The dye used by Thomaspin and I is made by Colorplus. The palomino was almost a perfect match: different only because it was more vivid than the original.

I used it because the woman in charge assured me that she knew EXACTLY what color I wanted, and did, and the Leatherique info was pretty vague.

My seats even had a couple of holes, and I used Surflex to fill them in after backing them up with a piece of leather inserted fuzzy side up. I could have done the bigger hole better if I had cut it into a square, but I patched a sort of iregular keyhole-shape hole and it is slightly lumpy. The hole had been there for a while and the foam rubber under it was a bit lumpy. But it looks a lot better. The hole on the lower outside bolster on the drivers side was a worn lozenge-shaped thing and it is indistinguishible at under six inches.

This was my very first leather repair job. I figured what the hell if I don't get it right, I can always get a new piece resewn.


There is also a British company that sells via mail.

Before I used the Pristeen clean, I rubbed Leatherique conditioner in twice and let the car sit in the Miami sun for 48 hours. Then I used the Pristeen clean. It didn't result in a lot of dirt oozing out. I did notice that the seats had been redyed by someone since they left the Vaderland. I waited a day for it all to dry out completely.

Then I sanded with a little Ryobi sander and 180 wet or dry sandpaper, then I vacuumed the whole thing, applied the Surflex three times over the next two days and painted the dye on twice. At first it had some brushmarks, but now there are none.

It's great to drive a 1985 car that looks and smells new. I think it's greater than driving a new car that smells new, actually.

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Semibodacious Transmogrifications a Specialty

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo sedan 171K (Rudolf)
1985 300D Turbo TD Wagon 219K (Remuda)

"Time flies like and arrow, yet fruit flies like a banana"
---Marx (Groucho)