leather under rear window shot

[Doug Steinel]

The leather just under the rear window has dried out on my '77 911 coupe. Can you just repair the leather or do you replace the whole with a new rear shelf that I see advertised?

[Todd Simpson]

Doug-Is the leather itself ruined, or is the panel just warped?

I had the leather shrink and warp the panel. I pulled the panel out, removed the leather, then flattened the cardboard panel as best I could. Once that was done I reinstalled the original leather. It looked a lot better.

If the panel is flat, and just the leather is ruined, try removing it and rewrapping. If the leather is ruined and the panel is warped then I would buy the replacement.

[NiceT]

I own a 73 T that has recently had the rear shelf recovered in leather by a trim shop who also redid the centers of my sport seats. Looks as new. No need to replace the whole unit. Stop by any good local shop and have them look at the parts and I think you will find it is an inexpensive (in Porsche terms) repair. Good luck and wouldn't hurt to post some before and after shots here. Daron

[aigel]

The leather usually shrinks 20%, you will at least need new leather. I second Daron, just take it to a good upholsterer and have them repair it. They will put new backing if it needs it and leather. Of course, if you are good at this yourself, you can do it too!

george

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

It is really easy to do it yourself. I pulled out my entire panel and reproduced it in thin plywood, bought some leather and foam backing/padding and redid the whole thing. It's about the simplest woodworking you'll ever do, the only slightly challenging part being fastening the two panels together--"hat shelf" and the covering over the firewall, I used a strip of hardware-store aluminum to create the bend angle--and the upholstering >is< the easiest upholstry work you'll ever do.

Stephan