Tobacco door cards.....What Vinyl?

[Stuart]

Redoing the interior on our Agave 73 and was lucky enough to find a nice set of tobacco door cards for it:

 

Esty will be providing the carpet set: 

 

 

Can't decide between the Buckskin or Lt Brown  BMW Vinyl selections below for the seats.  Thoughts?:

 

Lastly, I'd like to find a set of door pulls/handles and the chrome trim for both driver and passenger doors.   Do those come in tobacco?  If not what color did BMW use?

 

 

 

[esty]

that's saddle, tobacco is a darker brown...fwiw, none of your color samples will be a very good match to original saddle...or tobacco...imho  :-)

 

tobacco -

[Stuart]

Got it.  I have never seen a real tobacco.  So what BMW Vinyl would be good to combine with my "Saddle" door cards?  What did BMW use to go with a Saddle door card?

 

Stuart

[esty]

Stuart, the seats and door cards were same color

 

[Mike Self]

Let me know if you find a match--I've been looking for years to find even a close match to my '73's saddle interior.  I want to reupholster a pair of E21 Recaros to resemble the factory 2002 sport seats and match the rest of the interior.  

 

You'd think it would be an easy match, but so far no luck in my search.  Also looking for either corduroy or velour in a matching or compatible color to do the seat centers--no luck there either.

 

mike

[esty]

vinyl is available in the same saddle color or so close you probably wouldn't know...it may not be imported BMW vinyl and may not be the same exact grain

[mcaden]

I did some research on this a while back and posted it on the FAQ.  If you do some searching you will find a post from me about an MB Tex vinyl product that closely resembles saddle.  It is a product intended for Mercedes Benz vehicles from the same era.  I have an original saddle brown interior in my Agave 1973 2002 and had an interior shop closely match the MB Tex to my interior to help a friend out.  

 

I think I found the substance of my prior post.  See below:

Much has been written about obtaining replacement vinyl for those of us with saddle brown interiors. Many people have mentioned using a Mercedes Benz vinyl as a possible replacement.

See this useful thread here: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/t,319113/view,next/sid,4768b0f02f5b77f5716e5058d069f6da/

 

Some other folks have discussed an SEM vinyl spray: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/t,322153/start,7/postdays,0/postorder,asc/highlight,/sid,ed16ea56de874d8c464326393b60b8b4/

 

The first thread references an MB vinyl 760 (saddle brown) as a possible replacement and then using that same color's rosette material for the center basketweave. I had access to some vinyl material books last night and wanted to report back on my cursory findings.

 

If you are trying to match older saddle brown that has darkened (I used my vinyl for comparison), you may want to look at the following:

 

MB Tex

1972-80

Sidepanel smooth material: mahogany 716

Basketweave center: mahogany rosette 71660

 

See here: http://www.gahh.com/smp-v20-c03-b.php

 

The color match was very close to my darkened saddle brown, but would be much darker than a new (just out of the dealer) 1973 saddle brown interior. So whether you are doing a whole new interior trying to match the original color or trying to match your current saddle brown material will help define your choice.  Again, I am only suggesting that you consider looking at this vinyl as a possible alternative, but it is NOT an exact match and you need to decide for yourself what replacement vinyl works best for you. Additionally, you need to look at your own material and the books for yourself (e.g., not just using online samples) to make sure that you are comfortable with your choice (request samples if you don't have access to a good interior shop with the books). I just wanted to provide this information to the FAQ for future reference.

I also found one other brown smooth vinyl that might be a decent match if you were only replacing certain smooth sidepanels and not the center basketweave. Again, this product somewhat matched my darkened saddle brown interior, but you need decide for yourself based on the condition of your own interior. 

 

Here is the info on this smooth vinyl:

 

Mercedes Benz Vinyl

EL 85 LT Brown (Napp) EV 85

 

Source: Coast to Coast Leather & Vinyl Catalog (2006)

Tel No. 800.354.4401

 

-Marc

[bmw_e30]

this is who my upholsterer guy got my interior from

 

https://www.gahh.com/

 

 

 

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, bmw_e30 said:

this is who my upholsterer guy got my interior from

 

https://www.gahh.com/

 

 

 

 

And, in general, GAHH is one of the most respected sources for new seat covers — in terms of quality and original appearance.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[esty]

but the Gahh material is closer tobacco and far from saddle...i couldn't find a saddle material on Gahh's site

[Stuart]

This picture of a GAHH material looks more like saddle than the tobacco image you sent me.

 

15 hours ago, bmw_e30 said:

this is who my upholsterer guy got my interior from

 

https://www.gahh.com/

 

 

 

 

[Brandon]

From over the past few decades of being around these cars, the color saddle in esty’s second set of pictures came in two different versions that I’ve seen which complicate things more.  The pic she shows is from a late ‘71 -‘73 2002, this same exact color offered in early ‘71 and earlier 02’s (cars with the silver center gauge cluster) had an ever so slightly darker shade of this color with a very mild grain pattern in it similar to the gahh material, though I think it’s overdone by gahh. I’m guessing bmw used a different supplier during production which could have been the reason for the change.  

[esty]

Stuart, that's why i said it looks "closer" to tobacco...saddle, regardless of age or version is more red than brown....if there is any way that you could send me a small section of the vinyl on the door cars i may be able to find a matching color

 

just an example -

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by esty
add pic