Actually you can fix gashes & cracks. The Leatherique site has directions on how to do that, IIRC. It's not easy but it is posible, as long as there's enough material to pull togther - you add a patch on the underside, then use kind of a "leather Bondo" on top, and finish with dye. I've seen some amazing restorations.

For 1980's vintage MB's, it may be a lot easier (and cheaper, if your time is worth anything) to just buy good, clean, used seats from a salvage yard. Silver Star just sold gray leather 1995 E320 seats on eBay for something like $200/pair for the fronts, while the back went for $1.75! Hard to beat that. Of course 123 seats in good condition *may* be a bit more scarce... at least finding ones that aren't that cool pink two-tone sun-faded! ;

I've been thinking of replacing my black shift lever with a wooden one. Any ideas or experiences?

Joe.

The W210 shifter
 

The flash makes the leather appear dark gray, but it is indeed black. This would look great in your car, Holson.

Hey Thomaspin!
 

What do you think ColorPlus would do with this?

OOH, I want that black knob... :D

Looking at that seat, I think my driver's seat is just as bad...except there's an actual hole on the left side of the driver's seat where soemthing rubbed for years, where I don't think there's enough material to cover over. My armrest is just as bad.

The rest...might actually be fixable. It'd be worth taking a look...

Would removing the seat covers from the frame make the repair easier? Offhand, I'm guessing it would...would allow me to replace the padding, as well...it'd be nice if the seat was softer. :)

I still wish I could find cloth seat covers to replace the leather...

How do you like this knob?

Paul, where did you get the chrome surround? Was there originally a rubber gasket type thing there like on the 123's?

I've got the rubber gasket, and it's in rather unhappy shape...according to Phil at Fastlane, it's impossible to replace that part by itself... :(

I don't know how bad your "gashes" are, but coloreplus and leatherique both have crack fillers.

Check out Thomaspin's website to see the DIY pictorial on the restoration of the leather in his 300SD.

www.pindelski.com

holson i thought your wooden shift knob was great lookin'
agree, black would be better.

There is no rubber gasket on the original black plastic shift surround.

The chrome surround is just applied directly over the old one with 3M double sided tape.

I think I got the chrome surround at www.************************

And don't try to find it shown on the website because it probably ain't there. I'm willing to be less than 20% of the items they sell are shown on the website. Call them, or at least request a catalog for your W123.

Also,

The shift knob looks great with the steering wheel:

Darn...I guess they did it different on the 124's. :(

On my car, they have a textured black rubber piece that goes around the hole and is supposed to seal against the black plastic of the shift unit itself. It's cracked in the corners.

I have a feeling that trying to apply that chrome onto the rubber wouldn't work very well, so I guess I'm SOL...unless a 124 lower center console wood piece is the same as the 123's, which I really doubt...

I see I'm not the only one that see's something rather interesting.

How do you like this knob?


Thats a great looking Knob and Steering Wheel! That would look great in my car! Is that standard equipment or aftermarket.

Joe

Check out the shift levers on this site!

http://www.eris-car.com/

Also other wood products. The prices look Ok also.


Joe.