This is inconsequential but I'm always trying to figure out what really happened. Trust me, there will be a question at the end.
You've heard me describe my car as 37,500 original miles and in many ways very correct/original....but my center armrest had a small hole in it so I'm replacing the cover. Now I know my seats and carpet are original (strongly believe this) and the armrest looks exactly the same age.
So I took the old one off and bought a new from Paragon, an Al Knoch part, and it was different as follows:
1. Half inch narrower across the top, bead welt to bead welt
2. Side skirts only long enough to wrap about 5/8 inch onto the bottom plate for gluing (pior part skirts would meet in the middle.
3. a cotton gauze covered thin foam pad was sewn into the top panel (prior part was just vinyl)
I did not believe I could get this cover on my original pan/foam so I called Al Knoch who put it on for me and returned it today. It looks great (will look out of place in the car) but one more difference to my prior part installation exists:
4. My prior cover had a vinyl material tongue over the metal tongue on the front where the armrest is bolted to the hump under the console cover. Knoch cut a slot in the cover and put the metal tongue through the vinyl cover.
So I'm curious. Knoch told me that the cover I took off could not be original and I'll concede that it could have been damaged a long time ago and replaced, but it sure looks vintage. So what has anyone else seen when reworking what they believed to be an original midyear armrest? Did the vinyl go out over the tongue? was there a pad sewn into the cover? Did the skirt overlap the bottom significantly? Don't misunderstand me. I'm pleased with what Knoch did for me, but sometimes even the expert isn't always right And I know this; because the part is narrower across the top, about 4 1/8 versus the prior 4 5/8 it will look different in the car. But it won't have a hole in it.
You've heard me describe my car as 37,500 original miles and in many ways very correct/original....but my center armrest had a small hole in it so I'm replacing the cover. Now I know my seats and carpet are original (strongly believe this) and the armrest looks exactly the same age.
So I took the old one off and bought a new from Paragon, an Al Knoch part, and it was different as follows:
1. Half inch narrower across the top, bead welt to bead welt
2. Side skirts only long enough to wrap about 5/8 inch onto the bottom plate for gluing (pior part skirts would meet in the middle.
3. a cotton gauze covered thin foam pad was sewn into the top panel (prior part was just vinyl)
I did not believe I could get this cover on my original pan/foam so I called Al Knoch who put it on for me and returned it today. It looks great (will look out of place in the car) but one more difference to my prior part installation exists:
4. My prior cover had a vinyl material tongue over the metal tongue on the front where the armrest is bolted to the hump under the console cover. Knoch cut a slot in the cover and put the metal tongue through the vinyl cover.
So I'm curious. Knoch told me that the cover I took off could not be original and I'll concede that it could have been damaged a long time ago and replaced, but it sure looks vintage. So what has anyone else seen when reworking what they believed to be an original midyear armrest? Did the vinyl go out over the tongue? was there a pad sewn into the cover? Did the skirt overlap the bottom significantly? Don't misunderstand me. I'm pleased with what Knoch did for me, but sometimes even the expert isn't always right And I know this; because the part is narrower across the top, about 4 1/8 versus the prior 4 5/8 it will look different in the car. But it won't have a hole in it.
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