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MG MG Y Type - Seat colours

I am in the process of reupholstering my interior and can't make up my mind about the colour. Does anyone know what the nearest RAL colours are for the beige and green leather seats?
Regards
Michael Thung
M Thung

Michael

I do not have any information on this topic currently andin truth probably wouldnt be likely to to be honest.

Your best bet would be to look at old Jaguar upholstery trim colors with your upholsterer. The beige is similar to Jaguar's Tan color I seem to recall.

I DO have an old original green seat that I could cut a swatch out for you and post that to you if you like and take a photo of my beige upholstery that has been redone about 10 years ago where we carefully matched the colors if that helps you.

If this is of interest to you, please contact me off line from the BBS with your postal address and I will get that organise for you. Click the email link next to this reply.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Hi Michael and Paul...

I'm afraid that I cant be any help - in fact I am currently having the same problem.

I have an early YA with the 'beige' trim. Both the leather and the Rexine seem to have a dark staining in the bottom of the grain.

Before anyone says it....that's not just 60 years of grime, the samples I have taken are from areas which have not been exposed to the light...or anything else.

It seems that most restored beige trimmed Y's have a more modern looking 'one colour' leather.

Has anyone out there found hide or Rexine (leathercloth) of the correct,or similar, colour and grain?

Regards

Rob
Rob King

Hi Rob

I know you probably might not agree with this but it is most likely to be tabacco staining where the panels have at sometime been cleaned and the tar deposit has "slid" down the panel.

I was fortunate enough under the rear seat of my Y to find that the piece of beige rexine that sits underneath the back seat, and the bit that should be covering the rear axle access cover was still in place and had not been too adversely affected by the stains from tabacco (I nearly died of lung cancer just taking the head liner out of my car - it was impregnated!!) and so was able to match up the leathercloth for the backs of the rear seats to that.

I also found that if you scrub the rexine you will loose some of the graining effect. Best solution to getting the tabacoo staining out is to use warm water with about 3 - 5% vinegar in it and a sponge. Smells disgusting but it cleans well!

Paul
Paul Barrow

Thanks Paul....as it happens, I don't agree with you.

I do agree with you that nicotine stains are responsible for the change of colour of many in-car fabrics.

However I think that the leather, when new, would have had a darkened grain.

There are a number of areas where I can get to 'virgin' leather and Rexine, the best is probably the rear of the front seats with the back panel removed.

I have attached a photo which shows the calico fabric, the leather and the cotton backing of the piping material all spotlessly clean.

There is no mould, rust, nicotine staining, oil, grease, watermarks, sunbleaching or any other degrading of the various fabrics.

There must be someone out there who has done this research before?

Regards

Rob

PS I cant attach the pic because its too large - can you advise.
Rob King

Hello Michael, I don't know if the attached photo will help you any. My 1949 Ya still has the original unmolested green upholstery in remarkable condition for its age. You will note in the pictures that there is a variance in the green colour of the rexine and the Leather. Before cleaning the rexine was very similar to the darker colour of the leather. It is my opinion that the green of the leather has darkened over the years and the best indication of the original colour would be that of the rear seat centre armrest, having been sheltered from the harsh Australian sunlight. You will note that it is considerably lighter than the rest of the leather. The Beige Piping on the armrest is also worth noting. It too has retained it's original colour as opposed to the exposed piping. Contact me direct if you would like copies of the pictures emailed.

Regards
Terry Y2866

T J Ciantar

And another Picture

T J Ciantar

And one more.

T J Ciantar

Michael,

Send me the file and I will resize it for you.

As Terry says, another reason could be the relative age deterioration of the leather colouring relative to the Rexine. I hadnt thought about that one.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Hi,

Thanks to Paul for resizing my photo which I have now attached.

It is of an area at the back of a front seat once the back panel has been removed.

The calico and the cotton backing of the piping fabric
appear really clean so I guess that the leather is a good representation of the original.

Regards

Rob

Rob King

Rob

As the leather has dried (and cracked) over the years the die in the leather has darkened with age as a previous poster has mentioned. This is just part of the natural aging process so a good guide would be that it is a good 3 - 4 shades darker now than when new would be my guess. As I mentioned before to you in my email though there is no definitive color swatching for this sort of thing available or color photos of the original material available so although we know the color name - beige - the actual pantone color used is simply open to interpretation.

Nice to see your photo though and thank you.

Paul
Paul Barrow

I've come to this thread a bit late, but I can offer a sample of beige hide of the correct shade if that helps to match colour. I had a batch made by Connolly in the mid 90s to the original "Celstra" shade recipe used in the 40s for the Y type. When the new hide arrived, after an epic wait, it was identical to the unexposed hide revealed when we stripped my car's interior. So I'm pretty sure it's very close to what Lord Nuffield intended.

We used a stock dark brown shade for the contrasting seam piping. Pics available if that would help.

As Connolly don't exist any more, I'm not sure what happened to their dyeing recipes, but their very helpful sales people told me at the time that the "Celstra" range was used in the forties and fifties only. The name comes from the fact that the dyes are cellulose-based. They were used only on the relatively fine-grained hides that MG and Wolseley, for example, preferred.
Tim Griggs

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the response, I would love to see a sample of your beige 'Celstra'.

I have emailed you directly.

Regards

Rob
Rob King

Hi Rob,
I cleaned the very nicotine stained cream rexine in my YB with sugar soap, recommended to me at the time by Paul. It worked a treat and your car doesn't end up smelling like a chip shop.

Regards,
Peter
P S Sharp

Thank you all for the response, I looked at a original well used YA the other day and found the green seats a much darker shade than on Terry's car.
I agree with Paul that with age the colour gets darker
Never thought that the green should be as light as on the centre arm rest of Terry's car but then I have seen very original Wolseley's with this shade of green so it must be correct
Regards
Michael
M Thung

This thread was discussed between 26/01/2011 and 15/02/2011

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