57 Biarritz armrest restoration

[artdan]

My car did not come with the original armrest, but I found a set and I am having the metal restored. Meanwhile I intended to re-do the armrest upholstery myself. Since the interior is leather, I assumed the armrests would be the same. SMS Fabrics tells me they could supply the material with the original grain and vertical embossing, but only in vinyl. They sent me a sample that is a very glossy black and the grain is not similar. Looking at the disassembled armrest that I purchased, the material appears to be vinyl. This could've come from a different Eldorado, not a Biarritz. Would you know if the Biarritz armrest would be leather, and how necessary is it to match the vertical embossing? Would you know of a leather supplier who has this material? My internet searches come up with a similar grained leather without the embossing.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Dan the 57 Eldos that I had, all had those door pulls done in vinyl....It was like a vacuumed packed foam...

Check with Just Dashes, they do a nice job restoring those and maybe they could shoot you a picture so you can be sure it's what you want....

Mike

[spolij]

Dan   I have and 66 deville. My armrests were vinyl. I changed them to leather. If you are going to replace the vinyl covering, when you go to remove it use a hairdryer and heat it up a little bit on one end just in case it's glued  or not I know the fabric is glued underneath the arm rest. So you should undo that first. And the dryer will help loosen that glue. I used hot glue to fix the fabric on the under part.
I happend to have lots of leather on hand but you can find it on the Internet just make sure of the thickness. You may want to send them a sample as far as the thickness is concerned. They have spray on glues that I used too fix the leather to the arm rest.
Since the grain is part of the cows skin you will never find a match to the grain. If you are handy the procedure is pretty easy. As for color it can be dyed. I got a dying kit from furniture clinic. The process is easy just follow the directions and let the item sit for 10 days (two days is okay but 10 is much better) before you you use it. It comes with everything you need, even a compressor. If the color is black there is no problem picking it out. If it's color they have a chart on their website or you can send them a sample and they'll match the color. If you send a sample advise them what year car it's from.
I've never seen an armrest with embosing. I assume you mean the Cadillac logo or something. If so it would be very expensive to have it duplicated and you would have to send the other armrest so that they can duplicate it. I would leave it without the embossing.
Good luck

[artdan]

This is what I've gotten so far
The embossing is the vertical lines in the vinyl
When I peeled off the vinyl, the padding underneath was nothing but red powder.
I figure I will adhear foam padding to the metal armrest, then cover it with a black leather that comes close to the original.
I can do without the embossed lines.

[spolij]

Look up polyurethane foam on the Internet.
That embossing doesn't look like a factory thing to me. Is the other side the same?
No offense I don't like the look of it anyway.
As far as the leather grain usually you have to buy a half a skin. It doesn't hurt to have extra laying around. But as far as the grain there are different looks in the one skin. It looks like you'd usually have enough to do both armrests.
There are a lot of vendors who sell the entire armrest with foam and leather. And then if it needs doing you can dye it.

[artdan]

No offence taken.
At $500 apiece on eBay I would rather do them myself.
It is a factory thing, I see the embossing on about half of the images I have found.
This pic shows a different material on the armrest  than the leather on the door panels.

[spolij]

Yes $500 is a little expensive for one. You can probably do both my way for less than $200.I think the armrest is leather it's just a different grain pattern then the door panel it's probably thicker also.
The chrome and existing leather are in really good shape especially the chrome. Is that the way you got it or did you have it worked on?

[artdan]

That is not my car, just an example I pulled off the internet.
The chrome pieces I found needed complete restoration. Welded cracks, corrosion repair, and re-chroming.
Librandi's Plating outside of Harrisburg Pa is doing the work. I have used them before on a different car.
Reasonable prices, decent turn around time, excellent work.

[chris cunliffe]

The armrests you have are correct for 57 Eldorados. They were covered in vinyl and had matching grain to the door cappings and rear panel cappings which were also vinyl. The embossed lines are also correct. The foam in my own armrests had disintegrated so I cleaned it out ,taped up any gaps, and injected them with expanding foam holding it to shape whilst it set. I think recovered ones without the vertical embossing just look plain wrong.

[artdan]

The armrests you have are correct for 57 Eldorados. They were covered in vinyl and had matching grain to the door cappings and rear panel cappings which were also vinyl. The embossed lines are also correct. The foam in my own armrests had disintegrated so I cleaned it out ,taped up any gaps, and injected them with expanding foam holding it to shape whilst it set. I think recovered ones without the vertical embossing just look plain wrong.

With all due respect to Mr. Earl,  I haven't been able to find a material that matches the original. From what I have found so far, I would have to choose between glossy vinyl with the wrong grain, but embossed; or match the leather that is currently on the door capping. Either way is an improvement over the generic armrest currently on the vehicle.

[59-in-pieces]

Dan,

I hope the photo I attached will help.
It is of my 57 Biarritz when I brought it home many years ago after its 25 + yrs of sleep in storage from a fellow who bought it new, put a little over 25K miles on the car when he passed.

So the pic shows 8 grooves (that matches your pic) and I cropped the pic I took way back to show the grain of the door covering matches the armrest/pull covering.
The heavy dust helped show the grain pretty well.

Have fun,
Steve B.

[artdan]

Thanks
Right now, I found some inexpensive leather scraps that are a close match in grain.
When it gets here, I'm going to experiment with embossing the leather myself.
If it doesn't work I will look for a different solution.

[artdan]

I found a close match to the leather door capping
I embossed the leather myself
Now I am waiting on the restored chrome spears to fit this material

[spolij]

Art  how did you enforce the leather?

[artdan]

I am waiting on the chrome pieces to come back.
I have upholstery foam that I intend to adhere to the metal frame of the armrest, then cover with the leather.
I want to make sure everything fits before I start.

[Quentin Hall]

Good job Dan. Yes in want to know how you embossed the lines in the leather as well ? Just a flat blade and a hammer?

[artdan]

Thanks
I took an over-.sized piece of leather and stapled it onto a piece of wood.
I took a 3" brick chisel and hammer, which I dulled with a file (the first try, I incised the leather too deeply because the chisel was too sharp)
You need to dampen the leather to emboss it, I used a spray bottle.
I had pre-marked the leather, and cut the final size after embossing.
I was surprised how easy it was.

[spolij]

Dan What kind of leather is that? Doesn't look like cow.

[59-in-pieces]

Dan,

Truly inspired - genius.

Only industrial grade roller, pasta maker - came to my mind.

Have fun,
Steve B.

[artdan]

This is what I found on eBay
Springfield Leather Co. Miracle Upholstery Leather | Rough Cut by the SqFt
I bought 3 sq ft for under $40