Looking for original "elephant" upholstery material

[DougAustinTx]

I want to keep the original upholstery in my '79 but the seams are letting go and the driver's seat has a torn panel. I have been looking for the original dark gray elephant hide material with very little success. The first photo is the seat in my 40. You guys who still have original seats know that the vinyl is sort of slick and hard and is backed with other material to make it less likely to tear. The second photo is some vinyl upholstery material that I found at a place called Schindlers that looks pretty close, but you can see it is not as hard and shiny as the original and probably wouldn't last 35 years like the real stuff did.
Has anyone found a source for the original upholstery material in recent years? I have been through all the threads and I know that there was a time when it was available, but how about now?

 

[3_puppies]

Did you check with Shane? I thought he had replacements

 

[AdamKFarmer]

'79 FJ40? Wasn't that the light grey? Mine doesn't look like that.

 

[Splangy]

'79 FJ40? Wasn't that the light grey? Mine doesn't look like that.

Looks like the correct material to me. The 1979+ material wasn't really light gray. It was more of a medium gray, but was certainly lighter than the dark gray used in earlier models.

X2 on checking with Shane.

 

[DougAustinTx]

Thanks Guys. I will PM Shane. However, I think I read an old thread of his where he said he'd have to order hundreds of yards of the stuff from overseas...... Maybe there wasn't enough interest.

 

[myquestoyota]

Here you go:

http://www.shop.metrictlc.com/1979-84-40-Series-Reproduction-Front-Bucket-Seat-Covers-T-04.htm

 

[DougAustinTx]

Thanks Quest. I ran into Shane's site last night. I only have one panel that is torn (on the edge of the driver's seat), so I am reluctant to pay $725 just to fix it. His seats do look good though. I PM'd Shane to ask if he would sell me some of the fabric and haven't heard back.

 

[Coastline]

Try Keyston Brothers. www.keystonbros.com

5036 Sharp Street
Dallas, TX 75247-6018
Phone: 214-765-6360

This company has been around since buffalo hides. What you need to find is the appropriate "pattern" or, emboss. Beyond Keyston, search for an upholstery supply / distributor that services all the upholstery shops in Texas. Ask them where they get their fabrics. If they don't want to tell you, just look around the stock shelves and display stuff and take down names and numbers. Keyston Bros doesn't represent every manufacturer.

Most of the "leather" in new cars is a vinyl laminate but, indistinguishable from leather, Hence the term : "Leather Trim", which means, by law, that some of the upholstery is leather. The rest is, well, really good fake stuff.

 

[crotalusatrox]

Try these guys
Downtown san antonio

http://www.saupholsteryfabrics.com/index.php


They also have a half off coupon on their site.

They call it faux leather

They can also sell you new foam,,,different density

Cheers

 

[DougAustinTx]

Try Keyston Brothers. www.keystonbros.com

5036 Sharp Street
Dallas, TX 75247-6018
Phone: 214-765-6360

This company has been around since buffalo hides. What you need to find is the appropriate "pattern" or, emboss. Beyond Keyston, search for an upholstery supply / distributor that services all the upholstery shops in Texas. Ask them where they get their fabrics. If they don't want to tell you, just look around the stock shelves and display stuff and take down names and numbers. Keyston Bros doesn't represent every manufacturer.

Most of the "leather" in new cars is a vinyl laminate but, indistinguishable from leather, Hence the term : "Leather Trim", which means, by law, that some of the upholstery is leather. The rest is, well, really good fake stuff.

I looked at some of the new products at Keyston Bros and they do look like they may have something close. I am going to give them a call on Monday. Will report back what I find, as there must be others besides me who just need to do repairs rather than complete changeouts of their seats.

 

[tucker74]

Will report back what I find, as there must be others besides me who just need to do repairs rather than complete changeouts of their seats.

The problem is once they start to crack, the rest of the seat isn't far behind (especially the bottom seams) :-(. The new vinyl is all going to be a more matte finish, yours came like when new but get shiny after years of use. If you find something there is a good old-school upholstery shop over off Jim Hogg in central Austin (Cardenas Upholstery), they will be able to fix you up ...

Tucker

 

[DougAustinTx]

Tucker:
The only bad spot on my seats is the small corner piece on the seat where the driver's behind hits it when you get in. It looks like a cut. My seats haven't cracked at all. The seams are coming unsewn because the thread is rotten. I took the passenger seat back apart last year and set my upholstery sewing machine to match the original hole spacing and sewed it back up. That's what I intend to do with the rest of the seats once I find a small piece of matching vinyl. I actually have another seat cover that I saved from another 40 and I might have to use a piece of that as a donor for my driver's seat. The old material is so much heavier and thicker than the new stuff that it makes me want to save it.