to achieve than a true "oily rag" because you have to have a good idea of what to keep, what to revovate and what to bin.
There can be some tricky decisions as I have found with what you might call a"waxy cloth" interior renovation.

[peter scott]

Yes, the program had to complete its work within two weeks so the easy option was the obvious choice.

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[petermeachem]

I thought the seats were easily repairable. You'd think that an upholsterer would be more sympathetic but I think a lot of garages are like builders, rip it all out and replace with new.
Speaking of which I shall now get on with repairing my table, old pine one with lots of unsightly screw holes and a big split across the top.

[Ashley]

The problem is that it is almost always impossible to preserve old leather that has dried and cracked. It has no strength at all and tears and splits endlessly regardless of how much you oil or treat it. I know this because where he can, my son recommends restoring rather than replacing.

In particular this applies to cars like the vintage Austin 12 because the leather was either crocodile or elephant grained and the carpets were specially made and grey or black flecked with the leather colour. Both have to be specially made at huge expense and then you have to find a trimmer capable of making the seats from scratch exactly as they were including making buttons and being able to do button upholstery properly. For more than fifty years most seats simply have covers stretched over them, so it ain't easy to find a suitable craftsman.

Austins were some of the best made cars in history and in many respects the Heavy 12 was a better car than an R-R, especially the coach work that was miles better, but that means only expensive and highly skilled craftsmen can do it.

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

I take on board all of the comments especially about the short time for programme compilation, but personally I feel it would make more interesting viewing if they did at least mention the restoration option, maybe featuring a snippet of a restorer at work and finally conclude that time, money or preference led to the option being shown.

Paul

[Rootes75]

We took our 47 Minx to a local show this weekend, her interior is totally original. The seats are lovely with only the passenger seat having a small cracked area in the leather. I was asked by numerous fellows 'when I was getting round to replacing the interior as it let the 'original' car down in appearance'!

I was parked next to an Austin Seven Swallow that the chap had spent £10k on and although pretty lacked an awful lot of character!

[colwyn500]

[peter scott]

[petermeachem]

I don't see the point in just replacing everything to make it look immaculate, you might as well just buy a new car. My seats are horrific, the front ones are badly split. But they car would look wrong with new, so I shall repair them.
I am somewhat averse to anything new, I am much happier repairing old. The only stuff I take to the tip is genuine rubbish but so many people throw out perfectly reasonable stuff. It's an environmental thing with me, people are much too keen to chuck out and replace. I've got some 30's DIY books, they repaired everything.

[colwyn500]

[Penguin45]

The previous owner of my 18/85 kept it alive by building a MkIII 1800 into it. He said that he threw the leather interior away because it was cracked and dirty and it looked much better with the skinny vinyl seats from the MkIII.

It took me seven years to find a replacement MkI Wolseley interior, and even that was in vinylide (which was an option). It does now look "right" and the odds on finding a correct blue leather interior are probably almost exactly zero. The budget will never extend to having a leather interior made.

P45.
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'67 Wolseley MkI 18/85, '70 Austin MkII 1800 The Landcrab Forum.

[P3steve]

I keep wishing someone would take mine away and restore it but alas just checked the garage and its still there, oh well keep my fingers crossed. Back to the show "car SOS" of all these types of shows around at the moment I still think this is the best of the bunch.
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If the world didn't suck we'd all fall off