SOL logo
Newton Commercial
Eastlands, Industrial Estates
Leiston, Suffolk, IP16 4LL
Tel: +44 (0)1728 832880
Fax +44 (0)1728 832881
http://www.newtoncomm.co.uk/
newtoncomm@anglianet.co.uk

[2001/Jul/03] I put a complete interior kit into my '69 MGB-GT. All of the components of the kit were of high quality and fit very well. I particularly like the (non-standard) pockets built into the door panels and the foot-well side panels. I did find that it was necessary to make a couple of modifications to the car to accommodate the kit. First, it is necessary to convert the doors over to accept the later style plastic snap fasteners by marking and drilling the inner door at the snap fastener locations. Second, I installed stainless trim screws and washers at the very front edge and very rear edge of the door panels at the point where the welting divides the lower carpeted/pocket section from the upper embossed plastic. This prevents a lifting of the edges of the door panels caused by the elastic tops of the pockets. This also applies to the foot well side panels. The seat kits are particularly comfortable, as they have a bit more padding than stock and are made of a thicker, softer grade of vinyl than original. Most folks mistake them for leather. I also really appreciate having a variety of contrasting piping options. The interior in my car is primarily black with coffee (tan) piping on the seats and carpets and tan embossed portions of the door/ quarter panels, in a black car. Even the material to cover the door and rear waist rails had coffee piping supplied. The cost for this kit was substantially less than Moss/TRF/VB et al, even with shipping/import duties etc. After 2-1/2 years/18K mi., the interior is wearing very well with minimal sun fading on the rear carpet due to the GT's big back window. -- Steve Hanegan <Steve@betterwitnesses.com>

They are offering a wide range of interior parts for most british sports cars, like carpets, door panels, seat covers etc. at a surprisingly low price and amazing quality. -Gernot Hofstaedter <Gernot.Hofstaedter@uibk.ac.at>

Finally I found a company in the back of Practical Classics with enough vision to provide interiors for the Triumph step children (Herald, Vitesse, GT6, and Spitfire). I recently ordered a set of foam and received it in about 2 weeks from these folks. They are not molded chipfoam like the original so hopefully they will last longer. There are a lot (and I stress a lot) of pieces with different densities that you laminate together to get back to the original molded geometry. The instructions that came with it seem to be pretty clear and straight forward. At the present I am enjoying driving too much to do the install so I will probably wait for a crappy weekend to do it. I spent approx $114 to get this mailed to my house in Texas and that seems reasonable for 2 seats in comparison to what I have seen for seats other than my type (USA, hi-back, reclining, for 71 GT6 MKIII). Ceraldi-ERC004_Richard%PWMS1@email.mot.com Unbeknownst to a lot of us, Newton Commercial makes most of the exact-replacement Triumph interior trim. They do an excellent job. In fact, they're accurate to a fault: They use the same ready-to- warp hardboard for the side panels, the use of welded or stitched seams is determined by OE usage on a per-model-year basis, and their late Spitfire houndstooth seat retrim kits use the identical fabric, which shreds in normal use in a matter of hours, exactly as original. They also advertise (more modern) molded carpet sets. In short, they are extremely accurate. One sort of wishes they'd err a bit on the side of increased durability. Despite how this sounds, I've had reason to be grateful they're there doing what they do with such exactitude. - Dan Parslow <DJP@ALPHA.SUNQUEST.COM>

These folks have made up some nice custom seats for Morris Minors, bringing the Minor interior a bit forward into the modern safety era. Take a look at http://www.wdi.co.uk/moggy/issue8/seat.html Not cheap, though!

Got an update? This does NOT mail to the vendor!

The Monster List of British Vendors is brought to you by The Dimebank Garage