The Official 356Talk Forum

Hi - my 1953 Coupe has what appears to be a headliner with material resembling "Mohair".. is this what would have come on the car from the factory?

Regards

Steve

Yes. It is a brushed cotton twill. Is yours tan or grey?

Thanks for your response, - mine is tan. this information will be very helpful with my restoration

Best Regards
Steve

Cool Steve. The usual interior trimming suspects offer a synthetic cloth which is of poor quality but very similar to the original, and a wool option, which looks the part from the front side, but of course the original was not wool.

LeBaron Bonney provides a brushed cotton twill that is the correct color. Basically identical to the original Nice and fuzzy like the original stuff Reutter used.

https://www.lebaronbonney.com/cart/fabr ... php?ic=160

My '53 Super has grey leather/corduroy with grey headliner. What other colors are used on your interior? Beige leather/cord?

Hi James - I am still undecided on the color (exterior or interior) the car came from the factory in Azure Blue with Gray Leatherette. I have owned the car since 1972 and will own it until I leave this planet, that said, I'm not concerned with resale value or original colors. I think I'm going to go with either Ivory exterior with a light tan leather and dark brown piping for the interior or Pasha Red and Gray interior.

Regards
Steve

Well, Lebaron is no longer selling the headliner material. Out of stock and they do not know if they will have it again. Any other supplier?
Ignacio

Hello, If you have a very good old fashioned drapery store or a fabric store with knowledgeable enthusiastic people that you can get to and have a sample I have found that they are a font of knowledge at identifying cloth. I have used both, a drapery store were great at identifying the type of fine cotton I needed to use as the inner wrap around on the hardboard panels before the stuffing and vinyl. I also have a big fabric store that sells what seems to be every type of cloth and ancillary items in existence plus repairs and restores household upholstery relatively close to me. With samples they were able to instantly know what type of cloth and then worked with sample swatches to get the colour or, as in the case of the vinyl, the colour and grain, they also were a great help in telling me what to get for the various internal stuffing stuff. If you do not know exactly what you want it's not possible over the internet, it's a looky & touchy feely thing, you have things like thread count, weft, warp, some might be too fluffy etc. At the end of the day it's a bolt of cotton or wool of a certain colour and it's likely someone has it or something so close it's impossible to tell the difference. I also found that the people running these shops were working at their hobby so could not have been more helpful.
Hope it helps.
V

The A-804 Taupe is pretty darn close too. I don't think you'd be able to tell the difference with the original once installed in the car. In fact, it's a desaturated version of the A-803. Looks like its been aging a bit. =)

I'll ask them to see if that one is still available. Interestingly enough they did not offer it as an alternative for the exhausted stock of the one I enquired. Even when I told them it was for a 53 coupe....how much material will be needed for a full headline?
Ignacio

Hi Ignacio,

I just measured the original headliner from my car. If the material is at least 48 inches wide, you should be good with 2 yards, or at least 60 inches.

Thanks a James, I sent them an email about those two fabrics availability. I'll report with their answer.
Ignacio