mk1-forum.net

As I plod through this restoration....starting to see just how they scrimped on building the MK3 S!
The rear parcel shelf (I think is original) was just leather grained hardboard painted to the same color as the Limeflower seats. You can see just how faded the paint is in the attached picture...plus it has curled and cracked...totally unusable now.
So, does anyone know of a source for this thin board with a leather texture finish? It is similar to the board used on the door cards....
Cheers
D

Cannot see the overall condition from your photo. Have you considered restoring it? There is products available to restore leather or faux leather.
Cracks can be filled and using a stamp, which should be copied from still intact sections, then used to reproduce the pattern in the repair area. In a second step you could use leather dye to re-colour the whole shelf in the correct hue.

There is some example repairs in the docs restoration blog under projects.

Like so: https://youtu.be/ed9SjVOttHw?si=wZ6UoQJNxZvW22tq

There is no material on the board...it is just thin card/board with the faux leather texture and then spray painted. It is beyond repair as it has curled and cracked....exposed to the sun...trust me.....if I thought I could restore it....I would. Normally, I never say never.

The material used is called millboard. As you say, it is like a grained hardboard. It used to be widely used in car interiors and I have purchased it in sheets in past years from car trimming specialists such as "Woolies" in Peterborough and others. It'll come with a plain surface coating which can easily be rubbed over and repainted/sprayed.
The basic Minis, vans and pick-ups used it to form the door cads, dashboard trims etc.

Old English White wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2025 8:07 pm The material used is called millboard. As you say, it is like a grained hardboard. It used to be widely used in car interiors and I have purchased it in sheets in past years from car trimming specialists such as "Woolies" in Peterborough and others. It'll come with a plain surface coating which can easily be rubbed over and repainted/sprayed.
The basic Minis, vans and pick-ups used it to form the door cads, dashboard trims etc.

Great, thanks for the tip...now I have to figure out a way to get a roll over here.
Hard to believe Leyland were so cheap to use this on the Cooper S!!! Then again, the MK3 was a pretty cheap down version of the earlier S
Not being offensive to MK3 S owners.....it does look OK when dressed up a bit.

In Australia that style of material was used on the board that lined the boot lid on the Cooper S. Its NLA, but enterprising restorers can sometimes find it used on cheap wardrobe doors from that period. It was known here as Masonite leatherboard.

Tim