Lotties new cloths
Lottie had only one real fault – her seat cloths were shabby. Standard grey with a few stains and burn marks – almost authentic French according to guru Wiltz. They had to go or get covered up.
Like any beautiful woman we felt she would look and feel so much better with new threads and that has proved true. The little job was done on 7th April as the sun was shinning and we planned to join the Madcaps for their Easter Sunday run the day after. It has always been a tradition for the children to have new clothes for Easter so Lottie got her new cloths.
They had been an impulse buy on our last visit to 2CV City – who could resist the bright yellow and black seat covers? Womanly could as she would have preferred black with yellow so as to show the dirt less! Anyway yellow and black it was.
How long could it take to swap covers? One hour? Two at most........I wish!
The grey covers had cloth flaps rather than the tensioning loops fitted to the new covers. They had been well fitted and ensured the covers were close fitting but the upholsterer had used wicked sharp double ended clips that had been crimped in place (see picture below) and they did take some removing. The best method turned out to be using 2 sets of mole grips to twist them apart.
Off came the dull grey covers and it then became apparent that the foam between the covers and seats was in poor condition as were a large number of the black rubber seat bands. We made do with what we had and secured the foam to the seat frame before fitting the covers. The new covers slipped easily into place and were quickly secured to the existing clips for the seat rubbers. They can now be easily removed when I replace the foam and the rubbers.
It took about 3 hours but lots of time was spent removing the sharp clips as I did not want them left in place to add to the rattles on the 2CV.
If you are going to replace your covers make sure you have some spare seat rubbers to hand and also get some new foam as you will probably need it. You may want to try something a little thicker and with greater density depending on what you find. Lottie’s foam was under half an inch thick and had very little density.
The seats got admiring looks at the Madcaps Easter camp and boy did they look very yellow in the bright sunshine. I am sure (hope) they will fade in time – I just hope they don’t get too dirty too quickly or Womanly will make sure I know she was right from the beginning.
Perhaps leather seats next for a Christmas present?
Last updated: 03 May 2008