What kind of upholstery do you have?

[Don Henschel]

I was wondering how many different kind of cloths were available in the Mark II. According to my VIN tag I have a 3J2F interior. From what Lowell mentioned to me I should have deep green Matelasse biscuits. From what I have seen in my authenticity manual (yellow cover) the material doent look like the illustration shown in the manual. Mine looks more like a nylon weave. This is a picture of my door panel which uses the same cloth as the biscuits. What is it?
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx269/Henman_Moneypit/IMG_0001.jpg

[Nick DeSpirito]

Don,

That's not mattelese. Mattelese has a pattern, sort of like a flower woven into it. Could have they been recovered with broadcloth?

Shep has mattelese biscuits. Maybe he can take a picture of the fabric and post it here.

[ERI100]

Hi Nick
I will take some pictures of my interior tomorrow and post them .
With reference to the Mills show,I just spoke to Owen and informed him that I am not bringing my car to Mills. But would like to see everyone at his home afterward, he agreed with my summation of the dirt road at my farm.
It would take me over two days to clean the bottom and sides of the Mark II from all that mud, it is still snowing a little here, in Millbrook.
I love driving her, but never in bad weather, if I can avoid it.
Shepard

[Nick DeSpirito]

Shep,

Ditto here. Looks like rain all weekend. :( Will see you at Owen and Linda's for dinner. I will probably drive up in the '89 Continental.

I would appreciate it if you could take a picture of the interior fabric on your Mark II so we have an example of it here.

Thanks!

[ERI100]

Nick
I will take some interior shots over the weekend .
See you at Owens, I am taking my GL550. My road is a complete mess, just one big mud slick.
Shepard

[Barry Wolk]

My car does not have the original interior. It has an interesting interior combination that appeared on very few Mark IIs. The buttons are the color of the bolsters, not the biscuits. Lowell told me that there were just a few cars made this way, but some did come in opposing colors.

He also told me that all-red interiors were quite popular. That would be stunning with a black exterior.

[linmk2]

The interior of my Mark was changed long before I purchased it in the early 1980's. The "code" shows the color should be grey and white leather. The currently color red, does indeed look great on my black car. The material is a combination cloth/vinyl. Done in correct style, just not the proper material. Personally, the red looks worlds better then grey and white. But that's just me. I'm sure the correct color/material would be outstanding as well.

[SLK]

OK, now that I've seen Howard's car I've started to question my own. With the code 1E4L, it should be Deep Grey Leather Seat Biscuits and Medium Grey Leather Seat Bolsters. You can see that it's not deep grey and medium grey. I figured that they would have recovered the seats when the car was restored in the 90's, but would they have changed the dash and rear parcel tray as well?

[Mad Scientist]

I like the red interior. ;)

[Don Henschel]

Don,

That's not mattelese. Mattelese has a pattern, sort of like a flower woven into it. Could have they been recovered with broadcloth?

Shep has mattelese biscuits. Maybe he can take a picture of the fabric and post it here.

On the back side the cardboard does not have additional holes punched in it from the sewing machine. Just OEM. Also there are two ink stamps on the back of the panel I scanned.....Feb 9 1956 and CD 2 TRIM OK. .................................WT*@ we have two layers here! A careful incision and what have we got under here (other than crumbling sponge:mad:)
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx269/Henman_Moneypit/IMG_0002.jpg
More money to spend:( If it's got tits or tires it's going to cost money:rolleyes: I guess I will worry about this later and worry about the parts I ordered from Mad and arrange a method of payment and shipping!

[Nick DeSpirito]

Don,

That's the Mattelese fabric. Beautiful, isn't it? I figured your interior had been done over when I saw your pictures. I guess whoever redid it took the easy way out and put the new fabric over the old. Could be that the door panels are in good shape, unless they have water damage just under the vent window, which happens often on the Mark II due to bad weatherstripping and dog legs on the top front of the door which are there to direct water into the drain hole. But I'm sure the seat biscuits must be worn or else they would not have done everything over.

[Nick DeSpirito]

OK, now that I've seen Howard's car I've started to question my own. With the code 1E4L, it should be Deep Grey Leather Seat Biscuits and Medium Grey Leather Seat Bolsters. You can see that it's not deep grey and medium grey. I figured that they would have recovered the seats when the car was restored in the 90's, but would they have changed the dash and rear parcel tray as well?

Ben,

I wonder why they didn't recolor the steering wheel in red? It's still medium Gray.

[linmk2]

It appears on my car that a great deal of time was spent changing the color of the interior. The sun-visors were dyed as was the cover over the gauges, all the dash was painted (it appears that it was all taken apart), all the coverings on the interior railings and the package shelf, the steering column and wheel. The only grey items still showing are the door handle pulls and the gear shift knob. Gong back the this actual reason for this thread, I agree that the Mattelese fabric is certainly a handsome material.

[Mad Scientist]

I guess I will worry about this later and worry about the parts I ordered from Mad and arrange a method of payment and shipping!

Have you checked your PM file lately? There are some new pictures.

[Shawn Newcomb]

If anyone has any additional good tight shots of the matelasse or broadcloth from a survivor car or a faithfully restored car I would appreciate seeing them, the patterns, and colors. They are harder to imagine than leather.

I can't tell from the pics of the DSO car if the broadcloth was unique unto itself or similar to canvas or heavy denim or...

[Shawn Newcomb]

Also, with regard to the same color two-toned interiors and the leather dashes etc. I have yet to hear anyone answer how you know which color was used on the dashes, guages, armrests, and carpets? Does anyone know? Or could they? Would it have ever been documented?

For example a two-toned gray interior. Which would be carried throughout the rest of the interior? Was it standardized that it was always the darker color of the two or....? And how about all cloth interior cars? Who decided whether you got light, medium, or gray leather armrests and dash and sail panels? Which gray/grey would you get for carpet? Did it correspond to your welting color? And now after all these years how do you identify which tone gray/grey they were? Especially when the cloth has been replace nonstock.

How about two color interiors? Who chose which seat color was in the carpet, doors, etc..

[Barry Wolk]

You could choose whatever combinations you wanted if you ordered the car. You could customize colors, if you were willing to pay for it.

Otherwise, the cars ordered for dealer stock were likely what they wanted in inventory, unlike the early Introductory Units, which were picked by the in-house stylists. None of which were women, from what I understand.

[Shawn Newcomb]

IU is what mine was black and gray on gray. Until someone decided to be bold and brash and go gray on gray and gray. Woohoo that's livin':D

It would seem as if there are few answers to be had with the interiors of these cars then. You can do whatever you want. Nearly every car would be unique to a degree and it would be hard to for anyone to tell a guy with a blue steering wheel and a brown and white interior his wasn't right.