RS Motorsport :: Classic Speed Restored

hi all,

from reading the forums before i understand there is no exact replica material for the aussie rs seat cloth. found a trim expert that talks on the australian ford forums who has recently reproduced the xe falcon esp seat material of an apparently very high quality (it's in high demand).

i messaged him in regards to replicating the aussie rs seat cloth and he seemed to be interested to investigate it further. he said he would need a peice of original material initially to work from.

i'm curious if anyone would have a small peice of the original material in fairly good condition they could give thise bloke to see how far we can go with this. i for one would love to retrim my rs seats in replica cloth.

i can provide his details if interested.

daniel.

Is it not Beta Cloth? same as the Euro RS cars?

If it is, I have about 6 metres of new original stuff here, it's not for sale though, but if it is the same stuff I can tell you where to get excellent reproduction cloth.

I will try and post a pic later to see if it's the same

thanks mark, it'd be great if you could provide a pic so the experts here can scrutinise it.

yes, according to the advertising literature, the cloth is called "beta plus" cloth. whether or not is in fact the same cloth as the euro rs i'm unsure.

daniel.

mark,

seems it's been discussed in a previous thread and the beta plus cloth is the same. is the repro stuff you're thinking of available from aldridge.co.uk?

It's hard to get a decent photo of this stuff, as the light changes the way it looks, but this is the best I could do:

1st one is some older material, it is the headrest of my car, it is in very good condition so still fluffy, but you can see how the blackness starts to fade, it does look much blacker in normal (non flashgun) light though.





This second one is of the new cloth, it is much harder to see the definition lines in the pattern in pictures of the new stuff, as it is so black, but they are easily visible to the eye.
The corner is folded over so you can see what the backing is like too, it has a foam liner between the layers to make it more plush.




Yes Aldridge do the reproduction stuff, it looks great, but when it is brand new it looks a little different, the best way I can describe it is if you photocopy a $10 note, then print it, from a distance it looks exactly right, but up close the texture is slightly different.
That is what repro Beta looks like, but once it has been on and sat in for a little while it looks great.

It is close enough to original that I would buy it if I didn't already have this stuff, and I would have saved a lot of money too

As far as I know Aldridge only do complete seat covers though, but they are excellent and a great price, but there are a couple of other guys who sed to sell the material off the roll if aldridge won't.

hope that helps

excellent. this is great info mark, much appreciated.
finally, is the rear seat in a 2 door rs covered in the same beta plus cloth?

Groulder,

Yes the backseat is the same stuff.

To add to what Mark has already posted just be careful when ordering from Aldridge - their product is very good but if you order a MK2 set to suit scheels as fitted in Australia then you will be supplied with early UK MK2 (75-76?) roll top pattern and the stitching pattern is different to Australian cars, so to is the headrest.

Not sure how you would get around this other than stripping a set of Australian seats and shipping the covers over to be copied.

I have a short roll of new old stock beta cloth (without the backing) and the aldridge stuff is a very good match, and hopefully will last longer than the original stuff.

Cheers, Glenn

glenn,

if i say pretty please, will you just make me the seats?

i'm a perfectionist when it comes to this sort of thing. i love a car to look period and as accurate as possible. even though nobody else would notice the stitching, let alone what seat material is used, i would. it would bug me forever

i don't mind reproduction beta cloth that is near enough to original, but different stitching, etc. is too much of a deviation. surely someone can reproduce the seats properly if provided with the repro cloth?