Wade that is the "short" Acumen saddle that replaced the long Acumen on later M20's. The cover is quite basic and were originally made from Rexene. Here is an original that was once fitted to my G3L. Ron
Hello Wade...I'll be sending an identical " short acumen" to " leightons" early next week to cover for me...I can send you photos of it once it comes back if you want to have a peruse to see if you're happy with it?? Also let you know costings etc... Theyve been spot on with everything else they've ever done for me!! ..I'll send a couple of pictures for reference to your email as I cant get the hang of posting pics here!?!?😆 pip pip,Shaun
They don't show a saddle in the 'testimonials' gallery, only dual seats...IMO there's a good reason for that....I wasn't very impressed with what they did for me...That was a while back though, perhaps they have improved the vinyl texture and fit since then....Ian
I'm afraid I have to agree Ian! I've never been overly impressed with their single saddle or pillion work, even when I supplied my own Rexene lookalike vinyl. However there can't be much to get wrong with a short Acumen!
For the late Mansfield that I wanted covers for, I borrowed an original off Steve S and entrusted the job with my vinyl to a local lady who makes handbags. She also made the little leather straps and pretty well matched the buckles.
Some years ago, I spent over an hour going through hundreds of swatches at "Bournemouth Upholstery Center" looking for a match for the original Rexene. It's not perfect, but this is the best I came up with. The stuff that Leighton's have used from their stock that I've seen, is smooth vinyl. Ron
Below are two saddle covers from a batch of 8 that Leighton's made with my material. They are acceptable! But the fit and stitching leaves a bit to be desired. (I did send them a saddle frame to use for fitting).
The third picture is an original NOS cover, still with it's WD label attached. Ron
Thanks for all of that Ron... Nothing fits like the original ... Wonder why they cant get it right...
The basic reason is that modern vinyl is soft and stretches whereas 'Rexine' had very little "give" Vinyl cut to the original pattern will stretch more on fitting in some places than others and give that characteristic bagginess.
Incidentally, the post-war Rexine covers (made my Brooks, I believe) always seem to lack the stitched padded area above the rear ridge, but oddly they seem more comfortable there than Terry covers. I have the impression that the texture is grainier too, but they certainly look "in-period"
I can say from experience that it's hard to make these seatcovers and make them look like the original one's. I have done some research on the covers before I started to make repro's and found out that not 1 type of Rexine was used by all manufacturers. Lycett, Terry, Brooks, etc. all used different types of Rexine, especially early in the war. They are all black but the structure of the rexine is different. Till so far I have found 2 types of Vinyl which are acceptable.
Below a few photos of a seatcover I have last week for an early Norton 16H saddle frame.