One of my winter projects is redoing the entire interior of my ratty Lotus Europa S2. I perhaps shouldn’t call the Lotus ratty but the interior is certainly well worn.
Removing the seats and old carpeting only took a few hours courtesy of having removed the seats earlier in the year. At that time the seats were frozen up and accessing the bolts was virtually impossible. The carpet will work well for templates but is filthy with the jute backing falling off and crumbling all over. Most of the jute is now in the garbage and fortunately the rest of the carpet is intact.
I ordered some really luxurious European leather, one full hide of black and a half hide of grey. It’s presently hanging up in my basement creating a very nice smell in the room where it’s stored. It’s a little odd having cow parts in your basement but soon the hide won’t be recognizable.
I bought enough carpet for a few cars, my new ribbon mahogany dash is ready to cut out and I have the soundproofing material ready to go. Overall I think it’s a great colour combination although a slightly darker carpet might be needed.
A few areas need to be repaired in the Lotus before I start rebuilding the interior. The major job is to replace the fibreglass behind the drivers seat. It appears the previous owner cut a hole through the firewall to access the fuel tank sender unit. I guess that’s easier than dropping the gas tank but still it’s a little extreme. Perhaps a removable panel would work well here.