Westfalia curtain fabric color for SO 23, 33, 34, and 35

[livingskies]

We are hoping to make up new interior curtains for our 1964 Westfalia SO33 this summer. Pieces of the original curtains came with the bus and we are trying to match that as closely as possible. It seems that VW used the same fabric for a number of years in SO 23, 33, 34, and 35 campers.

The curtain material that we have that was exposed to the sun for many years appears quite yellow. The reproduction fabric sold by one of the vendors in Europe also appears quite yellow. I have not seen their reproduction fabric in person, and it may be possible that their fabric is not actually as yellow as it appears in their advertising.

The reason that we wonder about the color is that, on taking apart the seams on a piece of the old curtain material, the material from inside the seam that was protected from the sun and other elements appears darker and more brown than the yellow outside fabric. Please look at the picture below to see the contrast in colors.

It would be great if those with more knowledge and experience about this can comment on the correct color for the curtains. Also, does anyone know of any color pictures from back in the day that depict the accurate color of these curtains?

Thanks for any help with this. If in fact the darker more brown color is the correct color, it may be possible to have a batch of the curtain fabric made up in the correct color.

[campingbox]

My original curtain was bright yellow behind the seam. It was not brown like yours.

I forget exactly how the BBT fabric compared to my original, I remember thinking it was close but not perfect.

[livingskies]

Thanks, campingbox.

The Westfalia ad found on this forum, reposted below, also shows curtains from back in the day. They do look more yellow than brown. That example of a bus is an earlier one than the 1964 that we are working on - no idea whether the color of the fabric may have changed over the years either.

I'm still hoping to find other pictures, possibly closer up, that can help with this.

I'm not saying that the curtains should not be yellow, but the brown in the protected areas made us wonder what is correct. Any other help with this will be much appreciated.

[livingskies]

Here's another picture from VW advertising. Those curtains sure do look yellow.

That leaves one to wonder how the curtain remnants that we have became so brown in the folded seams. Maybe a previous owner smoked a lot of something in the bus? We even tried washing a piece of the fabric repeatedly with soap and the brown staining did not come out.

[Braukuche]

[Clara]

Susan's beautiful 66 has original yellow curtains:
(and og plaid)

This is an og yellow curtain ( not original to the bus)
and repro coral red curtain in my Oct 60 camper:

there may be more yellow curtain pics in my thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...p;start=20 if you look through. At one point we were thinking about what colour and fabric to use in the 15 window campingbox (yellow? orange? red?), and then got distracted by moving to a different state, put bus projects on hold to move into old farmhouse, and never finished up the curtains.

In any case, I thought it was a bright butter yellow. But ya, your old curtain does look more tan in the seams. Same weave in the cloth what I'd seen on the yellow, which is different from the weave on the coral red.
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[campingbox]