John McM

Gives a flavour of the ' 80s if you weren't there

kiwi 911

Repeat post.

Maxem

$8k approx. too much for a kiwi boy like me.

gt38088

expensive but nice seats though - once the money is spent you would probably think its well spent and be really happy. The leather quality likely worth the premium.

A friend of mine restored a vintage Aston an used Connolly hides. I have to say it is very noticeably superior to most interiors that you would come across

John McM

Getting into the Turbo 3.6 is an occasion, in part because of the leather. Can't say the same about the leather in the 996TT or the Golf GTI. I assume that's because buyers don't value or aren't willing to pay the additional cost for the leather that Porsche put into the older cars.

Dave, not sure your car will have the same target market as the latter cars. It's probably more of a Macca and Graeme buyer that will indulge. Sounds like they would appreciate special seats. Easy to say when it's not my $ but it's a point to consider. Nothing worse than knowing you short changed yourself.

Macca

^^^ Dave. These are wise words. The seats could definitely make the car. Having done things twice because I was never satisfied with the cheaper route I know that at this juncture is the critical decision.

i wonder if there is any way of getting those seats down to 6K landed. I know how to help with the GST but what about having them shipped without painted backs (you could disassemble them and paint the seat backs black or something yourself. The nZD:USD FX rate is still better than its been in 10 years so you have that going for you. Surely there may be a couple of smaller changes you could make to get the seats into a 6K budget - thats $2500 USD a seat given the base price is $1000 seems in my mine to leave plenty of wiggle room if you can get cheaper shipping and GST.

The seats really could make this car. No pressure mate :-)

Maxem

No short changing here - The quality of the leather will be lovely, no question. I've enquired around the globe and here in NZ and sourcing hides of the required quality, grade and texture is quite easy it seems, just have to get the colour right. The other thing that puts me off importing 8k of readymade seats is the inability to try before you buy here in NZ. They just might not fit well.
The seats themselves are Fibreglass race buckets which I have sourced to suit my fit, and they are comfortable for me so that ticks that box. The mods will add the period look.
My forecast of 3-3.5k for the seats alone is mostly leather and local trimming so I believe the result will be quality plus - leather sorted - trimmer; need a good one. Your buckets turned out quite good Macca in terms of workmanship? a similar result would do me. The balance saved will allow the rest of the approx 3 hides to be used for most other surfaces in the car. It will be a leather fest. Might be some left for a pair of 3/4 lederhosen.
Easy to say all that but I'm confident .....

Maxem

Just looked at you note about the Porsche leather aroma, john. I don't think that will be possible to recreate that short of buying period Porsche leather. My BMW has it's own smell which is different to an old 911 but still leathery and nice all the same. I am colour first, texture second and the smell will be the smell but it is unlikely to be old 911....might smell like an old jag or Roller, or a gentleman's club, who knows?

John McM

Must be a product of the tanning and/or finishing dyes etc. I have two chesterfields from the same manufacturer but made 15 years apart. The old one definitely smells better. Probably some things we don't want to know about as it used to be a gruesome process...,google it. Maybe there is a use for all of the dog feces collected on Madills farm?

John McM

Just posted on the 964 FB site. I am completely biased but I am continually surprised by the money being put into these cars.

Maxem

If I could get near that colour, I'd be happy

gt38088

ok so here is the solution
http://racetech.co.nz/shop/seats/street
for a small amount of money use a racetech shell from the link above you can then get them to custom fit the foam padding to fit you and then put your own leather over it all. The basic shell only $500+
No allergy and not worth the effort to make your own at that price. All done for $2.5-3k I bet

kiwi 911

John, what is the original seat??

Does anyone know where Singer get their seats from??
.

Macca

Hi David. My experiences in this area were not conclusive. I had one set of seats upholstered locally. The workmanship was fine but they took far too long and cost far too much (round $2K the pair including leather). That was 10 years ago. The other set I had done by the manufacturer in Asia and the work is fine. I also had a mare of a time finding someone who could reproduce "classic grey" leather and must have collected samples form at least 3-4 suppliers. The Porsche tannery no longer makes the leather and they were using a different process and leather (very fine grain) back in the early 90s. Later reproductions are on a coarser grain leather which does not gather or dimple like the original hide.

One thing I can guarantee form my own experience is that you will become an expert in all things upholstery and leather by the time you have finished. Its like LSDs and gearboxes. Ask me a question about gear sets for the G50 6 speed or LSD for 993 now and Ill probably have a pretty good stab at the answer, two weeks ago not so much....LOL!

Macca

Graemes onto something there Dave. Looks like they have the perfect style half chair for $500. Drop them in the leather and ask them to make the covers then install the headrest hardware and order a headrest on ebay and recover yourself could be the trick for under 1500 a side? You may have already exhausted this avenue...