Tan Leather interior?

[SPOOL U]

Aaron,

Can you price and check if you can get all the items for the tan interior? Seats, side molding on the doors, the door handles, and carpet?

Thanks,

-M

[te51levin]

Originally Posted by SPOOL U

Aaron, Can you price and check if you can get all the items for the tan interior?

No...no, I cannot. Well, I can, but I'm not going to. Not that I don't want to help, but I've looked for all this stuff several times in the past. The availability is so sparse and the prices are so high on the few things we can get that it's simply not worth pursuing a full interior change with all new OEM parts. The small parts are generally available, but only in black, and the big parts are typically not available in any color. When they are, they are only available in black, and the prices are absolutely absurd (IIRC $400+ per side on the carpet, for example) to the point that we both know nobody's ever going to buy it.

Wow, I sound like a real jerk there. I honestly don't mean to. But it's just not a practical endeavor, and I prefer to tell you the truth than dance around it or spend 90 minutes looking for unicorns.

[mr29180]

The only thing that he could do is to wait for a person who part out der car with a tan interior....

[te51levin]

Originally Posted by mr29180

The only thing that he could do is to wait for a person who part out der car with a tan interior....

That's basically correct. You can get replacement leather in any number of colors from a couple of different aftermarket suppliers, and a very skilled upholsterer could recover the larger interior pieces in leather or vinyl, but at pretty huge expense. You can do your own carpet pretty well with the cut-and-glue method, depending on where the seams go and how visible they are.

Might want to chat with eckomanpdx. He's an interior guy and could probably give you a good idea of what you are up against.

[Mr.Bryan]

^ not a bad idea.

Along the same lines, just generally if you're in a metropolitan area, you can probably find a good interior shop. There is one near me (in the chicago area) that does really nice work and his pricing is decent. He's redone interiors from classic muscle cars to ghetto fabulous H2's and everything inbetween. If you can find a good shop they'll recover anything you want and they can make it look completely factory.

It's fun to watch too. This old guy (Don) does all the work and he's a hell of an upolster...er.

Ask around at some local car clubs or car shows and talk to guys that own some classics. They're usually the best resourse to find people who can do quality resto-work and those are the silly old coots who will make dreams happen.

Good luck.

[SPOOL U]

Originally Posted by te51levin

No...no, I cannot. Well, I can, but I'm not going to. Not that I don't want to help, but I've looked for all this stuff several times in the past. The availability is so sparse and the prices are so high on the few things we can get that it's simply not worth pursuing a full interior change with all new OEM parts. The small parts are generally available, but only in black, and the big parts are typically not available in any color. When they are, they are only available in black, and the prices are absolutely absurd (IIRC $400+ per side on the carpet, for example) to the point that we both know nobody's ever going to buy it.

Wow, I sound like a real jerk there. I honestly don't mean to. But it's just not a practical endeavor, and I prefer to tell you the truth than dance around it or spend 90 minutes looking for unicorns.

Understood. And you are probably right. I already have a black leather interior and it's pretty good. I just love how that tan looks!

Well, if you can't get the seats, then it's useless.

[te51levin]

Originally Posted by SPOOL U

Well, if you can't get the seats, then it's useless.

FWIW and generally speaking, Toyota doesn't often sell complete seat assemblies anyway (though this is changing with newer cars that have airbags in the seats) - it's often piece by piece, so you'd need frames, foam, upholstery, springs, bolts, clips etc. Buying "a seat" would take all day

[SPOOL U]

Originally Posted by te51levin

FWIW and generally speaking, Toyota doesn't often sell complete seat assemblies anyway (though this is changing with newer cars that have airbags in the seats) - it's often piece by piece, so you'd need frames, foam, upholstery, springs, bolts, clips etc. Buying "a seat" would take all day

Well, I can use the seats I already have. I just need the leather.

[te51levin]

Ah. That makes sense, but you asked for seats, so...yet another needlessly complicated (thanks to Toyota's cataloging) situation that I feel the need to over-explain.

There are very nice pre-stitched leather kits out there for the MkII. I haven't used any, so I can't make any personal recommendations, but I've seen some nice stuff.