Mike:
As with most British car interiors, the trick is not to just find leather of a
certain colour, but to find leather with matching British-type grain vinyl.
Otherwise you're into dyeing one or the other or both. I've found teal leather
for a customer, but the panels, which never matched exactly in the first
place, had to be dyed.
The reason unusual colours (teal, persimmon) weren't used for a long time was
that the pigments making up that colour didn't stand up. The ol' standbys
deep red, dark blue, dark green, beige, brown were known to have a long life
and were used for decades. The teal was especially prone to fading. The
leather "faded" somehow to a brighter blue, and the vinyl faded to a pale grey
over a relatively short time. The familiar so-called "persimmon" leather
began as a pinkish-orangeish red exactly the colour of a Persimmon fruit (you
can still see the original colour under the seat cushions usually). It was in
fact always called "red" in the specufication. This colour faded over time to
a pure orange colour, familiar to all Healeyites.
So, yes you can find teal leather, but chances are it will be a less durable
clothing or fashion grade, whereas the Healeys used a heavier upholstery grade
leather of at least 1.1millimeter thickness.
Best regards
Peter
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