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MG MGA - Leather or vinyl upholstery

I'm planning to reupholster the seats in my roadster which is a driver not a show car. Leather upholstery kits are a good deal more expensive than vinyl and I'm wondering whether vinyl might actually be more practical than leather in a roadster. If leather is much better then it may be worth the extra dollars - I'd appreciate comments.
Keith Morris

Keith

The correct upholstery kits for the MGA should be a mix of leather and 'vynyl'. The company saved money by only using leather on the wearing surfaces.

Personally, the mixture of leather and engine oils give cars like the MGA that unique aroma.

Steve
Steve Gyles

I think you should invest in leather, not because it is more practical, but because it so much part of the whole MG(A) experience. The smell, feel and annual(?) needed TLC are unbeatable?

Apart from that if you ever want to sell the car, buyers will always doubt the quality of the whole car because of it; "on what other parts did he economize?" and this will reflect in a lower price?
Willem van der Veer

Hi Keith,

Whilst leather can get a bit sticky in the summer, vinyl is much worse.

Look out for the kits that are leather front and base and vinyl backs, as these are usually much cheaper than the "full leather" kits.

Good luck,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

Keith, if your car is an Australian built car then vinyl is in keeping with originality.

I recently trimmed my A with a vinyl kit from Scarborough Fare and have been very happy with the result. Indeed most people comment how nice the "leather" trim is!

Steven


S HILL

Mine are ex-Australia vinyl, and still original apart from the seat base foams. I found them when restoring my car (which came without any interior, including a lack of floors), as a guy was converting his car to a Rallye car with bucket seats. They clean up well, don't suffer if they get wet, and look as though they belong.

Who else has got original seat covers?
dominic clancy

Mine is all original - started life as red and has now gone a nice tan/light brown colour. As a matter of interest there seems to have been only one 'red' as far as leather upholstery is concerned for the MGA and the part of my seats which has been protected from the sun is a nice red colour, unlike most new red seats that you see these days which are more of a burgundy shade. Why is this, where did this colour come from?

Phil Parmenter
P Parmenter

Do what I did.
Buy a full leather hide on Ebay and have your upholsterer rebuild the seats and door panels in COMPLETE leather. $135.00 US for the FULL cow hide in soft supple black automotive leather and $350.oo Can for the upholsterer to do his work. The other good thing about this, besides the savings is you do not have to build the seat kit yourself. All you do is install the finished product. My way $500.00 Can VS Moss kit App.$1500.00 US or more.

If you are at the British Invasion in Stowe Vermont (sept 14-17)....drop by the Island Green MGA Coupe and take a look at my seats and door panels. Very nice.

Gordon
Gordon Harrison

I have a TD originally exported to New Zealand from new. The seats are vinyl as far as I can see, but I always thought they should have been leather from new. Perhaps this is not the case.
Is it possible to give vinyl that leather smell?
H BUCKELDEE

I put vinyl in my first two MGAs. Back in the late '60s, that was all I could find or afford. Never cared for the look or feel of the vinyl. My third "A" is slowly emerging from a long hibernation, and I'm hoping to restore the original leather, even if it is a bit weathered and worn.

Ken
k v morton

Thanks for the comments.

Dominic, do the Australian seats look the same as the normal ones? My car is Australian built but I don't think the seat covers are original (they look more like the 'competition' seats than the usual ones). I have the original seat base foams (very crumbly) and horse hair pads though so you can imagine how uncomfortable the seats are!
Keith Morris

I have run vinyl in my 1600 for over 20 years. They have held up beatifully. The AMCO kit was given to me and being poor at the time was just the ticket. I filled in the worn parts of the seat frame with old socks and rags and when I missed the smell of leather I held the key fob under my nose. I am waiting for them to wear out so I can replace them with leather and totally rebuild these antiques.
David Holmes

David

Brilliant! Though I am not sure that old socks and engine oil gave you or your passengers a passable aroma for 20 years.

I have just had a look at the receipts from my rebuild in 1997. The leather seat kits (original spec) cost me £235 + 17.5% tax ($470 + tax) from Bob West. Seems quite good value to me and probably not much more now.

Steve
Steve Gyles

I disassembled one of the seats yesterday and the smell of 50 year old horse hair obviously appealed to my dog Sam!!


Keith Morris

Nice photo Keith - I would go with leather everytime - even if CKD cars in OZ had vinyl - ask yourself why they were and the answer is probably cost saving - so put it back to what the UK designers originally intended - cheers Cam
Cam Cunningham

There were 928 MGA 1500 CKD kits sent to Australia, the first 72 included leather seats, the remainder (chassis # 35456 on) did not include interior trim material.
From chassis # 35456 on, vinyl was used in place of leather and was sourced locally in Australia. The reason for this was to satisfy local content laws, and to keep the manfacturing cost down.

Garry
Garry Kemm

Steve, Phil,
Isn't this the explanation as to the two different colours ? The leather fades and the vinyl doesn't.
The wearing parts eg what you sit on, are leather and as in my case the burgundy goes a sort of brown whereas the dash roll for instance is vinyl and has stayed "burgundy".
David
D C GRAHAME

My car's chassis number is 35465, the 82nd CKD car built in Australia so originally it would have had vinyl seats.

Gordon, I'll talk to some upholsterers and see what the costs here would be to get some seats made up. Did they need the originals for patterns?
Keith Morris

Keith
Here's a picture of my seats - no idea why the BBS software seems to rotate the picture, please just lean your head to the left!



dominic clancy

I have both leather and vinyl. While both get quite hot sitting in the Southern California summer sun, the vinyl gets much hotter. I have a photo of red "burn" marks on my back in the perfect pattern of the early MGB seats. Looks almost like a tattoo.
Steve Simmons

David,

The original trim was bright "poppy" red. This can be seen on any original bits of trim never exposed to light or contamination. The burgundy shade is a more recently introduced aftermarket colour.

Neil
Neil McGurk

Keith,
I was lucky, (I have a Coupe) so that my seats were torn but usable as samples. There are plenty of pics out there to show the design of the seats. If you decide to go the upholsterer way, I bought my leather from Keystone Leather Company (on Ebay). Look up the heading "leather hides". I found them to be very helpfull. If you buy a full hide you will be surprised how big it is. This is good because you can then have your seats and door panels made "completely" in leather.

Ask them for samples and show your upholsterer so that he can decide which is best for your car.

Believe me when I say that you can save money this way and end up with a great looking interior for you "A".

Gordon
Gordon Harrison

Steve S. Too bad you did not have an MG logo on your seats for that "Tatoo". Then the burn marks would fit you. "NUTS"
JEFF BECKER

This thread was discussed between 06/09/2007 and 10/09/2007

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