1986 Carrera interior materials query

[Hamza]

Does anyone know what (if any) parts of the interior were covered in vinyl and what in leather in 86?

[PorscheGAL]

From my experience, everything was leather except the back decking. It was vinyl and so I replaced it with the same.

[gregwils]

I believe seating surfaces are leather in US cars. Steering wheel and shift boot are leather. Seat sides, backs, door panels and soft dash surfaces are all vinyl. There was a full leather option that changed the leatherette (vinyl) parts to leather, so it depends on how the car was equipped. Most were vinyl/leather.

[KNS]

It depends on how the car was optioned. You could get every single surface covered in leather if you wanted to or partial leather or... By 1986 it was common to have leather front seats (the rest of the interior in vinyl). Later on and up through today you see leather seating surfaces and the rest of the seat covered in vinyl.

[Hamza]

Thanks for the responses. This question shows how ignorant I am, but how would I tell the difference between say a leather and vinyl dash?

[R K T]

If it's leather, it probably has shrunk. If it's vinyl, it probably has cracked.

[dsmeyer]

Originally Posted by gregwils

I believe seating surfaces are leather in US cars. Steering wheel and shift boot are leather. Seat sides, backs, door panels and soft dash surfaces are all vinyl. There was a full leather option that changed the leatherette (vinyl) parts to leather, so it depends on how the car was equipped. Most were vinyl/leather.

This would be correct.

[McLovin]

The base car in 86 with have leather on the front seat seating surface, the steering wheel, and shift boot. Everything else is vinyl, including the entire rear seating surfaces.

You could option it out lots of different ways, with leather covering almost everything. Not very common, though.

A leather dash is easy to spot b/c you can see the stitching. A standard dash has no stitching on it.

[KNS]

Full leather is a nice option, my 1980 has it and every single piece of the interior is swathed in leather.

[nesslar]

My '86 has full leather back seats; fronts are full leather Sport Seats now, but I am quite sure the originals were full leather. The rear deck top (at speakers) and the "facing" of the deck (seats down), the door panels, and rear side panels are vinyl, dash "insert" material around the guages I believe is leather. Much too supple to be vinyl (I think). If it's vinyl, it's durn nice stuff.

[Hamza]

Thanks to all your responses I was able to ID the dash as vinyl and the front seats as leather. Since the grain on the two look slightly different it helped me ID everything else. I believe it is all vinyl except for the front and back seats which appear to be full leather.

KNS, I am envious, full leather might have to be added to the list of must haves for my next Porsche. ;-)

[Canada Kev]

If you asked (and paid often a lot) you could get everything in leather. And I do mean everything, from leather upholstered gauge faces to heater and AC vent grills.

[Hamza]

Man, I'd love to sit back in a fully leather optioned car and just breathe it all in for an hour.

[nesslar]

Just buy a nice new leather coat and keep the windows up.....

[Hamza]

Originally Posted by nesslar

Just buy a nice new leather coat and keep the windows up.....

Haha