OK I went out into the heat and humidity (90 deg and 87 hum)
to check under the seats.
The vinyl covers the entire rail horizontally and vertically and
then extends out about 1/4 inch on top of the floor felt that
Rootes used as underlayment. It appears like there are 5
pieces. From the left runs under the sill carpet to the
left rail of the drivers seat. The second piece runs between
the seat rails. A third runs from the right rail up under the
ash tray and down to the left rail of the passenger seat.
The fourth between the passenger seat rails. And finally
the fifth runs from the right rail under the left door sill carpet.
In fact it looks like the material was installed after the seat
rails but before the seats and console. There are trim cuts
where the pieces were fit close to the rails before gluing.
My material is a black thin pigskin. The drive shaft tunnel
under the console appears to be covered with the same stuff.
Likewise the ash tray is covered in the same material. It is
not the stretchy vinyl used in the seats.
I wonder. Since most late Tigers had pigskin vinyl and
used this pigskin material, did the few early Tigers
that had smooth vinyl (like the Alpine) use a smooth
vinyl material under the seats. If so when did they
cut over. Should there be a new sub category for
Tiger classes: Early Tiger smooth vinyl vs Early
Tiger with pigskin.
Dave Johnson, B382002668
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