Just looking in my old notes, there is this bookbinding cloth from the UK that claims to still be made from Pyroxylin. No gray, but it looks like there is still brown and black. Might be worth getting a sample to see if it is stout enough..
To my eye the pattern looks very close, as long as the size of the "wrinkles" matches. I don't know what 36 oz fabric would feel like, but bloo would. Your pictures look like your seat was originally black, was it? This stuff comes in black, but maybe the vinyl can be dyed to the color of your choosing? Once again, I think bloo is the expert here, so maybe he can tell you what he thinks of this material and whether or not it could be dyed. (used to have to dye the new vinyl dashes for late 70s Chev trucks)
I'm no expert, just a guy who has had involvement with antique cars for a long time, and happened to work in an upholstery and trim shop for a while when I was a teenager.
I never was any good at estimating what an ounce number should feel like, but to the best of my recollection 36oz would be a little heavier than typical vinyl.
From the name and the low cold crack rating, I would guess this is "snowmobile vinyl". Back in the day we had something called "snowskin" and I used a lot of it. It had a -40F cold crack rating and only came in black. Mostly it went on seats for snowmobiles, tractors, motorcycles, heavy equipment, etc. This felt like any other modern vinyl, maybe a little softer. I did upholster a car with it for a guy I know. We used to have really cold winters here, and he lived up on a high plateau where it gets even colder. It didn't quite match, but not splitting at -20f was more important. He used those seats for at least 100k miles, maybe closer to 200k. The car was taken off the road at some absurd mileage (400k?) due to a cracked unibody.
Probably not a bad choice for a truck that would really get used. The only downside is it soft and you could hook a tool or something on it and puncture it.
I wouldn't dye a seating surface. I have used a lot of vinyl dye back then, and I think SEM ColorCoat is a lot better than MarHyde. MarHyde behaves more like paint. Still, even SEM ColorCoat doesn't soak in very deep. Great for door panels, repairing special pieces of unobtanium vinyl on the back side of a backrest, etc. It would probably wear through on a seat.
There are a bunch of standard automotive vinyl grains in the trade (sierra, levant, corinthian, elk, and many others), and you can grain match almost anything, but maybe not the color. There are also lines of "contract vinyl" that come in hundreds of colors, but not many grains to choose from. It also probably isn't rated for auto use (but sometimes you take what you can get when you need to match a color).
Never, ever, ever buy any vinyl unless it has a woven cloth backing. Avoid anything that is fuzzy on the back like Dacron quilt stuffing. Quite a few of the "feels like leather" vinyl's are like this, as well as some really cheap ones. It wont hold up.
Chev Nut indicated it would be some shade of brown possibility because that there were color changes added in 1940.
Mine appears to be black.... but not necessarily original to the truck as I’m finding out as I do a teardown. Apparently the entire truck was redone sometime in the past...
Others have posted pictures indicating a brown color, usually dark.
So, at this point we have the brown color and a rough (pun) idea of the texture. Last is to settle on the seams. There appears to me that we have two basic types and both include welting. The first has welting around the top of the seat ... the sides and front. The back has welting around the entire edge ... top and sides. The second has welting on the edges tapering down the front with no welting on the front edge. The back has welting along the vertical edges but not across the top. Mark Yeamans seats are an example of that.
His are also similar to the ones in the Heritage Center brochure.
Many Pictures I have seen have combinations of the two. My seats are an example of that with welt seams across the front but not across the top of the back.
As pointed out, Possibly from different manufacturers.....
I have been married long enough that I have learned how to answer the question "What do you think of these colors?"
The answers include: "That sure is an interesting combination." " It is always difficult to determine the real effect with such small color samples." "It is always tricky making a decision based on a picture of a color sample on the internet."
Hopefully the expert on answers to the missus (Charlie) will help me out!
I once bought a new truck and in conversation with the sales person, he asked me if I had done any research regarding this truck. I assured him that I had and with that he handed me a report from the manufacturer detailing the person who they thought would buy such a truck. I was amazed at the accuracy of the report detailing the prospective buyer... meaning me. I replayed that it was amazing but they missed the color I might choose. Nor missing a beat, he replied that men don’t choose colors, women (wife) do!!!!!
Hi Mike Your material choice for your seat looks great to me! No one seems to have commented on the green though. So, regarding the green, it's of course true that every computer screen is going to reproduce colors a little differently. That said, the green just peeking above the bottom of the picture looks closer to me. I'm pretty sure the paint on my truck is original as applied at the Kansas City plant in October of 1946. At any rate it matches the paint inside the cab at the base of the seat perfectly. I just went out and looked and my computer screen reproduces the actual color very well. To get around the problem with screen differences try this: Take pictures of the greens you think are close. Load them onto your computer, then compare those pictures to the picture of my truck I posted above... side by side... on your screen. Regardless of the way your screen reproduces colors, if they match on the screen, they ought to be pretty close to matching in real life.
I'm no paint expert. About as far from it as I can get. But I'm going to say this, the green on my truck is sort of peculiar, and I'd swear there is quite a bit of something like brown in it. Hope this helps!
By the way, pretty sure my truck is "Brewster" green... which was the standard color that year... not "Apple" green which was option # 234C. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Well, I’ve taken apart my seat back and it appears to be quite old. It looks as though it has been redone because the old clips were still in place and the “new” cover was hog ring in place. Because of the condition of the springs, I’m going to have to replace a number of coils. Any idea where I can get them? Or maybe a replacement seat back?
The seat backs use a conical spring where the seats use a hourglass shaped spring. Adding to that, the backs use 4 different size springs in 4 rows to build the curvature of the back. Usually the back springs are attached to a metal strap at the smallest end (conical) so they call them strapped springs. That’s why the hourglass springs won’t work. No Upolstery place that I have contacted has them... I thought an old back spring might work or at least provide me with replacement springs. Maybe something from a different car...
I have found replacement sets ($450 + each)but are not correct as to construction for that period.... I know, picky....picky... ????
