C3 Saddle Interior shade?

[Greg F.]

My 71 has saddle vinyl interior (417). How many different shades of saddle are there - 3 (light, medium and dark)?

I'm being the devils advocate on this question: Is there any way to identify if the ENTIRE interior has been replaced in a vette. I'm not an expert so I was wondering if there was a certain trait/characteristic that reveals evidence of an interior change. I know my seats are redone, but the carpet, door panels, dash, console look to be original. I don't think anyone would go to these lengths for a small block 71, but you never know. The trim tag matches but I curious.

Thanks.

[Michael G.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Greg,

you might already be aware but there is also the plain "saddle" (not dark, light or medium) which is what is in my 71. Two of the larger part distributors have color charts that would put us at "light saddle"-70-72. I ordered a parking brake console and they took the liberty of adjusting my order to the profile description on the order sheet. I got the wrong shade. Too light. This may have happened to your previous owner.

Mike

[Greg F.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Thanks Mike. My 71 has dark saddle. The code for saddle vinyl is 417 and it's for all 3 or 4 shades, correct? I saw an old ad for my car that was posted 4 yrs ago. I'm sure it's the lighting of the picture but the interior looked lighter. I recognized some areas that looked the same, so I'm not that concerned but curious. If a 71 has a 417 code for the interior, is there anyway to identify which shade of saddle the car came with? Is there any way to determine if the interior of a vette has been COMPLETELY replaced?

Thanks,
Greg

[Patrick H.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Greg,

Do you mean completely replaced with reproduction?
Or completely replaced with an interior from a different car?

I woudl suggest that the answers are Yes to the first and Probably Not to the second.

FYI, my 72 has the same interior and I'd definitely call it dark, especially compared to the lighter shade in my friend's 70. There are several shades of tan used from 70-76, and it can be confusing.

Patrick

[Patrick H.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

At least medium-dark in shade.
There is a darker shade that was used a different year.

Patrick

[Warren F.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Patrick,

Very nice interior.

[Greg F.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Replaced from another car...

[Jim T.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Patrick is that a air filter in the rear storage tray?

[Dick W.]

[Patrick H.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

No, I suspect it's the edge of a t-top bag.

[Patrick H.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Then you have to pull pieces such as door panels and look for dates.

Patrick

[Greg F.]

Thks to All - This helps! *NM*

[Dick W.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Adding to the confusion, there are several shades of saddle within the same year. If you took an original interior out and laid the pieces side by side you will see quite a variance between items. The dash pads could be one shade, the seats another, the carpet still another. Don't ever expect to buy a whole interior today that matches either.

[Michael G.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

Dick is right on the money. All items of my interior (saddle) are original and there is a slight variation in the shade from seats to carpet to painted (dyed) items. It sounds like this is an issue many of us have and may have to live with unless one of these aftermarket "complete interior sets" manufacturers has put together a real matching set.

Mike

[Terry M.]

Re: C3 Saddle Interior shade?

The lack of match may, at least in part, be an aging issue. My bright blue interior -- ALL original pieces -- hardly matches any more. I can't now remember if it ever did, but I didn't notice it before. Either I am getting pickier, or the interior pieces are aging differently. And before we talk about sunlight -- the last time the 1970 saw sunlight was two years ago, and then only briefly -- and its previous outing was another two years before that. There are no windows in the garage where it is kept.