Did these seats exist? And if so what colors were used?

The original owner of #82191 told the restorer working on my car that it came with beige corduroy inserts in black vinyl Speedster seats. The original material is long gone, and the COA is largely blank.

I have never seen this on an original Speedster, but then again I've only seen one Speedster with its original (tired red vinyl) upholstery in place.

I have asked two 356 veterans who have suggested that it was rare in the U.S. and may have been strictly a GT option.

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You could have anything if you could persuade your dealer to take the trouble to order it and provided Porsche understood what you wanted

We came across a 356 Kardex recently (Chassis 129 072) where the seats were Black Vinyl with Pepita (Houndstooth) Inserts

When it came to extras - Hoffman (understandably) liked to order all the cars with the same extras

I cannot remember the actual German wording on the Kardex but it basically meant USA Standard.

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Mike Smith (UK)

Jon

Your car could have come with coupe seats with cord inserts, I suppose. I have never seen or heard of a Speedster seat with cord.

Regards

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Mike,

What do you mean by "pepita". Never heard that term before relative to interior fabrics. By the serial number you mentioned, must have been a 356-C, correct? My 65 356-C, signal red exterior, has black vinyl seats with black and white houndstooth inserts (730 below), see picture. According to the factory color/fabric book I have, Porsche offered the following seat inserts for 356-C's:

red corduroy (004)
black/white with red houndstooth (005)
green corduroy (201)
black/white with brown houndstooth (431)
light grey corduroy (601)
dark grey corduroy (602)
black corduroy (709)
black/white houndstooth (730)

Of course, if you wanted something else, Porsche would probably have done it for you!

CW

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Charlie White

Charley,

What you have is Pepita - I do not know where the term comes from it seems to be generic

It was avialable in a varity of colours and is currently on offer from
http://sportseatgroup.com/car-seat-fabrics
in Brown, Green and Clasic

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Mike Smith (UK)

Mike, like Charley I have never heard the term "Pepita" used to describe what everyone I know in the vintage Porsche community calls "houndstooth". The web page you referred to at http://sportseatgroup.com/car-seat-fabrics uses the word "houndstooth" to describe the swatches on that page. But the page also says "For Pepita insert...".

I searched Google for "pepita fabric porsche" and found this page about "Front Seat Restoration Kit (2 Seats) Porsche 911 ’66-‘73 ":
http://www.lakewell.com/en/products/por ... -911-66-73

It says "Other materials for the center section such as the 'Pepita' fabric (Houndstooth) are available upon request. " That company is in Belgium.

And at rennlist at http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/9 ... abric.html

Quote: "Sitzklinic in Germany http://sitzklinik.de/ has similar cloth they call "Pepita" see comparison below to the original Porsche "730". Close enough if 100 point concours are not your goal"

And on the Early 911S Registry at http://www.early911sregistry.org/forums ... oth-Fabric

Quote: "The more square weave pictured is actually pepita and not houndstooth. Pictured below is my cars seats in Pepita. "

That sounds like "Pepita" is similar to "houndstooth" but not exactly the same.

Okay, I've learned something new today.

Thanks,

Barry

Nothing on the COA, but the car was bought to race when new, so I suspect it had Speedster seats all along.

I may just go full leather and not worry about it. (If we're allowed to say things like this in the 'Authenticity Corner'.

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pepita (from Mexican Spanish: pepita de calabaza, "little seed of squash") or pumpkin seed is an edible seed of a pumpkin or other cultivar of squash (genus Cucurbita), typically rather flat and asymmetrically oval, and light green in color inside a white hull. The word can refer either to the hulled kernel or unhulled whole seed, and most commonly refers to the roasted end product. The pressed oil of the roasted seeds of a specific pumpkin variety is also used in Central and Eastern European cuisine (see Pumpkin seed oil

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Omar, thanks for that information, but I'm not sure how that relates to the fabric pattern that looks something like houndstooth.

Best regards,

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Just tryng to help with some etymology of the word, you are right it makes no sense.

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So what does a houndstooth look like?

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I don't know but if he is showing them to you, you had better run!

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Cliff Murray

 

'55 Cabriolet Racer

'57 Speedster

'59 Sunroof

'63 Coupe Pushrod GS 2133

'67 911 S

Vic, one of the links I posted earlier in this topic http://www.lakewell.com/en/products/por ... -911-66-73 shows this image which is claimed to show "houndstooth" and "Pepita". They are so close as to be nearly indistinguishable, in my opinion.



I also found this on Pelican http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche- ... ior-2.html

NOTE: this 1973 "Porsche Colors" booklet with fabric samples spells the name as "Hounds Tooth", two words, not one.

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The difference is obvious! The little diagonal thingies go one way on the top sample, and the other way on the bottom version.

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Hi Jon,

I suspect that the original owner of the car told you correct information...that the Speedster seats had corduroy inserts in them. Below is from my notes of the Ruetter Book build codes from the mid 50's forward:

704 - Tan Corduroy / CS704 - Cord Samt Tan

I believe the "Cord" insert was a preferred option by many of the private and factory racers in the day using Speedster seats, most likely due to it offering less sliding around in corners.

I've seen Tan and Black Corduroy inserts in the Speedster seats. You may want to consider keeping the original description of the seats to go with restoration of your car. I've included a picture of an original seat below to take a look at. -MD-

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