Leather S2 seats

[Bainford]

Lovely interior. Beautiful work. I really like the leather lined cubby in place of the ashtray... very handy.

[Footer]

I’m with Bainford and BDA, great work and it looks terrific.

[Mid-EngineEnthusiast]

The next question, of course, is whether you are going to make these for those of us lacking in sewing skills.  )

[Benjy]

Since I'm in France and it seems most of you are in the States it would probably work out ludicrously expensive what with shipping and duty etc. Surely there must be a trimming company in the US who can do this for you?

The leather alone cost almost $1000!

There does seem to be this company in CT who sell a complete trim kit (albeit in vinyl) for the Europa. https://www.sportsandclassics.com/parts/lotus/lotus-europa/interior-lotus-europa/lotus-europa-twin-cam-interior-kit-leather/

But thanks for the vote of confidence and all the lovely comments!

Cheers

Benjy 54-0949

[Cheguava]

Fantastic work. I'm not capable of that kind of work, so have bought new seat covers, and that will be plenty challenging for me, but really appreciate the pics of your work. For the central console, were you able to stretch the leather at all, or was it all done with stitching to tailor it to the contours?

Best wishes, Jeff

[Benjy]

I wet the leather and stretched it over the middle part of the consul. I made wooden chocks and wedged them in to keep the leather in place while it dried. Once that was done it was easy enough to template up the sides to make them fit to the middle part. It's really not so hard, it just takes time and you have to be patient! Thin leather is very easy to shape and stretch.

Cheers

Benjy
54-0949

[Benjy]

Ahoy All,

Here are the latest pics of the interior, almost finished with the carpets fitted. I made a bottle storage holder which lives between the seats. I made it in fibreglass and covered it in leather. To keep it as light as possible it has no bottom.

I mounted the interior light on a small teak plate to lift it away from the carpet a bit. At the top of the bulkhead carpet I sewed on some vinyl which is glued to the rear window aperture. It's hard to see how this is done as standard and it looks like everyone does it differently but this seems to me not a bad way to do it. Including the engine bay soundproofing, the Nomex core and two layers of jute, plywood and carpet the bulkhead is about 65 mm thick! I am hoping it will lead to a relatively quiet interior...

The observant of you will notice inertia reel seat belts. These are the narrowest units I could find. They are from an Opel Corsa and the seats just clear them but it is very close! I cut the webbing down to length and sewed them back up afterwards.

Next up I plan to make some mats to protect the carpet, fit the headlining and finish a few more details but I am pleased to say that the interior is nearly finished.

The last job which I shall tackle when the weather warms up a bit is the exterior paint and then I can start to think about actually driving the car! I started in October 23 so I will have been at it about a year and a half. Working on the car most days. Who would have thought such a small and simple car would take so long to restore...

Cheers

Benjy 54/0949