Restoration Poll - Leather or MB Tex?

[JeffreyNMemphis]

Hello Peaches,

I value your opinions, experience and wisdom so I ask you to please comment and vote on the poll.

The restoration of "Goldie Locks" is in the planning stage and I have some options regarding the seats.



Original Leather Seats with Horsehair Padding




Door Panels are MB TEX


The original seats are leather. They have dried out. There are a few tears/rips in the leather. The horsehair padding is dried out and turning to dust at the touch. The door panels are covered with MB TEX; they are in pretty good shape and a good cleaning is what I am planning.

The seat padding will certainly be replaced. There are 3 possible ways that I am considering to restore/recover the seats:

1. Replace front and rear seats, head rests and arm rest with Leather ($2500)

2. Replace front and rear seats, head rests and arm rest with MB TEX ($1500)

3. Use a product to restore moisture and suppleness to original seats and dye them original color. The rips and tears can be patched from behind. The finished product would look like worn leather that is uniform in color. ($500)

4. Other options? What else could I do?

These are listed in order of most expensive to least expensive. If I knew that the car would be worth X plus cost to install real leather I would do that. If I knew that installing MB TEX instead of the original leather reduced the value by an amount greater than $1,000 (difference in cost of Leather versus MB TEX) I would choose new Leather. If I knew that this car could NEVER sell for more than price of new MB TEX ($1500), I would put new padding and repair/restore original leather and dye it.

The goal is to make a choice that adds value equal or greater than the expense. What would provide the greatest return? If money grew on trees we probably would all choose leather. If you knew you had to sell the car, would you maximize by option one, two or three?

Can you comment on the ultimate value of "Goldie Locks" assuming that it will be in perfect mechanical condition, near perfect body, near perfect paint, and immaculate interior?

So, please tell me what you think?

[vwkess]

My first choice would be to restore the original. Leatherique and dye can do wonders. If they are too far gone, I would spend the extra $$ and put leather back in it. The rest of that car looks to be in nice enough shape to warrant that.

[mak]

with a w111 coupe , my choice would be original leather repair or a High quality leather replacement .
280C; here you have a choice to opt for MB tex or leather ,wonder if you have the option of the European valour fabric . very comfortable and good to look at. I guess this is the car that came with the Becker radio.
mak

[daw_two]

I would invest some personal hours to try to refresh the existing leather.

[johnathan1]

You know, I think there are foam strips inside each pleat of those seats that could be disintegrating as well. I've never heard of anyone replacing those, don't know if it's even feasible. Without those, the seats would look board flat, as they do now.

Also, another thought is that when repairing the rips/cracks, you will have to use crack filler, and then dye over it. The filled spots won't have the natural leather grain, and will start to crack through the dye after not too long. IMO, you would be better served replacing it. If originality is important to you, I would stay with leather. MB Tex would be fine though, as well and would last even longer! Do you plan on using this car heavily?

[winecountryone]

I would look around for a set of good used seats.If needed the horsehair could be replaced by either modern style foam or replacement horsehair at about 100$ per seat.What you see as far as cracking etc is what "makes or breaks" the overall look.
I do believe you can stick new foam down in the pleats to build them up if needed.
As for leather vs tex unless you are building a show quality car it really isn't an issue.Leather requires much more care to keep it looking new.

[JeffreyNMemphis]

These cars are disappearing rapidly. Ten years ago, you could find them stacked high in the junk yards. Recently, I searched a sample of the local salvage yards looking for a period correct radio and could not find any Mercedes older than mid-nineties.

I would consider buying a complete set of "parchment" colored seats that are in excellent condition. But that should be especially rare and expensive since the car with nice seats will be a restoration candidate. Do you know someone who completely wrecked a W114 but the seats are good? If the W114 is being parted out, it is usually worn out.

My dilemma is this; If I spend $2,500 for new seats, would it raise the whole car's value by at least $2500? For example: If the car was a $5,000 car with perfect mechanicals, new tires, excellent body and paint, excellent dash, carpet, headliner, door panels; would it be a $7500 car with new leather seats? Would it be a $6500 car with new leather front seats and the original back seat dyed and re-padded? The difference in price between vinyl and leather is small enough to choose leather or nothing.

[thorsen]

$2500 for leather or $1500 for MB Tex? It's a no-brainer - leather all the way.

[Skid Row Joe]

I've only owned MBs with leather seating surfaces. I've found the leather doesn't always wear that well vs. MB Tex.

Growing up, my folks bought new MB diesels with MB Tex - 'cause that's how they came.

[Maki]

Originally Posted by winecountryone

I would look around for a set of good used seats.If needed the horsehair could be replaced by either modern style foam or replacement horsehair at about 100$ per seat.What you see as far as cracking etc is what "makes or breaks" the overall look.
I do believe you can stick new foam down in the pleats to build them up if needed.
As for leather vs tex unless you are building a show quality car it really isn't an issue.Leather requires much more care to keep it looking new.

I think that estimate for pads is way low. I replaced the cushion and backrest pads in a W123 coupe about 8 years ago, and it cost me almost $300 per front seat. And parts have gone way up since then. I'd bet that replacing the pads alone in this car is going to be easily north of $1,000.

That said, nothing can adequately substitute for the OE pads in an honest restoration. I originally voted for replacing with MB Tex, but on second thought I'd try to clean up the covers you have, replace the pads, repair or replace any broken springs. The rear seat actually looks pretty decent.

[JeffreyNMemphis]

Here is the before and after on my other 1973. The seats were leather so I replaced with leather. The back seat of the car was in good condition, so I used leather conditioner to rejuvenate and moisturize the leather. I only replaced the front seat covers. Maybe I should just replace the front seats on "Goldie Locks" and repad/condition/dye the back seat since it does not have any rips? It is just dry.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Graham]

I would use MBtex.

It is hard to tell that it is not leather and it wears very well.

I have leather on two cars and MBtex on another.

The '98 E320 leather is still fine, but starting to show some stress (100k miles)

The '72 350SL seats were leather and were replaced in 89 - They were completely shot (124k miles).

Our '85 300D has MBtex. Driver seat has one small area that has worn through. I have tried fixing it once and will try again. Other seats are perfect (250k miles)

BTW - who makes seat covers for early sedans?

[Maki]

The new seat covers on the sedan look excellent! On the coupe, I'd take both halves of the back seat out of the car, slather them liberally with Leatherque Rejuvenator Oil or equivalent, bag them in black trash bags and set them out in the sun for a day; then wipe them down and repeat. That should make them workable.

Hate to continue sounding like a grinch, but have you inquired anywhere about the availability of rear seat pads yet? I recall them becoming quite scarce for W116s. You might do an online inquiry with the MB Classic Center to see what they can get.

[JeffreyNMemphis]

World Upholstery and GAHH make seat covers that match original seats. I worked with a professional upholstery installer who ordered from GAHH on my last project seen above. I am still very happy with the result.

[JeffreyNMemphis]

The pads for just the front seats list for $590.00.