I'm looking for an LHD set in Red
I suspect from the price the usual sources supply in acrylic or nylon.
Don Thibault on the US East Coast has nylon, acrylic and German square weave wool.
The feel of my original ones is natural so I'm leaning to the wool.

I received a reply from Don:

"the German square weave wool is not only similar it is what was used on the Volvo back in the 60's"

This is a photo of his product.

Hi,

There you go!
If you get those you will want to do what I said about velvet cake!

I suggest you only lick them for affect! Try to refrain from too many!
(:)!

Who is the Don person? I'm not ordinarily on the 1800 tab.


Phil

He sells a variety of restoration parts through P1800.com from Massachusetts, I gather some are not from the suppliers that VP, Skandix and Nordicar use. Not nearly as slick as those others but claims to have owned over 300 1800s and I sense somewhat higher attention to detail.

I believe that Don used to and may still do, get his 1800 interior kits etc from Richard Felton Specialist Upholstery in the UK. Some info here including pictures of the carpets. He may now rely on VP.
https://p1800s66.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/721/
https://www.specialist-upholstery.com/

Hi,

A lot of interesting information flowing here!

I went and took a look at some of it and the history of enthusiasm goes back a long ways !

Some people sure can carry a love for their hobby farther than others.

Thanks for sharing and maybe this enthusiasm will continue to spread but I don't think it will ever be as contagious as Covid-19.
Leaves me sad for which one to feel the most sad for?
(:-)

Phil

Hi, you got me to be curious!

I went out to this to poly, because I knew of this plastic product and was curious about it myself to when it came to life. I guess 1957 was the year!
Getting into production for cars, is another far out guess, but 1964 is very plausible?

I use to think everything is sort of tied back to the nylon product of WWII.
Today’s Saran wrap material was used for isolation or insulation pegs in England’s coastal radars that the Germans didn’t know about! Saran is still miserable to use for stretch wrap, but hey, not all things got to progress, considering Tupperware’s domination.

Olefin fiber
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olefin fiber is a synthetic fiber made from a polyolefin, such as polypropylene or polyethylene. It is used in wallpaper, carpeting,Ώ] ropes, and vehicle interiors.
Olefin's advantages are its strength, colourfastness and comfort, its resistance to staining, mildew, abrasion, and sunlight, and its good bulk and cover.ΐ]

Wool was used in American housing up into the mid seventies but “nylon” was the buzz word for carpets other than wool!
About the same time Herculon was used to get long wearing fabrics for upholstery.

Apparently between nylons and the term acrylics things get “spun” in a race to consumers. (:)
From this observation that since “olefin” was invented by an Italian chemist that put Europe ahead of us again! There is a movie touting with the newest thing to invest in, was plastics!
Of course, I saw that movie too late!

I would test your carpet fibers with a little heat of a soldering iron.
This will tell you if the fiber scorches or melts.
Wool is from sheep and plastics polymers melt around 250 degrees of which is far below solder.

Are you going back with Red? How did that color hold up to sunlight?
Wool does have its qualities!
The square weave idea reminds me of my floor mats of my 1978. The dealer provided what they called COCO mats made of basket weave material. Cute but not very long lasting and dirt sifted right through them.

I would be afraid to put plush Red in a car, if there is someone around that likes velvet seats or the cake!
(:-)

Phil

Finally this is the original compared to a synthetic floor mat I had made, new mat overlaying original carpets

And this is the texture of the original

This shows the range of fading in the original carpet