Faded gold brocade - leave or re-apply ?

[Andrew1967]

So the gold of the original brocade trim in HOY has faded with age.

Am thinking of the laborious task of re-applying the gold, using a gel pen. I've done this to a parcel shelf for 9748KO years back and know it takes ages ..

What are peoples opinions on this ?

Taking aside the time it takes, as it beats watching most of the crap on TV in the dark evenings, is it better to leave as is or reapply ?

[jay weinstein]

I've got some "nicely painted" black brocade I'll trade you....lucky you!
It's hard to believe now days we did this to our minis and thought we
were improving things.

[mini_surfari]

I think the rest of the car is going to be so nice it would be a shame not have the gold detail back in there. I know there's a fine line when it comes to keeping originality and patina, but for me, the restoration of the genuine individual items is just as valid as the shell etc.

[Dearg1275]

I would be inclined to leave the brocade as is. It has matured and is clearly original and not NC. it’s the same difference as between necessary surgery and a face lift. Do you want to be comfortable in your body/car or sell it to the outside world.

D

[Andrew1967]

Both very valid points there, doesn't make my decision any easier though

Jay, been there with black brocade and yes, for the benefit of hindsight !!!

[Highnumbers]

Another vote here for re-applying the brocade.

If this was a survivor car with original paint and interior, it would make sense to leave the patina. But you've gone to (exceptionally) great effort making the paint and brightwork look like new, I feel like the interior should match.

[Polarsilver]

Andrew. my 1070 rear seat is Red/ Gold Brocade with a small section of brocade panel that was torn beyond sensible repair . somehow i found a section of BMC NOS Grey/ Gold Brocade material ( cost a fortune from down your way some years ago).. I had my brother replace the small area of seat base brocade panel that was torn with a section of the BMC new stuff & yes its can be seen as night & day different to the faded original , but in my opinion it can stay just that way because that seat is just old as anyone would / can expect repairs are often needed to be carried out .

My point is your Seats are 55 years old & you are possibly refreshing just the Gold bits with a 2020 year Gold Pen.. that Gold Pen in Reality will be total different spec;to the Gold that the BMC material supplier applied.. suggest to Let your seat gold, stay as is and you can upgrade your seats later on if it bugs you that much.

[steve1071]

Personally i'd pen it in then age it back a bit using Nick's method. Looks spot on.

[Dr S]

I’d leave them be. I love to see some history alongside shiny paint. That’s how my car sits. Good paint, but the trim shows it’s age.

[Southwest]

I'd leave them.
If everything underneath is in good condition nicely aged seats are fantastic.

[richardACS]

Only you can answer that question and perhaps in alignment with your original vision

[moita]

Hi,

In my opinion it depends how faded it is ! As sometimes, a good clean will promote a great grey color that will contrast very nice with faded gold and not so good if the gold is too new.

Clean, and do a small portion to decide ! If you paint, all must be painted.

Though decision But I find that very well cleaned brocade will look good even if faded gold.

[Andrew1967]

Thanks for all the views and opinions

I'll have a good look at it but am thinking of leaving as is .

As has been pointed out, doing one panel commits me to do all of them !

I might do something even more controversial and fit some grey/grey gold brocade factory recliners & rear seats from an Island Blue S

[AndyPen]

I seem to have missed the 'how to age' the Newton stuff. I have one section to sort and if I have to get new, I'd like to tame it back a bit