For the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about the seats in my car and how nice they will look covered in brand new, sweet smelling, beautiful, heavenly soft, genuine leather in the original blue . The leather is available on the internet in a myriad of colors and grains anywhere from $2.50 to $8.00 per sq/ft. I have seen on ebay a couple of low mileage well taken care of 124's with the original tex interior and was amazed at how nice it looks, and if thats a car with 18 year old-albeit well taken care of- tex interior, then imagine how it looked when new. Now imagine how that new interior would've looked covered in leather instead of tex? This is something I just have to experience and I know many of you guys will say is not worth it and to go get an interior from a wrecked modern w124, but they're just so hard to come by and when they do people easily ask for $500 just for a pair of seats which are still used seats where somebody's rear end sat for years(wont even mention what else they did there all those years). I think it can be done cheaper, if you use the original tex covers and cut the strings used to sew the original sections then you'll have separated the seat into its original sections. Then I will cut the leather as an exact copy of those original sections and use the same sewing lines(where it was sewn at the factory) left on the tex to sew the new leather sections again, then I think the resulting cover will be very close to the original tex covers which I would then put back on the seat frame after I recondition it, (I still have to figure out how to handle the piping on the seats and arm rest cover). I would then get a whole new carpet while the seats are out and the resulting interior would be a thing of beauty. Let me know what you guys think, pitfalls, sugestions or maybe somebody has already done and can offer some imput although I haven't heard of anybody in the forum doing it. Can't wait to do this project but not 100% sure I should since it can get complicated in a hurry ( you pretty much only get one crack at it or that leather is ruined and you're left with just sections of your original covers ).

http://www.buckskinleather.com/upholst.htm

http://stores.ebay.com/MarineCarpetUSA

http://www.leatherpages.com/Default.htm

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

hehe, i understand your predicament. I've been contemplating doing my own covers too because the price of having it custom made is absurd.
I started wanting leather when my father got a 7 series with genuine leather, i just had to have leather also...
and it DOES look, feel and smell different... it adds a touch of class to the car too...
Anyway, just last week, i stumbled upon a set of grey late model 124 seats. I made a deal to swap my grey fabric interior plus around 250usd for the entire set. I have just finished cleaning the seats and boy did they boost the image of the car. i'm falling in love with the car again...

now all i have to look for are the power seat switches... i used to have non-power seats

__________________

85 190E 2.3(SOLD)
86 230E (-->300D) sold
87 300D (-->300TD) sold
68 250S w/ a 615 and manual tranny (RIP)
87 300TD (SOLD)
95 S280 "The KRAKEN" (Turbo 2.9 602 transplant) traded
86 190E 2.3... current project

I'm glad you were able to find them, they are sure hard to find especially for such alow cash outlay. I went to several pull it yourself yards and there's not a single seat in there that's worth it, I dont even try the regular yards in my area, the guy could be sitting on the part and they say they dont have it

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

hehe, again i know what you mean... i live in the Philippines, i went to the US last NOvember to attend a filmmaking workshop in hollywood, anyway, i made time to go to Silverstar recycling... it seemed they weren't interested in hearing what parts i needed coz they were so busy devouring their pizzas. what a waste of time... i had more luck in a pick-n-pull over at rancho cordova

__________________

85 190E 2.3(SOLD)
86 230E (-->300D) sold
87 300D (-->300TD) sold
68 250S w/ a 615 and manual tranny (RIP)
87 300TD (SOLD)
95 S280 "The KRAKEN" (Turbo 2.9 602 transplant) traded
86 190E 2.3... current project

upholstery work is not easy to do.

i understand what youre after, im doing the same thing to my vw 1200. i always wanted one with a pristine white interior.

1200 bux for the interior soft trim. this is not including springs, horsehair, padding or any rubber/metal trim.

once you get the soft surfaces covered, youll notice how bad that saggy door handle looks. youll notice that that window mirror trim could be shinier... mercedes parts are much more intricate, lots of folds and pleats.

its a black hole of funds that could be spent much better elsewhere.

i am not being a gloomy gus, i wonder what my car looked/drove like 26 years ago as well, but i dont have the money to worry about it anymore, the vw has sucked me dry and i still have an entire car of seals to buy and have him painted...

in a car as old as these, there is always going to be something that needs to be fixed. what will you think whenever your transmission goes out and you just had the interior redone? surely you wont just write another 2000 dollar check!

did i mention i tried the same thing in the volkswagen? spent 300 dollars on vinyl and piping only to spend the money again on the same thing. a home sewing machine will not sew through four layers of leather. youll have to make the matching piping by running a strip of leather folded over a thick twine through the sewing machine. did i mention i tried this before and failed miserably?

it seems like it is straight foreward, it is soooo not.

ask yourself if it is worth parking the car for a few months, learning an entirely new skillset, ruining your first few covers and then still having a faulted interior after the outlay of so much cash. you will not get a perfect cover(which you want...) doing it yourself.

please only take this for what it is, im not being mean or anything! im handy, creative, crafty and my profession is in the arts(ok, so sewing is a low art..) i still failed miserably!

__________________
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...Untitled-1.jpg

Looks like you could use these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&category=33702&item=7986380907

$499.00 for something that might be a seat cover and might be a black painting.

Hmmmmmmmm............I don't think so.

I agree with everything you just said, is intricate and painstaking. I considered all of that already and is the one scary thing stopping me from doing the job but I just hope there's a way to get rid of the though of that new leather interior out of my head.

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

If am correct, I dont think they ever used that pattern on the real leather seats, just the mb tex, maybe the guy is not familiar with Benz and is confusing tex with leather.

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

This is the correct leather pattern for the 1986-1989 W124 sedans, with the pleats that run into large flat non-pleated non-perforated sections. MB tex had pleats that ran all the way to the end of the seats, and the non-perforated sections were only at the sides

I found a set of used blue leather seats in the Parts section of this forum from Colorado out of a 300E. Am using the rears, but removed the fronts because they didn't seem to be as comfortable and supportive as the original Tex seats. The bolsters on my Tex seats are more prominent than the leathers. Moral of the story is that MB Tex is a very good and durable material, and be careful of what you wish for.

...or, one heckofadeal on an original Oldenberg.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

OK now I see the difference on the pattern, but is $500 bucks just for the front cover wwwwhhhhhooossshhh

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )