MTFCA Forum

I probably already know the answer to this question, but has anyone had ANY kind of success repairing/ patching a hole in damaged original T upholstery? Since it’s not leather I’m guessing it’s pretty difficult, but I really want to preserve the all original interior, and this is the only major hole.

Modified Bitumen roofing tar may do the trick according to Hugh Jass.

Bill is there any extra material on the underside of the seat? Perhaps someone has some material that has recently reupholstered their seats and has some material left from the original. Best John

What ever you do it probably won’t match to well. It would have to be enough underside of the seat or another piece of that style original material if you can find it at all. If it’s the leatherette type of material it may not restore as well as leather. It flakes off after age gets to it. Good luck.

It would be possible to unstitch the damaged pleats and replace them with new material. But it's unlikely that the new stitching could hold in the old, decayed material, and matching the texture and color of the old material isn't possible. If you aren't going to drive the car, sourcing some similarly distressed material might be an option, but if you want to use the car, re-doing the seat is the only option. It may be that if you used leather to reupholster the seats, it could be artificially "distressed" to resemble the other upholstery in the car or the general patina of the car, but still be durable enough for years of use. I don't think original material in that condition would stand up to any use at all.

Another option, if you want to use the car, would be to replace the seat cushions entirely with modern repro material and retain the original cushions as-is. Bag them and store them in a cool, dry place.

I've seen similar situations where folks have taken a piece of naugahyde and covered the hole by carefully tucking the edges of the new material under the edges of the original upholstery. After inserting the patch, you can sew the overlap around at the permiter but that may just make the situation worse if the original material tears easily. Otherwise, you could instead use Barge Cement or Tear Mender adhesive to glue the overlapping edges Hope how I described it makes sense.

As far as where the black finish has worn off the original upholstery, you could apply some Fiebing's black shoe dye or just dab it with some black paint.

The modern equivalent of bitumen tar: black flex seal in the spray can?

You should have no trouble with this, if you can find suitable patch material, both upholstery material and a coating similar to what was used in the original material. Roofing tar was the joke, but that might actually be along the right lines. A 100 year old top dressing would be even better.

Here is a very similar patch that I did in leather. I am posting it on the aaca forum because that is where I initially posted about it and their software is better for large photos:

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/396891-wa ... y-leather/

I think this coated fabric would be similar. Thin leather that has never been top dressed would be tricky. Avoid modern chemistry, silicone, vinyls etc, it just won't look right and it probably won't bond well either.

Well done Robert. About as neat as can be done. It is easier to do in places where there is no flex involved. I am looking at a repair to the 103 year old leatherette in my barn fresh buckboard. I think the answer may be in not trying to disguise the repair. Let it be known that a repair has been affected.

Allan from down under.

When I re-do my seats in the fall or winter, I might be able to help you out. I have some of the original leatherette.
John

Thank you for all the great ideas: I have some thinking to do, but Robert’s repair looks fantastic, and that’s what I’m thinking is best. Robert, what adhesive did you use? And if anyone has some weathered leather or leatherette, I could use a good chunk: 4”x8”or larger would suffice. Also, what dye did you use?

JTT3 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 17, 2024 2:19 pm

Modified Bitumen roofing tar may do the trick according to Hugh Jass.

Ha ha haha.....

I sure miss old Hugh.

I don’t miss old Hugh at all. It got old really quick. As for the repair, I think that Classtique has some new material that has the old patina look. You might check into that b