96V4 - Leather Interior

Following Russell's letter in the Mar/Apr 99 issue of The Enthusiast, I was intrigued to know the result of seats reupholstered in leather in a 1973 Saab 96V4.

Everyone enjoys the sunshine but, for Saabs the sunlight has a particular unforgiving effect that eats away at the upholstery and the foam of the seats, especially across the top of the rear seat.

Where the sun doesn't burn, then fabric will give up the unequal struggle after the driver has seated himself only a few thousand times. So reupholstery of the Saab interior is a must for any keen 96 owner.

I was further interested by the fact that the supply of the leather and the actual reupholstering of the seats was carried out by firms local to myself in Brighton, East Sussex.

BUT, there had been a printing problem involved with the production of The Enthusiast which left no contact name for the person who submitted the letter. A quick email to the editor of The Enthusiast and I had a name and a telephone number. I called Russell and left a message asking whether the work had been completed?

The following day I had a returned message on the answer machine. The reupholstered seats has been completed about a month earlier and the car was just twenty minutes along the coast. When could I take a look? Well, there's no time like the present.

I quickly fed the cats and I was off out again. Russell's directions proved easy to follow and I found the green 96 with no problem.

The seats on this 96 had been restuffed and covered in a good, thick, high quality green chrome leather. The reupholstering itself had been conducted by an antique furniture reupholsterer in Brighton, the leather having first been bought from a chap in Rottingdean, just along the coast.

The leather certainly felt to be of a high quality and the seats were firm but comfortable to sit on. There is definitely something that makes leather seats very comfortable. The aroma of the leather was also apparent.

The colour chosen was in keeping with the interior colouring of the 96 and, whilst the Saab is hardly an antique, the overall effect was to enhance this classic motor.

The cost of reupholstering a 96 in this way depends upon the colour and quality of leather, whether you source the leather yourself and whether you have the seats restuffed. Russell said it cost £110 for each front seat and £130 for the rear seat to be restuffed and covered in the leather he supplied. The total restoration including the leather cost around £600.

The finish is well worth the investment, as the photographs show, for anyone keen to restore and/or enhance their classic Saab.

An hour and twenty minutes had passed in what felt like ten as Russell and I discussed all matters Saab. Like many owners in the Saab Enthusiasts Club, he is a keen Saab nut who has more than one Saab and has a long association with the marque. This 96V4 is his daily transport, and a great example of a 96 it is, too.