The thing with the carpets
11/19/2020
One "place" where people like to sin during restorations is in the decoration of the interior. Some classic cars, for example, are fitted with carpeting where there was originally none. Now of course you could say that this, just like the exterior color, is a matter of taste and can be left to the owner. This is true, of course, but at some point this car comes back onto the market and is then described as "completely original".
In the fifties and sixties (and before that anyway), however, there were many car manufacturers who preferred rubber flooring to all-round carpeting because of its washable and robust nature, and cost arguments may also have played a role at the time. When it comes to restoration, however, the opposite is true. Original rubber upholstery can hardly be found anymore, while carpet is available by the meter in a wide variety of qualities and colors.
The Alfa Romeo Spider shown here is a good example of this. Originally, there was comparatively little carpet in the footwell of the open Alfa. Of course, the renewed version above also looks pretty, but it is probably not "completely original".
When restoring a car, factory and exhibition photos from back then are just as helpful in determining the original equipment of a car as sales brochures from the time. That's why we put so much effort into digitizing and archiving these photos and sales documents, as well as the black and white photo of the Giulietta Spiderfrom the 1960 Geneva Motor Show.
