antique roadster upholstry

[Guest Weidknecht]

I have a 1927 Peerless Roadster. The seats are original and shot. The front seat is leather and the rumble seat appears to have been redone in some sort of old vinyl type material. I am about to have the upholstry redone and have a question as to what material should be used. The upholstry guy feels that the rumble seat was originally done in some sort of material other than the leather on the front seat. I want to get it right so I need some guidance.

Thanks

[sambarn]

Weidknecht, You should try contacting the peerless club or using their portal on the AACA forum but I can tell you that my 27 Marmon rumble seats are in the same leather as the front but in a much simpler pattern. Good Luck.

[trimacar]

I'd use leather front and back, no one would ever question it. Some lesser cars had an oilcloth or leatherette (early vinyl) for the rumble seat, it's possible Peerless had that, they did make a lower priced offering at some point.

One thing I'd urge you is don't let your upholstery guy use foam in the seats. It never looks right, and will degrade, albeit in quite a few years. Use original horsehair, with cotton batting in pleats, and it'll last another 80 years and be more comfortable to boot.....

[Rusty_OToole]

Old time upholstery shops had a machine to comb out the horse hair. This fluffs it back up and makes it about 3 or 4 times bigger than the old packed down stuff you took out. The old horse hair can be reused.

You will have to ask around and see if there is an old time upholsterer that has the machine.

[jeff_a]

Dear F. Weidknecht,

Please check out the Peerless Forum farther down the list of AACA forums! Great to hear from you!!

[jeff_a]

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Weidnecht,

I don't have a manual that says exactly what your rumble seat area upholstery should be made of.

A. I did find a sales blurb for the 1926 Peerless 6-72 Sport Roadster saying it had: ..."Burbank top and brown hand-buffed Colonial grain leather..."upholstery.

(5/7/25 Co-Operator)(5/2008 Peerless Motor Car Club News Letter.

B. 1/25/25 Peerless Sales Manual:

1. Under UPHOLSTERY, GENERAL DETAILS for Mod. 6-72........................

"Closed cars, Mohair; open cars, Spanish Leather. All cushions built up of sensitive individual nesting cushions, white cotton batting and an excellent grade of curled hair."

2. Under PEERLESS MODEL 6-72 4-5 PASSENGER ROADSTER...................

"Doors: Upholstered in imitation leather with pocket flaps."

I hope this helps.

----JEFF

Edited March 8, 2012 by jeff_a (see edit history)

[trimacar]

There was a thread a while back (dealing with 20's Dodge interiors) about the meaning of "Spanish leather", with some thinking it might just be a fancy name for an imitation leather.

I can't find any reference to this being an imitation leather, and have to assume it's real animal skin. However, remember that the automobile companies were trying to sell cars, and fancy names sold...do you want vinyl interior, or would you prefer faux leather?

Reminds me of the story of the Packard style and design team, and they had to think of fancy names for paint colors.....after a long day, there was a shade of off-white they couldn't quite name, so for a joke one of the guys wrote "Phartedon White". The next day, the sales guys loved the name, thinking it sounded sort of Roman......