Lancia Beta Forum

Hiya,
  I've managed to get hold of a complete VX recaro interior, along with a few scraps of the zegna fabric.

The seats have areas of the usual wear, and the door cards have had a laughably bad attempt by someone at retrimming them, to the point where it's worth saving the cloth inserts but the cards needs redoing and I don't have enough material for that.

So, i'll have enough cloth to get the seats back in nice condition with the original fabric, but not the door cards. Has anyone had this before / can recommend any cloth designs that are complementary to the original? obviously I have all the choice in the world but hoping someone has found something nice already they can share.

Cheers
Chris

Did you see the programme recently - Salvage Hunters I think - with the Monte Carlo? Drew commissioned a firm to make a short length of fabric to match a red/white chequer pattern. I'll bet that company is inundated now! Might be worth a try and put a group together to get a couple of hundred yards made?
Guy

I didn't! sounds interesting.

Found a few candidates, typically from all across the globe..
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/770600059/bty-vintage-1950s-woven-black (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/770600059/bty-vintage-1950s-woven-black)
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/589111365/black-checkerboard-lining-fabric-ships (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/589111365/black-checkerboard-lining-fabric-ships)
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/914703749/houndstooth-wool-fabric-by-the-yard (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/914703749/houndstooth-wool-fabric-by-the-yard)

Middle one looks the most promising with the photo of some spats made with it. maybe a bit shiny

Hi Chris

This is a challenge I have, but do not have a solution. I have enough VX Coupe interior to build the car but have not found a replacement fabric or enough original to re-upholster. I will follow this with interest as I would like to replace the faded original fabric.

Eric 

Right, in-between retiring and getting over a hangover I've retrieved the deleted episode of Salvage Hunters - Classic Cars and they paid £900 for enough material to re-trim at least one car. I would guess that the majority of the cost is in design/set up costs so get enough people together and it might work out cheap enough?

Here's a link to the guy in the programme at the company that did it, based in Sudbury in Suffolk - anyone local with a VX that could lead the project?

Not having a Beta (at the moment) and not being local it won't be me!

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bruce-crabtree-2630a737 (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bruce-crabtree-2630a737)

And the company website

https://www.humphriesweaving.co.uk (https://www.humphriesweaving.co.uk)

Cheers
Guy

£900! oof!

If what we need is basically to send that company a swatch of decent cloth to say 'can you make this and how much for say 5 cars worth?' I'm happy to take that on.

Is that about the size of the ask? anyone know how much a coupe interior works out to in yardage :)

Hi Chris you want 7 to 9 meters long assuming a standard upholstery role according to my trimmer. That allows for mistakes and the very complex Recaros.

Eric 

You might need to confirm the width of a standard upholstery roll so any potential manufacturer is on the same page as your trimmer?

Guy

There was a small amount of VX Cloth for sale not that long ago in Italy but I can't remember where. There is another issue with new cloth in that it fades dramatically and the cloth that I have (not for sale, sorry) looks much darker than the original seats.

Hi Car Upholstery rolls are in the range of 140cm to 150cm wide typically. I think it is the loom frame that dictates this.

Eric  

Old fabric is a nightmare even if you can find it because it can degrade in storage i.e. going brittle and fading and if it has a foam backing the foam turns to dust. Many cheap aftermarket car upholstery options are wafer thin fabric bonded to foam. I have 3 of these in sample form on my desk now.

The VX Coupe Zegna fabric is hugely loved and a lot of people are looking for it so if they can copy the design 5 cars worth would not be out of the question.

Eric

NB beware increasing the thickness of the fabric it can make trimming far harder. I have a Porsche fabric on my Montecarlo that looks incredibly like a Monte S1 fabric BUT this thickness made it tricky on the door cards.   

Have contacted Humphries weaving as a first step.

Looks like there are a good 10-15 potential suppliers who might be able to help, but may as well start with a recommendation as such.

Thank you Chris

Had a reply already and this is starting to look doable so I will put a thread in group buys to figure out what we might want for an initial order

I bought a few meters a while ago…..still advertising, so I assume it hasn’t run out. Not cheap - but worth it…..Mind you, it will be even dearer now - post Brexit.

https://www.gsfricambi.it/prodotto/tessuto-lancia-beta-volumex/ (https://www.gsfricambi.it/prodotto/tessuto-lancia-beta-volumex/)

I enquired at GSF. They are definitely not UK friendly these days and they have about 3 meters left so not enough to re-trim a car.

Eric 

I think in most VX coupé the back seats and door trims are ok so someone with a bit of ingenuity would have enough from that to tidy up the recaros