1952 Split Cab Seat Upholstery

[Evan Lomas]

I recently acquired a 52’ Splitwindow cabriolet. It was factory optioned with “comfort seats” and they’re covered in the wrong material. Is there a good source for correct patterned front seat covers? Stoddard lists seat covers starting from 1952, but I’m unsure if it would be correct for an early 52’ car. I’m also looking for a rear bench seat cover and pad. Any help would be appreciated!

[Jules Dielen]

You need bedford cord with 'short' waves for a 52. It is quite unique. Sms in Oregon has something very close in blue. If you need beige/ tan, check with Keymer in Holland.

[James Davies]

Do you have the Reutter certificate for the car? If so, what seat material does it list? And if you don't, then that's the first step.

"comfort seats" is probably mistranslated from reclining seat for the passenger? This was typical of Hoffman 1951-53. Where does the term "comfort seats" come from? The COA? Generally Hoffman cars were delivered with a non-reclining driver seat and a reclining passenger seat. Or it could refer to the rear seat cushion being the thicker type that was standard by the 1952 model year, but also had been standard by late 1951 as well. Unclear.

As for "covers" you will not find anyone who does them correctly off-the-shelf, especially for a split-window cab. Splits are unique. You will have to send your seats somewhere to get them done properly. But virtually nobody does seats properly these days either, including the well-known places.

Note that split front seats have the boomerang hinges welded to the seat back and chromed. And the seat back upholstery then covers almost the whole top part.

It's a Hoffman cabriolet, so it would have likely had leather at the front and vinyl on the sides and back. Do you have the color code for the leather? I suspect it is Reutter's Weinrot? You'll need to find glossy smooth leather for the front. It was originally supplied by Roser of Stuttgart, no longer in business. Both Porsche and Mercedes used it. It was veg tanned, surface pigmented leather. No grain to speak of.

Guido at Reutter has attempted to have Roser leather reproduced.

https://reutter-karosserie.de/en/Interi ... ality.html

But I wasn't impressed with the sample I got for the grey - wrong shade, not shiny enough and not smooth enough. Perhaps you'll have better luck.

Whatever you do, don't look at other restored cars to figure out what the seats originally looked like. Look at period photos or unrestored cars.

[Jules Dielen]

Ugh, thank you James. I missed the cab part

[Evan Lomas]

Hey James, thank you for all the excellent info. Yes, the COA states comfort seats. I have contacted Guido about another car I have, 356A #55001 and have received no response even after placing an order for the Reutter book months ago.

[Jules Dielen]

Welcome to that club too:(

[James Davies]

The fact that your car has a bunch of its original leather means that you can just start looking for something similar to match. Note that the original leather is vegetable tanned and surface pigmented, i.e. painted. So if you're going to clean the original stuff, be careful. The surface paint is essentially nitrocellulose lacquer, very similar to the paint on the bodies of the cars.

But you may just want to get pigmented veg tanned leather and surface pigment it yourself, or find a shop that can do that for you. A furniture restoration shop will be skilled at this.

[Albert Haefner]

52 is a long year with a lot of alterations. Without vin no correct answer will be possible.
Albert PreA registry.

[Evan Lomas]

Hey Albert, it’s 10266. Built late April 52’.

[Evan Lomas]

Also, does anyone know what headliner material they were using in April 1952? It’s a Reutter Cabriolet.

[Albert Haefner]

Drew's car! First: best is to order the Reutter certificate. I can do this for you. It is 356 EUROS plus shipping. You can Paypal. Looks like this

Reutter certificate 60552.pdf

(824.48 KiB) Downloaded 10 times

[James Davies]

So "comfort seats" is not a thing. This is a mistranslation of "1 Schlafsitz", literally one sleeping seat, or more accurately, 1 reclining seat. Hoffman almost always provided a reclining passenger seat on the cars in 1952 (and the deluxe cars in 1953).

So the actual list of features:

Telefunken radio w/antenna
1 reclining seat
turbo rings
slotted wheels
??? (can't read writing)
reinforced bumpers
tachometer in miles

All of these things were standard on all 1952 model year Hoffman cars, including the radio and turbo rings. I have not seen a 1952 Hoffman car without them in period photos.

You might find the original leather front seat material underneath the lousy seat covers that are currently on the car.

This is a great car. The folding top frame has the original Sand beige color. Not a great color for these cars, but it doesn't look bad with the brown top. I've seen a few of these.

[James Davies]

Reutter used one of 2 headliners - a fuzzy flannel twill on coupes and some cabs, and a patterned fabric on cabs that continued in use into cabs well into the late 1950s and is still available from the same company.

https://cabrio.de/en/Headliner-Porsche- ... 56CAT56.OR

Below is an image showing both. Grey is fuzzy stuff and beige is the patterned. Sometimes one was used as a liner for the other, as here. They didn't waste anything.

To know which your car came with a Reutter certificate will help. My guess would be beige.

[Evan Lomas]

Hey Albert, I submitted for the Reutter book from Guido on another car I have, 356A #55001, and haven’t heard back. I submitted that 3 months ago. If they get back to me I’ll likely order the book for 10266 as well.

[Evan Lomas]

Thank you James for the great info. Yes I have the Kardex and COA that you posted. It’s a great car. Just want to make sure I do my best to correct what I can while it’s in my possession