Use of Tan Acella or leatherette in early speedsters

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Gary Cox
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Use of Tan Acella or leatherette in early speedsters

#1 Post by Gary Cox »

I would appreciate comments on the use of tan Acella vs leatherette in the early red or blue speedsters. The Type 540 book seems to indicate that the leatherette was introduced at car 80572. Was tan leatherette material not used prior to this for seats and door panels? I recently looked at a blue speedster, about 80250 or so, and it had smooth beige leatherette on the seats, door panel, dash, etc. Curious if this would be considered correct?
Gary Cox
Baton Rouge, LA

1958 356A Speedster
1967 912 (356D)

 

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C J Murray
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Re: Use of Tan Acella or leatherette in early speedsters

#2 Post by C J Murray »

Hi Gary. Your question will get many answers and many of those will be wrong. My car came with its complete original interior when I bought it in 1994. The car had 49k miles and had been parked since 1964 in the very spot where I found it. When I mentioned to the local SE PA restorer guru how the interior was being done he mocked me on a number of points. One was the color of the dash vinyl, two the shade of beige vinyl, and three the texture of the vinyl. He was wrong on all counts, for my car. For some other car or some other year maybe, maybe not, but my car left the factory the way you see it in the pictures. 18 years ago none of the normal vendors cataloged the beige vinyl and they thought it should have the Acella which was hard to get at that time. So through some effort my local upholstery guy found a supplier that was able to match the sample he gave them from a virgin piece that was cut from the innards of the seat.

"Experts" kept telling me that all the cars left the factory with seats and dash vinyl matching but I didn't care and did it as I found the original. Some years after my car was completed there was a picture of an unrestored aquamarine blue non-metallic car in the Registry magazine that was quite close to my 83405 and the interior was done exactly the same way as mine but with dark blue vinyl where mine is red. I also got a bit of confirmation from Chuck House who is experienced with unrestored cars.

Anyway, I don't know how your car was originally but I get the feeling that Acella was used on real early cars, maybe only pre-A but let's see what the "experts" say and see if a pattern forms.

I posted a few pics to show different lighting. The shift knob is original but it is not original. :wink:
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'57 Speedster
'59 Sunroof
'60 Devin D Porsche Race Car
'63 Cabriolet "Norm"
'67 911 S Original Owner
'03 Ferrari 575M
'09 Smart Passion

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C J Murray
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Re: Use of Tan Acella or leatherette in early speedsters

#3 Post by C J Murray »

The assumed reason that Porsche did not use light colors on the dash is because of sun glare.
'57 Speedster
'59 Sunroof
'60 Devin D Porsche Race Car
'63 Cabriolet "Norm"
'67 911 S Original Owner
'03 Ferrari 575M
'09 Smart Passion

User avatar
C J Murray
356 Fan
Posts: 9158
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:24 pm
Location: 30MI WEST OF PHILA
Contact:

Re: Use of Tan Acella or leatherette in early speedsters

#4 Post by C J Murray »

Obviously I missed the obvious, "Pre A Corner".

Even still, I don't see pre a cars with Acella at Holidays but I am sure that material was used on some pre-A Speedsters. Is this because the material is difficult to source? Is it difficult to source like I was led to believe in 2000? Is it readily available today? Surely somebody has pictures to post??? I am very curious to see when Acella was used by the factory and what they used on the dash of those cars.
'57 Speedster
'59 Sunroof
'60 Devin D Porsche Race Car
'63 Cabriolet "Norm"
'67 911 S Original Owner
'03 Ferrari 575M
'09 Smart Passion

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