Original Interior Leather Colors

[Eneto-55]

I mentioned this before, in someone else's topic about arm rests, that the arm rests in my 46 Special DeLuxe were covered in leather, in a darker color that complemented the body color.  Starting a new topic in order to be able to put in specific tags for the topic.

 

Has anyone ever seen a color chart for the interior leather parts? Maybe one that showed which leather colors were used with which body colors?  

I think that the only real leather in my 46 was the arm rest covers, and what remains of it is pretty dried out, and probably darkened by dirt and natural body oils and sweat.  (Oklahoma car, so it would have been subjected to a lot of the latter.)

 

I have looked through hundreds of leather color charts at a couple of furniture stores here in our area, and haven't seen any green color close to what I think the original was.  Also thinking of trying to dye some leather on my own.  Has anyone used acetone or alcohol to strip the existing dye from leather?

 

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

acetone is a fast drying wipe and likely not to soak in...personally I often wipe items I am about to spray with die with naphtha.  Sure it is personal call and maybe what you have on hand.  I would not use the alcohol as the substrate would remain to wet for too long.  

[Eneto-55]

3 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

acetone is a fast drying wipe and likely not to soak in...personally I often wipe items I am about to spray with die with naphtha.  Sure it is personal call and maybe what you have on hand.  I would not use the alcohol as the substrate would remain to wet for too long.  

This morning, after posting these questions, I did some tests with acetone on various color scraps I had from a rocker (chair) manufacturer.  Some, the ones that had more grain patterns, appear to have been dyed a base color, then 'painted' with the finish color.  On those, the acetone made the top coat peel off, like a thin coating of rubber.  The others (with a smoother finish) sort of lightened up a bit, but not back to what I would say is natural leather color.

 

I also did one test with alcohol, but it didn't seem to make much difference in the color - just left it wet, as you said here.  (In both cases, I dipped narrow strips into the liquid, then wiped it with a rag.)