Sitting pretty
AFTER SOME 60 YEARS, the driver’s seat of the Delage was looking more than a little sorry for itself, its dry cracked leather having gone beyond the recuperative powers of regular applications of hide food. The stitching was disintegrating, too.
Installed around 1960 by thenowner Richard Barton, the upholstery had replaced a wartime retrim with secondhand leather taken from an old four-seater Hillman by Dr Gerald ‘Bob’ Ewen when he had carried out the modifications that I had at last decided to reverse. So – as there was no originality to preserve – I felt no qualms in deciding it was time to have the seat retrimmed.
Happily, my corner of northwest Essex is a ‘go-to’ area for restoration, with specialist firms great and small catering to the needs of vintage and classic cars within a few miles of home. Newly arrived in the area is Neil Johnson’s T&M Trimming in High Easter.
T&M has been in business for almost 25 years, and has built up an enviable reputation for the quality of its work. It was able to slot in the re-making of the seats while the new screen took shape at P&A Wood, and then have the car
in the workshop for the final fitting and finishing while the screen was away being nickel-plated.
Neil had already bought the hides and explained that the bright scarlet finish represented the underlying colour of the old seats. ‘When they’re finished,’ he explained, ‘they will be much darker, matching the existing trim.’ That part of the operation is down to specialist leather restorer Alan Button of Hideworks, who works in tandem with Neil.
After a discussion of the changes I wanted made to the ‘sit’ of the cushions – since the seats have no means of adjustment, I’d had to chock the old cushions to suit my driving position – the first stage was to strip the old seats down to the basic structure. This proved to be sound apart from a broken coil spring, so that was replaced and the refurbished springs encased in hessian. New horsehair padding was added to create the final shape, and new leather was pleated and temporarily attached so I could try it for comfort. It was just right!
The finished seats were then handed over to Alan to work his magic. What he does is add what I can only descibe as ‘mellowness’; colouring and finishing to give the leather an appearance a world away from the clumsy faux patina that I’ve seen on some trim restorations. The upholstery just looks as though it’s gracefully aged with the car in the hands of that proverbial one careful owner.
Next, back to P&A Wood for the fitting of that new vee screen.