In my previous projects, I have only ever used vinyl or wood for the dashboard and interior trim. I haven't had any experience with leather yet. Now I've dared to use leather for the first time and I'm really excited about what this material can do. Anyone who has ever covered the lower crossmember of the dashboard of a MK1 Mini with vinyl, as in the Cooper and Cooper S, will certainly have cursed a lot

. The negative curves on the left and right of the switch panel cut-out are really a pain in the a**s

. I haven't yet managed to stretch the vinyl enaugh so that it follows the contour. Either there were massive wrinkles or I had to cut it in.
This time I decided to use leather because I wanted the structure and the naturally soft surface. Besides, the original dashboard has no seams or wrinkles on the edges. And in my experience, that's just not possible with vinyl.
Real leather, on the other hand, is super flexible. You can pull it around very complex corners and edges without wrinkles forming. I'm really thrilled and annoyed that I didn't do this earlier

.
But to get the leather into shape, you have to wet it well beforehand. I put the cut pieces in a bucket of water for a few minutes so that they could soak up. Then I stretched the leather over the various parts of the dashboard and fixed it with numerous staples. I then let the leather pieces dry for one or two days. Of course, this doesn't work for all components in the vehicle, so vinyl has still its specific uses.
IMG_6441.jpg
IMG_6431.jpg
IMG_6433.jpg
IMG_6449.jpg
IMG_6452.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.