w108 Cognac MB-Tex to Leather - was everything leather?

[Treozen]

Hello folks -



I have a '72 W108 4.5 with its original cognac MB-Tex interior, which is in perfect condition. BUT....I used to have a 300 SEL with cognac leather and I prefer the look of the leather seats, plus the feel / smell of the leather. So I am toying with the idea of replacing the MB-Tex with leather.



I am not saying I will - its a major mental issue for me to remove perfectly good MB-Tex, but - IF I did, are the door panels, arm rests and headrests in MB-Tex likely to match well, or does everything need to be leather? How did Mercedes do this from the factory? - did they mix MB-Tex and leather for different surfaces?



I know that in modern cars, even if the seat surface is leather, the sides, backs, headrests and door panels might be MB-Tex or vinyl - so my hope is that if I get the seats in leather, the existing door panels (at least) and headrests / arm rests would be fine in current MB-Tex - it would be a real waste (and cost) to do it all in leather - assuming I do it at all.



Thanks.

[cth350]

cars with leather seats had leather door panels. Ditto with Tex. And yeah, you can tell the difference in cognac which one is leather and which Tex with a casual glance.

If you do pull the trigger, I would be interested in your tex seats. While the leather is certainly nice, Tex works fine for me and my 280sel 4.5 that has shredded leather seats and good door panels in that same cognac.

-CTH

[Idle]

The leather is classy but I have noticed on some 300 sel's that the door panels start to get a bit of a sag in them. The leather seems to stretch out over time.

Not always. But it does happen. The MB Tex seems to do this in very hot climates but for most of the the world it just stays glued to the door cards.

[Idle]

You could use a site called Row 52 to see if any 300 sel's are in self serve wrecking yards. I don't know where you are located but there might be one near you.

You can never tell.

The front doors of a 109 are the same as any 108 but the rear 109 doors are longer. Still, if you find one it could give you a jump on the change over.

[cth350]

109 cars are lwb (SEL's). The 108 family comes in both swb (S/SE) and lwb (SEL). The difference between a 109 SEL and 108 SEL door card is in the amount of detail. The 109 door card has a stripe of wood and richer detailing compared to the 108.

-CTH

[berfinroy]

1) All upholstery surfaces in W108 and W109 cars are made of the same material. If leather, then every surface including door cards is leather. This extravagant practice ended with the W108/109 series. I had a top-of-the-line W117 450SEL 6.9, and the door cards were perforated VINYL.
2) No leather available today will exactly match the Roser Cognac of the day, although some are close. The reason is that no one will replicate the somewhat problematic Roser process, which entailed stenciling a darker die onto the base leather to create the lovely dappling effect. The trouble was and is that the dappling wears off on abraded surfaces, such as the bolsters left side of the driver's door.
Stick with the MB Tex or find another car with well preserved original leather, which will be very difficult regarding Roser Cognac.

[Idle]

You might try searching your area for someone who does auto leather repair. These businesses cater to used car dealers but they will work for anyone.

They can sometimes make a worn area look new and a tear become invisible.

If there is such an outfit near you it will open up your choices in 108 leather interiors. You will not have to search for the best you can find, only something that can be repaired. And something needing a bit of repair is going to be far easier to run across.

And.... I have usually only seen leather on the SE cars. So you might search the web for someone selling the seats out of one of those.