Vinyl seats

[Vinylseats]

No, this thread isn't about me.

 

Were vinyl seats ever considered a luxury, or were they always considered basic seatage? Did one have to upgrade or downgrade to cloth?

 

My grandad's Maxi had vinyl seats with little holes in that left marks all over my bare legs - did that make his Maxi basic or high spec?

[kinkersaab]

vinyl seats afaik have always been linked to poverty spec, although i quite like it to look at, an old merc with mbtex for example looks great, I recently learned that BMW s are now available with stuff which i guess is the modern day equivalent of vinyl for something like £300 option over the cloth. On the older s classes, the crushed velour usually in god awfull colours was supposedly more expensive to have than the nappa leather, you often see that quoted in the ads to help soften the blow to potential purchacers of a lovely V8 with purple crusshed velour seating.....

[RoadworkUK]

Kind of both.

 

Certainly in the US '70s car brochures went to great pains to point out that "Morrokide" wasn't leather, oh no, it was far superior to that! For the most part, vinyl was pretty much the default seating surface, or certainly vynide, which was slightly softer. It seems that the great unwashed couldn't really tell it from leather, in the same way that people swear blind that instant coffee is the real deal.

 

In late Ford P100s it was the standard fit, you had to upgrade to the P100L if you wanted tweed. Today, Merc C-Class "Elegance" models come with "ARTICO" man-made leather surfaces, or "vinyl" to you or I. Handy if the car ends up as a minicab.

[Vinylseats]

Thanks for the info.

 

Looking at some of the old cars with vinyl upholstery for sale on eBay, most of the seats are in better condition than that of their cloth counterparts. And it doesn't seem to crack and wear like that of the more superior leathure.

[cms206]

My previous employer really loved us, as my first regular steed there was one of the three J-reg SWB Transit Popular flatbeds with vinyl seats operated at the time (J241-243 FYJ - mine was 242 IIRC). Lots of glass made it interesting on warm days...

 

In fact now I think about it, my dad's Proton 1.3GLS had half tweed/half vinyl numbers that oft caught shorts wearers unawares...

[RoadworkUK]

 

In fact now I think about it, my dad's Proton 1.3GLS had half tweed/half vinyl numbers that oft caught shorts wearers unawares...

 

Japanese / Pacific Rim cars with vinyl backed seats, on hot days. Gave the interior the same smell as those beach shops in cornwall that sell lilos. buckets and spades.

[gricer]

The vinyl seats Maxi was a base model - HL had cloth. My dad once traded a quite plush Citroen GS for a base Maxi with vinylseats. This did not go down well with my mum, who made him go out and buy some furry seat covers.

[Vinylseats]

^^ Nice.

[forddeliveryboy]

Fock it used to hurt in short trousers as a nipper in me Dad's Triumphs with black vinyl. Hot day in summer almost worse than cold day in winter. FFS.

[155V6]

Cortina MK 3 GT with vinyl seats & black vinyl roof which heated up the interior even more-Ouch!.Why do you suppose seat covers used to be so popular?

 

I have seen a recent Transit with vinyl seats,I guess they're still available for builders vans etc?.

[forddeliveryboy]

Owners hoped others may mistake it for leather? And the dog puke didn't soak in.

[Cavcraft]

+11 on the burnt legs and arse syndrome on Transit vinyl. I do like the look of them though in most vehicles, undoutably mingebag spec as they are. MB Tex stuff is bloody good though, seem to be very hard wearing and quite comfortable too. Mine has done 163,000 miles and the seats still look new and the heaters for them still work.

[Shep Shepherd]

Do Mercedes-Benz still use MB-Tex? A recent re-read of a four year old copy of Car Mechanics suggests that it was offered as an option on the W202 C-Class, but it's really rare to come across a car so-equipped. I definitely would have chosen it over the gaudily-patterned and easily-stained cloth seats that many W202s were fitted with

 

Interestingly, and sort-of related, Volvo used to make its cars' carpets from a synthetic fibre called Volvolon. I presume that it was Nylon with crumple zones and three-point seat belts

[chester drawers]

Perceptions of what constitutes luxury seating seem to shift over time.

 

In the era of stage coaching leather was normally confined to the peasants outside, whereas the landed gentry parked their arses on a plush fabric interior...with pink furry headlining and Sparkrite cassette player. Possibly.

[barefoot]

... and Sparkrite cassette player. Possibly.

 

I don't want to be pedantic, but I think you mean Sparkomatic

[chaseracer]

Fock it used to hurt in short trousers as a nipper in me Dad's Triumphs with black vinyl. Hot day in summer almost worse than cold day in winter. FFS.

1976 heatwave. I was 10, so still often in shorts. Dad had an Avenger 1500 base with black vinyl seats...

[dollywobbler]

It's a beige Mk4 Cortina with (I think) red vinyl seats that I remember dishing out pain when I was a nipper. Might have been my legs that ended up red rather than the seats...

 

Another painful experience was in Germany in the H van. 30+ degree heat and I made the mistake of leaving the van sitting in the sun at a petrol station. Leapt back in and leapt very quickly back out again!

[Albert Ross]

I use "deluxe" vinyl seats in the Land Rover. In reality they have firmer foam on the sides, and stitching. Otherwise they repel tea and piss, and can be removed for hosing out the remaining chip wrappers etc.

[Vinylseats]

This thread is useless without pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*drool*

[chester drawers]

I think you mean Sparkomatic

Quite so. I'll get my coat

[Dead_E23]

Perceptions of what constitutes luxury seating seem to shift over time.

 

In the era of stage coaching leather was normally confined to the peasants outside, whereas the landed gentry parked their arses on a plush fabric interior...with pink furry headlining and Sparkrite cassette player. Possibly.

You sometimes find this in older limos, for example this rather splendid 1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Open Drive Landaulette:

...is equipped with: 'black hide to front and grey cotton velvet to rear'. I expect that's why they're only asking £575,000

[eddyramrod]

This is going to be fun in Cyprus!

1972 black vinyl interior in my Granada... better dig out the furry seatcovers from the shed!