1974 Carrera Coupe - RHD, UK car

[Ferry Man]

The answer ultimately came through the Scirocco connection.
I found myself spending far too much time on the VW forums and got to know the early Scirocco’s well.
They are nice cars, I’d like one.

Anyway I did discover some cars trimmed in that cloth.
Here’s some:

[Ferry Man]

The answer ultimately came through the Scirocco connection.

And I found several threads with people pleading for a source of replacement cloth.
There were similar threads on the 914 forums.
Several restorations were stumbling over the trimming.

And then I got wind of a guy who’d used the red tartan (in the same design) and he led me to SMS Fabrics in the States.

[Ferry Man]

SMS Fabrics in the States.

They are in Canby, Clackamas County, Oregon.
I’d imagine if you entered the witness protection programme, Canby would be a great place to disappear to and live out a new life.

Joking aside, Canby looks to be rather nice.
It’s just South of Portland.

SMS (who proved to be a very friendly and helpful crowd) specialise in American cars and their website makes no mention of these Porsche tartans but I mailed them anyway, ‘got to be worth a chance.
They do manufacture fabrics on their own looms and sure enough they had replicated that plaid.
So, as they had the jacquard for that particular weave, could they make me some in the green design?
And they replied saying they had it on the shelf! Wonderful!

[Ferry Man]

SMS had matched the tartan from an original piece of fabric.
They helpfully agreed to send me a sample.

And sure enough it soon arrived....

[Ferry Man]

SMS had made a superb job.

They had also used that pattern to produce several of the other colour variations.
Not all the nine different colours are available because SMS are insistent that they need an un-faded original piece of fabric to match to.
JPEG’s or photos won’t cut it, you need the cloth in your hand to ensure an accurate match.

Fortunately they had done the green version (and yellow, and orange, and red, and blue).
The reproduction cloth is superb, it’s the correct weight, the weave is spot on, the pattern an exact facsimile of the original.
It even has a coating applied to the back.
As a modern fabric there’s no reason to not believe it will remain colourfast for years to come.

[KS]

Tartantastic!

[Guy]

My certificate of authenticity does not list any detail of the interior fabric but I’ve no reason to believe it was anything other than plain black.

It was actually midnight leatherette with tweed seat centres & twill bolsters like in this Carrera 2.7:

http://stuttcars.com/porsche/1614/

[964RS]

My certificate of authenticity does not list any detail of the interior fabric but I’ve no reason to believe it was anything other than plain black.

It was actually midnight leatherette with tweed seat centres & twill bolsters like in this Carrera 2.7:

http://stuttcars.com/porsche/1614/

Oh Oh

[Ferry Man]

It was actually midnight leatherette with tweed seat centres & twill bolsters like in this Carrera 2.7

Yes, some cars were. But not all.
I like the Tweed trim, it looks cool.

The 1974 Porsche colour chart shows several options for the 911 Carrera.
The leatherette interior was available in three colours. Midnight Blue/Black, Copper Red or Brown Beige.

Seats were available in four different configurations:
You could have blue/black leatherette seats with same colour leatherette basketweave centres.
Or leatherette with Shetland fabric centres (and bolsters & headrests in twill).
Or leatherette with Tweed fabric (and bolsters & headrests in twill).
Or - at extra cost - genuine leather seats with perforated leather inserts.

[Ferry Man]

Some photos cropped from a 1974 Porsche colour chart.
It shows the three leatherette colours: Black, Red or Brown.
There's also images of the perforated leatherette, the basketweave, the twill, the 'Shetland' fabric and the 'Tweed'.

[Ferry Man]

A great red Carrera interior (with basketweave centres):

[Ferry Man]

Here's a Carrera with Brown/Beige interior:

[Ferry Man]

And a Tweed interior:

[Ferry Man]

I believe my car would have just had a plain black interior (like this car).

[Ferry Man]

When I purchased the car I was lucky enough to discover the interior more or less complete.
I was delighted.

Now, I can tell if an early 911 has incorrect trim because I’ve become very familiar with them and after a while you learn to spot inconsistencies.
But, I confess I didn’t know much about the correct parts for ’74 cars and that became apparent.