Open Car Leather Seats - period correct color

[JRA]

Hello, I was doing some research about Upholstery materials for 1920s open cars (roadster, touring, phaeton). In general I see leather or leatherette. Regarding the Upholstery color, in general I see recent  pictures of restored cars showing brown (Light or Dark) as a frequent color. Were these the options used at that time? Could Black leather a period correct material?

I am restoring my 1929 Marmon touring speedster, so I would like to make the correct choice. The car has black fenders and black canvas top. Would be black the right color for the seats?

thanks 

JRA

 

[JRA]

By the way, I used dark brown leather in seats of my 1929 Chrysler 75 roadster and dark brown leatherette in my 1928 Chevrolet touring seats. For these cars, I got manufacturers references to support my choices. Marmon data is unfortunately more scarce.

 

[John_Mereness]

5 minutes ago, JRA said:

Hello, I was doing some research about Upholstery materials for 1920s open cars (roadster, touring, phaeton). In general I see leather or leatherette. Regarding the Upholstery color, in general I see recent  pictures of restored cars showing brown (Light or Dark) as a frequent color. Were these the options used at that time? Could Black leather a period correct material?

I am restoring my 1929 Marmon touring speedster, so I would like to make the correct choice. The car has black fenders and black canvas top. Would be black the right color for the seats?

thanks 

JRA

 

I would stick to a darker brown or a black, but you are getting into the period where they offered colors in leathers and oil cloths/early vinyls.  

 

On a 1929 Marmon, I would say you can do pretty much whatever you would like in colors (the lighter you go though my opinion is the harder to keep it clean and fresh looking).  

 

My only objection to black in an interior as when you have a black top and .. - it is a whole lot of dark going on and you feel like you are sitting in a cave (aka every black interior car we have had the black gets replaced soon so when you show me your expensive black interior it is pretty meaningless to me in a price negotiation). 

 

And yes, a Model A ford used brown leather on seats and vinyl on trim.  And a 34-36 Auburn used leather on seats and vinyl on the trim (and had like 10 plus colors). I hear a lot of people scream that tI should only do them in all leather, but vinyl/leather was correct and in actuality vinyl is really nice on door trim panels for a car your tour in that will take on water.

[edinmass]

Black would be too much. I would use a "saddle" or medium tan/brown. Here is a look at a similar car.