Leather Upholstery in the early years

[AHa]

 I guess because of the black and white photos of the period, I just assumed all early cars came with black upholstery. I was recently at a car show and two very nice restorations had leather interiors not in black. In looking through the Horseless Carriage Gazette, most early cars have black interiors. Can anybody speak to this issue?

[JV Puleo]

I've seen original interiors (i.e. pre-WWI) that were dark red and dark green...my guess is that expensive cars often had different colors while the the less expensive usually had black.

 

 

[PartsAncient]

I once owned a 1923 HCS sport touring with four aluminum steps and 6 -23" Houk wire wheels.  It originally had blue leather upholstery!

[Walt G]

The period photographs show dark interiors so may be assumed to be black but dark colors : red , green, blue will look black in a B & W photograph.

[John_S_in_Penna]

18 hours ago, JV Puleo said:

I've seen original interiors (i.e. pre-WWI) that were dark red and dark green...

17 hours ago, PartsAncient said:

I once owned a 1923 HCS sport touring...It originally had blue leather upholstery!

Original cars, with our original-features class to promote them,

are valuable remnants of history!  One of our late local members

had a 1906 Cadillac Model K physician's coupe.  Though not

seen well in this picture, a close look showed that it had its

original maroon leather upholstery with contrasting black piping.

That contrast was previously unknown to Cadillac experts:

 

Edited April 16, 2022 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

My observation of pre war cars had me thinking that fabric interiors were more upscale than leather. It seems that at least on town cars, the driver compartment (mostly open) would be leather for the obvious reasons but the 'coach' part would be very nice fabric. My thought was that leather was more common and cheaper to use than the fabrics, unlike todays cars.

[nickelroadster]

The fabric was probably more comfortable and sweating would not have been so bad.  Leather would last longer and you didn't care if your driver was comfortable

[Sloth]

My 1903 Cleveland (work in progress) was and will be upholstered in a 'rich' dark green leather, as per original sales brochure.

[1937hd45]

Diamond tuff upholstery from the 1906-1910 era looks great, must have been easy and cheap to do since just about every good car had it. Wonder if there are any good videos showing how it is done, must take a full day to do a car, less time if done on a TV show. 

 

Bob 

Edited April 17, 2022 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[oldford]

Easy and cheap had little to do with diamond tufting. The cushions and backrests were stuffed with horsehair. Without the buttons every so often, the horsehair would settle to the bottom and would soon be quite a mess. Since the buttons were pulled from the inside of the cushion, the leather would naturally pucker. The upholsterer would have to fold the leather between the buttons to reduce the amount of pucker. My father taught me how to fold the leather rather than sew it between the buttons when he owned the shop, since the holes made by the sewing machine would cause the leather to tear along the 'dotted line'.

 

Frank

[Rusty_OToole]

Open cars have leather upholstery for practical reasons (rain) with cheaper models using fake leather or oil cloth. Closed cars could have cloth upholstery. Some expensive closed cars had optional leather but this was more common on English and European cars.

[wayne sheldon]

Even the cheaper cars usually had cloth upholstery in enclosed automobiles. The model T Ford center-door sedans did from the beginning in 1915, as did the four-door and two-door sedans of the 1920s. Only the couplets with a folding top from 1915 into early 1917 had leather or a leather-like interior. All the rest of the coupes through the end of model T production had cloth. As far as I know, most Chevrolet sedans had cloth upholstery, however, some mid to late 1920s business coupes did offer a leatherette option. Most low and midrange enclosed automobiles of the 1910s and 1920s were cloth interiors.

Dodge Brothers was an exception. Through most of the 1920s, Dodge enclosed cars had a leatherette option interior. I have seen a dozen 1924 to 1927 Dodge sedans with their original leatherette upholstery! And at least as many coupes.

On the very high end, custom body cars could have anything the customer wanted! While high quality leather was considered the norm for open cars, and even convertible sedans, it was rarely done in enclosed sedans or coupes.

Some high end factory offerings did offer leather interiors as a factory option. This was discussed at length last year on a thread in the "Not Mine For Sale" section about a 1930ish Pierce Arrow Sedan for sale that had a leather-ish interior. The car was claimed to have had leather originally (if I recall correctly?), and a couple of our esteemed P A experts confirmed that it was a factory option.

I also happen to know that Franklin offered leather (or imitation? I am not sure, but think it was real leather?) interiors in both sedan and coupe factory models. I have run into a few of those over the years. Franklin offered that throughout most of the 1920s.

An interesting flip side. As unpractical as it may be? I ran into a 1915ish Overland touring car for sale several years ago. The then current owner said the cloth interior was restored exactly like it had originally been. I doubted that when I read it. However, it turned out the car had been restored by a friend of an old friend, and had been well known in their local HCCA Regional Group. Although I did not know the car or previous owner personally, I was assured that the cloth interior was done just like the original in the car when it was restored. He also said they had found era sales literature stating it was available? But I never saw that myself.

 

A lot of interesting stuff out there. I do wish I could confirm some of it.

[hidden_hunter]

Cadillacs of the late teens and early 20’s were very much open cars leather closed cars cloth 

 

Some manufacturers also used pig skin for leather as well

[John_S_in_Penna]

Historical accounts pretty much agree with what

has been said:  Predominantly leather for open cars,

cloth for closed cars.  Here's an account from 1926,

and it credits women for soft, comfortable interiors:

 

"One factor that has contributed heavily to the popularity

of the closed car is the influx of women into motoring.

The average woman is not overly strong on the outdoor stuff.

To her heart the drug-store complexion applied with a

rabbit's foot and a lipstick is often dearer than the bloom

of health put upon cheeks by fresh air, regular hours and

plenty of sleep before midnight.  The fair ones may be

ever so enthusiastic about horseback riding, golfing, or

polo playing, but when they enter their cars they prefer

the velvety feel of plush upholstery to the crunch of

chrome-tanned leather.  On the other hand, men usually

lean toward the open car and its greater freedom of

movement and use."

 

["Why I Prefer an Open Car," by Edwin Caldwell in

Motor Mention magazine, a regional magazine of the

American Automobile Association, June 1926.]

[wayne sheldon]

Very interesting! Thank you John S.

[Gary56]

I was reading that pre war cars had leather seats for open car and the closed cars were cloth.  Were they buttoned or smooth?  

[hidden_hunter]

 

"finest velour mohair"