thedugger1

I recently purchased a 1983 928S with only 46K. It has an interesting cloth interior that was special ordered. I believe it is very similar to material that was offered in the 924 around the same time. It's a tweed in red and white. There is some wear on the bolster and at the base of one of the rear seats. Here's my dilemma. I like the fact that it's original and that it was special order. I do think it's a bit ugly, not that style that the pasha or leather offers. I also worry about the wearing of the seats and difficulty obtaining a good repair match.

Would you guys recommend a seat cover? If so, which supplier might provide one in burgundy? It would be a sin to fully recover so I would love to get some ideas.

Thanks in advance!!

thedugger1

Here's a pic

karl ruiter

The main suppliers that folks here use are Rob Budd and Paul Champaign. Rob offers better prices and delivery while Pual's offerings are a little more DeLux. There are also folks that advertise covers on ebay for quite good prices, but their standard offernings are vinyl and I would be worried about fit and support. They have told me thay can do leather for an additional charge.

thedugger1

I did look into both those suppliers, but that would mean removing the existing covers, which in the effort to maintain originality, I'm trying to avoid. What I'm thinking of is either:

1. Repair bolster (if I can find a source), but still have the less than attractive seat.
2. Recover, but lose the originality.
3. Seat Cover. While most are pretty terrible looking, I would love to finding something decent that would help asthetically as well as minimize wear to the original seat.
4. Or...and good ideas from other owners!

linderpat

I have an original 9.5 out of 10 pascha interior. To preserve the seats somewhat, I use a sheepskin cover on them. It only covers the top side, and is easily removed for car shows. It l;ooks nice and is quite comfortable. No cover will preserve the underlying seat though - those deep seat seams are glued. Paul C has a permanent fix, and as insurance, I'm thinking of sending my seat bottomes to him for his fix. Still, the cover keeps them clean and less wear on the material itself.

karl ruiter

If you feel that the origonal seats are valuable and worth preserving, you might think about pulling them out and storing them. You can get core seats for a quite low price and then recover them. I don't much like slip covers except for service or strorage, but others might feel differently. I had the 'Wet Okole' covers in my '82 for a while, but they were expensive and they faded and they wore.
If you wanted to repair them, there are a couple of companies that just sell old german auto fabrics, and they might have yours. If you can find it, ask if P.C. would do the replacement work. You might ask the P.O. if the fabric was something he specified or that the factory sourced.
If you don't want to have two sets of seats, you might be able to pull these covers off intact and preserve them and slip new covers on for regular use. The rear seats are easy to swap and don't take up much storage space.

vze2jshn

Go to: aro2000.com and look for your fabric. Then check with Putt Georgi regarding availability.

Nicole

The fabric is called "Berber".

thedugger1

Overall, what do you all think is my best approach from a collectability/resale value standpoint? I'm not selling it, but I would hate to make a move that would diminish the car's value.

Thanks again for all your advice!!

vze2jshn

I would strive to repair/refurbish with original material. Seems you've got a somewhat unique or rare original interior that's worth the effort. If replacement cloth is not currently available it may become available in the future. That was my experience with my Pascha blue/black. Checking with Bob Budd,Putt Georgi (aro2000.com), classic-car-solutions.de and other sources from time to time may yield positive results.

Landseer

I would consider value diminshed if non-porsche seats were substituted, if covers were used, or if inferior materials or workmanship used to "improve" this set.

Value increase might would be possible if substituting matched leather comfort seats into that interior, or if the originals were tastefully and carefully rebuilt. Better yet, both. But the ROI will be negative in all cases. (Car value may tick up a tiny bit, but only 1/10 of what you invest --- but you know that.)

The only folks I'd use to recover a 928 recaro are ones that specialize. They've been named already. (DIY semi-pro Dean Fuller has carefully recovered a set in cloth recently, too, but I don't know if he has developed the skill/craft any further and gained experience doing more of them).

From an overall value perspective, you can loose or stay the same, but probably will not ever gain over the appropriate premium price paid for the (very nice) car. Do what feels good and drive / enjoy while we still have the access to petrol.

Five-8

Something that comes to mind...you could have an upholsterer re do the bolster sections only, in the plain vinyl/leather(i can't tell), while leaving the centre seating sections intact if they are in good condition.A good colour match with vinyl to match the existing outer sections should not be difficult .Have your upholster save the removed bolster fabric which will allow for future repairs to the seating sections should it be required.Its a compromise i know...but were i in your position i would consider it.They would no longer be originals(technically), but pretty close.

FWIW

Cheers

Adrian

thedugger1

I think that might be a great idea. Then I don't have to risk a bad match on the fabric and can use the left over bolster material for that small section in the rear.

I really do appreciate everyone's insight.

pcar928fan

Adrian, has a good idea there... Here is the situation though... You are going to wear a cloth seat out WAY faster than if it were all leather... Finding decent burgundy seats should not be overly difficult...it was a fairly common interior color in the early years. You might be able to put the SWEET originals in storage keeping an eye out for the correct material for a good repair while leaving the rear seat backs folded down for greater protection from sun, etc for them.

Then when it comes time to sell, you have the decent leather seats in the car and the really nice berber seats for any collector who might want to go back to complete stock. Even better (to me anyway) would be to find enough Berber to redo both front seats and both back seats and then just fix the front seat and rear seat and sit on the rest of the Berber for that day when a full restoration is deemed appropriate! The car could then easily be brought back to as new condition (at least with regards to what may be a difficult to find cloth these days for the seats).