Tan interior S3 Spiders

Hooligan · #1 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 09:46 AM

Anyone have a photo of what the tan/brown carpet looked like when it was brand new? Maybe someone can scan in a brochure or old photo?

I'd really appreciate it. My new Spider has a tan interior, but the carpet (like so many other S3 Spiders) has faded to an orange/brown/tan mix. My car is better than many, but it's still not right.

Thanks!

Hooligan · #2 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 09:48 AM

Is this accurate?

From this eBay car: eBay Motors: Alfa Romeo : Spider (item 250183627424 end time Nov-24-07 14:47:58 PST)

WopJob · #3 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 10:32 AM

the carpet was dark brown. expose any parts of the carpet that does not see sunlight to see actual color.

Hooligan · #4 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 03:42 PM

Thanks! Oddly, my carpet is entirely orange, even under the seats (as far as I can tell). Yet the trunk is brown. Same color as the trunk?

A shame this carpet faded and is so hard to replace.

Hooligan · #5 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 03:43 PM

Oh, here's a shot of my car's interior... don't mind the mess, the car arrived last night and I haven't had a chance to clean it up. This was at my insurance agent's office.

SteveD · #6 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 05:49 PM

I have a 1988 Spider Veloce that had the "brown" carpet. When I got the car a few months ago it too was a wierd sort of orange color, it looked lousy. I took everything out of the interior and replaced it with a one piece black carpet from International Auto. It was a real pita but it looks great now. The old carpet was in around 6 or 7 pieces and was glued to the panels on the sides of the console. I peeled it off, used goo gone to get the glue off, ran some 000 steel wool over the plastic and painted them black with plastic paint. I also had to fill in some screw holes with a glue gun prior to painting. Not a job I want to do again anytime soon but it was worth it.

**kunzman** · #7 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 07:34 PM

Hooligan,
My carpet had turned to the same orange as yours and the car only had 23k miles on it. The problem you will have is finding a molded set in any color other than black.

I bought my "tan" (actually saddle in color) from Re-Originals: Carpet set: pre-molded one piece floors, carpeted... - U0001/CBT - U0001/CBT

This is the only other color that I have been able to find in a molded set.
I originally was going to buy this and dye it a darker brown, but found some leather hide at an upholstery shop that was a perfect match without dyeing and redid the seats and doors in matching leather.

Before and after:
1990 Graduate Interior Project

p.s. Get ready to dig into your wallet for a molded set. IAP and Re-Originals want >$700 for them. For IAP, you have to buy (2) parts, main and parcel shelf. For Re-Originals, its all in one kit.

**Zunige** · #8 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hooligan

Oh, here's a shot of my car's interior... don't mind the mess, the car arrived last night and I haven't had a chance to clean it up. This was at my insurance agent's office.

Hooligan · #9 (**permalink**) 11-10-2007, 08:40 AM

Hi all,

Thanks for the responses. SteveD: your door panels don't have carpet on them, do they? My '87's panels do... and that's one of my biggest concerns, figuring out what to do there so I can ensure I have matching carpet. Ah, we'll see...

Thanks for the PMs, zunige and kunzman. Got back to both of you. I think I will look into dying the carpet first, although I do like the idea of disassembling the interior to clean it all out. We'll see...

SteveD · #10 (**permalink**) 11-10-2007, 10:22 AM

No, my door panels do not have carpet on them, tan leather with a separate balck vinyl piece that includes the fold out storage compartments and speakers. Like Kunzman says, the one piece molded carpet isn't cheap. I never found the saddle one he did, I got the black at IAP. Originally, I was trying to find something tan but now that I have the black I am glad that is what I got. Hell, after all the work involved I would probably be glad with green if that was what I had put in.

Hooligan · #11 (**permalink**) 11-10-2007, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveD

No, my door panels do not have carpet on them, tan leather with a separate balck vinyl piece that includes the fold out storage compartments and speakers. Like Kunzman says, the one piece molded carpet isn't cheap. I never found the saddle one he did, I got the black at IAP. Originally, I was trying to find something tan but now that I have the black I am glad that is what I got. Hell, after all the work involved I would probably be glad with green if that was what I had put in.