TheSamba.com :: View topic - Details on this interior. 1965 Pearl White Bug

Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:52 pm

I'm getting a little confused with trying to find the right interior. I want the same colors as the original, but TMI's website isn't very helpful and WW isn't really either. Can anyone tell me what this actually is for ordering purposes. TMI's website doesn't have pics :shock: which seems pretty strange. I have their catalog, but still not comfortable ordering. Is it vinyl, leatherette...? It has grey on the sides, off white in the front and the pattern looks like grey and brown. Little help! Thanks!!!
I did look at the color combo thread on here too, but cross referencing that to these ^^^ is #-o .
Jeff

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DSC_9180 by offshores, on Flickr[/img][/list]

Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:08 pm

You almost never see cloth interiors on US cars - Leatherette (vinyl) was considered an option, but more like an "automatic option" that VW put on since they thought everyone in the US wanted it. So you got leatherette.

And yeah, 1965 was a weird year for upholstery... that grid-like pattern on the seats, that VW called "Mesh" colors. Form what I can tell, the short answer is, TMI doesn't make an exact match for your original colors.

From theSamba Archives, 1965 has a one of the nicest dealer color brochures out there. Here's the page for Pearl White. The first twp narrow boxes are the options for the convertible top, the 1st large box is the standard cloth interior, the 2nd large box is the "standard" leatherette, and the last box is the alternate-option leatherette.

VW's names for the colors were K451 Mesh Brown/K442 Milan Beige for the standard leatherette seats, with KSK92 Milan Beige/KSK89 Cork Brown door panels. (The optional red interior got K453 Mesh Red/K438 Oxide Red for the seats and KSK90 Oxford Red/KSK80 Oxide Red door panels)

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/65colors.php

VW had Mesh Gray, Mesh Blue, Mesh Brown and Mesh Red for names. TMI has Mesh Gray, Mesh Platinum and Mesh Red for names. So they don't have your color exactly.

Damn, TMI's site sure sucks to try to navigate quickly! But if you look at their swatch page:

http://www.tmiproducts.com/volkswagen/swatches.html

You don't see the Mesh names you see at other sites like this one:

http://www.evwparts.com/volkswagen/TMIcolorsSmoothVinyl.html

-Andy

Sat Apr 21, 2012 3:18 pm

Thank you for that response, Andy. Very helpful. Looks like I'm just gonna pick out something else I like and go that route. I did have TMI send me some actual swatches too so looks like I'll be going over those again.
Would you know if there's anything from the old seats that I should save. I just stripped them and not sure if I should trash all the padding stuff and the cardboard pieces on the front seat backs. I'm gonna buy all new everything, but not sure if any of that gets reused. If not, I'll gladly throw it all in the trash.
Thanks again

Sat Apr 21, 2012 4:00 pm

I'd probaby keep it all until you get the new stuff in hand... for nothing else other than to see how well the repro stuff compares to the originals. After that I think most or all of it can be tossed.

TMI's Mesh Red looks pretty close to the optional Red colors for 1965 though... If you wanted to go that way. I know I'm partial to Pearl White with Red Interior (my 62 is that way, but solid red, not that mesh stuff)

Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:12 pm

Offshores, I sent you a PM