Reviving 50 year old Leather? Volvo 164 Rescue Ep 32

[@TalkinAboutTheDude]

He’s back

[@bibiroulagrillade49]

it looks like the seat has a warrior's scar. it gives personality to the whole thing. Keep it like this ! I like It.

[@robthoreson8384]

I couldn’t tell from your stitching but a backstitch would work well with your glove and look neater, or alternatively a blind stitch or zigzag stitch. There’s plenty of videos for ideas on those. But I’d get a big patch, glue and sand and fill it in. Love the videos btw. Hope to meet up sometime.

[@eriks825]

The headrest in Amazon, 140 and 164 are the same (exept the colors)! the wider 1967-1971(option before1969) and the narrower type is 1972-74

[@plymsat71]

A local cobbler recommended Angelus mink oil for a pair of leather work boots and I ended up using that after cleaning my car seats with Lexol. The stuff works great for reconditioning what seems too dry to be of any value. Soaks in really well and doesn't come off on clothing. As for the missing material - I suspect taking off the covers and gluing a patch from behind would look way better than trying to stitch the stuff.

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

0.03 seconds in this video and I already pressed the 👍 button! I simply had to smile and definitely expected a kind of David Bello Volvo dance choreography to the music. At least it started very promising. ;-) Now back to the video...

[@mrevolnation]

The end result looks much better. Gives me some hope for my 780 seats.

[@michelswerissen6544]

Volvo's are awesome.

[@mayflowerlash11]

That was heroic. These seats are in worse condition than my 91 Volvo 240. To have a go at closing and repairing the big gap was brave. I have applied to my leather seats a material designed for saddles. I figured it wouldn't do any harm. It didn't but it probably was not ideal. The leather in my 240 actually feels stiff as if was unusually thick hide. If it is it probably needs a different treatment to thinner old leather. I agree with your comment, grit in the stitching will cut the leather to pieces efficiently along the stitching. I guess we all wish to learn of a secret treatment which brings the leather back to new. This is vain optimism. The leather is worn, down and out. Preserve it in a way which stops further decay. Repair the gap with new matched inserts. Once again, this was a brave effort. I hope Ivy feels the love.

[@Gothamauto]

At this point most of us look for ideas, because new leather isn't in the cards. I really liked the idea of a color-matched vinyl overlay for the seat corner tear. That and the proper adhesive might be the answer.

[@fredhaagsma6832]

David, couldn’t agree more ! The steel wool is fantastic however I use it exactly as you do but spray the surface with “WD-40” at the same time as using the steel wool. It lubricates the surface as you’re treating it and does actually contribute to removing those little bumps on the corroded surface.

[@brucebeauvais1324]

Once upon a time,GM was sued over their "leather" interior claims. After that was settled, all GM's advertising said "leather seating surfaces". Back in the day, when this car was new and leather was not common, there was no Lexol. It was saddle soap and Connolly leather treatment. SAAB 99s and 900 were od similar vintage and used the a fabric support under the seat bottoms. After a couple of revisions , the ultimate solution was a wire grid support attached to the seat frame by springs. Given that Volvo used that same sort of fabric webbing for years, might Volvo have a similar solution?

[@EnriqueLopez-hb5jn]

They have a leather/ vynil repair kit, to fix the leather it has swatches a heating tool, plus some filling compound, to make it look awesome, it is made by Permatek, Good Luck.

[@eliacapriotti3361]

The difference between the large and smaller headrest was the model year,from 1972 they use the smaller one to have much visibility on the back. I used the nivea cream for the leather and trust me,body cream was amazing. My leather was completely dry and now she’s perfect and soft. If you need I’ll send you the type

[@timbre7999]

Another brilliant video! I can relate to your disappointment about the leather cleaning; having done the same I too got that stark contrast between vinyl & leather, plus even darker looking cracks. I later used Dubarry Leather Color Restorer which did help quite a bit and it is holding up well two years on.

[@secularnevrosis]

It's hard to repair leather that has gone over to the "dark side". One solution can be to use new leather, in strips and glued to the back of the edges. That will allow for a tighter stitch with out tearing the old. If it's really bad you can first stitch the new leather together tightly and then stitch through both the new and old to make a pretty seam. If you can use a strong leather glue it's perfect. If not, use a plyable glue that you can stitch through. Have used Liquisole for some repairs, leather and vinyl. But this is depending on how much the leather/vinyl have shrunk, and the condition of it. I'm sorry to say that it is much trial and error when it comes to old upholstery.

[@LABdk]

Nice work! Fiebings liquid glycerine Saddle Soap spray and Neatsfoot oil is a great combo for reviving old car leather. There is also Montes Paint in San Fernando that can do color matching spray paint (color from the good vinyl) for $25 a can; I don’t spray it, but touch-up by hand like applying lotion… long story.

[@EnriqueLopez-hb5jn]

Simply amazing the way that you rejuvenate, and breathe new life, into the leather seats,👌👌👌👌👌👍👍👍👍

[@TheAbibi]

Watch for That alcohol as an ingridient if you don‘t want to get leather surfaces dryer afterwards.

[@TheDIDSBIAK]

Great solution to use safety belts for set webbing 😎👍

[@carinapowered995]

Buy a piece of matching leather/vinyl and stick it on the problem/torn area of your seat, they sell special flexibale fabric glue, I am sure they will sell equivalent one for leather/vinyl too, mine came in tooth paste tube, you might be able to use contact cement rattle canister also.

[@howesitgoin739]

The75 have the basically 240 seats. The 70 however...... Rear seat 240.... Fronts only 164 not 144 but only 164. Feel your pain on the price to redo. The mini Cooper seats will look good and go with the rat rod battleship grey look. Think I'd rather buy a ls swap than pay to do new front seats. 😃🤗 Looking good can't wait for fall and not triple digit weather.

[@moistsquid741]

8:09 I love this

[@nbleys5696]

I commend the energy and passion put into this. But for what it's worth I think you should have the seats redone. Just like you did with the 122s wagon restore. BTW David I might be buying a 1968 122s wagon.

[@moistsquid741]

Yep I’m convinced you’re the American Connor Temple from Primeval

[@Andy-sh9eq]

Brand new full leather seat upholstery for the 164 is available from a company in Holland 🇳🇱 but its really expensive.

[@BeardedWrencher]

I love the progress! I can't wait to see it completed. Do you think quad zero steel wool would work good for the beauty rings for my 85 240 DL? I had them polished and they look nicer than they did, but a nice clean shine with a coat of wax would make me even happier.

[@morecomplex5233]

I still have a 75 164 with only 27,000 miles....... I need to do the transmission seals and just can' t get motivated...always garaged

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

Dear David Bello. 👍👌👏 Nevertheless you are not happy with the results, you tried it and put a lot of elbow grease in it. So for me it's like always: Very well done again. 2) Please kindly tell me where you buy these interesting black gloves with the ventilation holes. It must be a relief to have those in the hot climate. ;-) 3) Please kindly allow me to recommend Ballistol Universalöl (universal oil?) to you. It's immensely diverse to use and it's made out of natural ingredients. Prevent freshly "steelwooled" chrome with it (interior), maintain/prevent leather, wood, skin, and of course oil things with it. It was formerly mostly only known for gun care/maintenance. Advice: The oil is much cheaper than the spray oil. 4) I'm eagerly looking forward to watch the next part. Seems that I simply can't wait to see beautiful Ivy completed. It will be another DaBe masterpiece for sure. As always: Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health.

[@TheDIDSBIAK]

Did the leather feel smoother and not dry after applying Lexol?

[@TheDIDSBIAK]

Glue the leather (repair patch) parts would be better and durable

[@RenanSCstratocaster]

Paint over it :) Leather ink

[@aubreyjohnson6269]

Use Vaseline to moistturize

[@DavidBello]

I’m a Jergen’s girl

[@aubreyjohnson6269]

@@DavidBello ,ohh my.

[@iracema1]

Great work! My 1989 Porsche 911 also has just the front seating surfaces faced with leather. The sides and back, as well as the laughable back seats are all vinyl. They surely hold up better than the leather portions. Have you tried Leatherique? Their fillers and dye will eliminate those black cracks. The really revived cream-colored seats in an old Jaguar XJ6 I had and they looked great: www.leatherique.com