Carpets - Owners alternatives to the ubiquitous mortlake.

PeterZRH

Well-Known Member
Nearly every P6 I've seen seems to have mortlake brown carpet. This over time tends to fade and look more like the bristles of a nail brush and generall isn't particularly pleasant.

I'm wondering what the options were at the time? (The colour/trim combinations on Rudiger's website don't list these).

Perhaps new/unfaded/clean mortlake wasn't so bad? (pictures please).

Also has anyone gone with a non-standard colour with good results?

The problem I have is while loving originality, I have tobacco brown, plus buckskin, plus mortlake which seems to take the brown theme a little too much to the extreme for my taste. The whole effect is somewhat akin to driving a sepia photograph. I was thinking maybe a slight rust brown might not look out of place and the reddish colour lift the interior a bit.

Any thoughts people?
 
There are quite a few on here have gone for non-original colours with new carpet kits. Not as good quality as originals but fitted well they look very nice indeed, especially with contrasting edge colours.

Personally, I like original carpets but enjoyed the sepia photograph analogy. :LOL:
 
The parts catalogs list 6 carpet colours: Birch Gray, Light Gray, Fawn, Dark Brown, Mortlake Brown & Toledo Red. Personally, I've only ever seen the Mortlake, Birch Gray & Toledo Red carpets in a car here in Canada. (On further reflection, the Fawn too)

Yours
Vern
 
I like Grey ones, with black edging :)

101_0645a.jpg
 
My interior was originally balck cloth with Mortlake carpets I believe but when I changed to Buckskin vinyl I went for a ligter colour. This if I remember correctly is Champagne from Coverdale.

 
PeterZRH said:
Nearly every P6 I've seen seems to have mortlake brown carpet. This over time tends to fade and look more like the bristles of a nail brush and generall isn't particularly pleasant.

I'm wondering what the options were at the time? (The colour/trim combinations on Rudiger's website don't list these).

Mortlake isn't quite as ominpresent as you may think, but certainly was after 1973 when there was nothing else available at all.

Red cars with black interiors usually had grey carpets before that point (although not all, by a long way).

In 1972-1973 Grey made a comeback and quite a few cars with black interiors from that time have that colour.

A lot of export cars seem to have grey as well.

Red interiors always had red carpets (but were defunct by October 1972)

Early cars had grey carpets (with black or grey trim), red carpets (with red trim), a light beige (similar to Mortlake) and also a very the wonderful bronze type which my car has.

18thSeptember18th20054.jpg


The little lad in this photo is now 6' 3" and has a very deep voice.
 
So what have I learnt? From the wonderful interiors posted here, anything looks better than mortlake!

Thanks folks.
 
The Rovering Member said:
Unusually for me, I quite like that steering wheel too as it's not too dissimilar from the factory item. I think 'sporty' wheels look like a fish out of water in a P6.

I have been told that it is a rare factory/dealer option. A member if a P6 Facebook page has one fitted to his car and the brochure showing it as an option. It had been painted black by a previous owner so I took it back to bare metal earlier this year which would of been its original finish.



My apologies for hijacking this thread :wink:
 
On my '67 Arden Green TC the Mortlake had deteriorated and looked ugly.
Having checked the prices of new carpet sets, I decided to dye mine to a darkish green (more Cameron than Arden).
It cost about £25 for materials and I am well pleased with the result.
It doesn't look new by any means, but is very much rejuvenated, and quite a few people have commented favourably on the effect achieved.
 
Don't think I can dye the holes on the bald bits unfortunately.... :-( Seriously though, thats a good idea. Mine are knackered and good only for templates but lots I've seen look bad because they've faded unevenly.

I'm going to make a set myself I think and go with a lighter colour. I might attempt to remove the original binding, bleach it lighter and reuse it.
 
I'm no upholsterer but having fitted a new set of carpets I think it would be quite easy to make your own set. I would imagine having a sewing machine would make it quicker and easier to sew on the edging. The only 'non flat' section of the kit I bought was the front of both sill pieces where they wrap around the bottom of the A-post and sill. This had been pre-stitched but again easy to replicate from a good used set I would if thought.

Best of luck if you go for it :D
 
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