Interior trimming vinyl is the sheet material used for retrimming door cards, kick panels, cappings, crash rails, console panels, parcel-shelf vinyl, and the various smaller interior items where the original-equipment specification used a vinyl rather than a fabric covering. For owners doing complete interior restoration work, the right vinyl in the right colour is the foundation of a successful interior refresh, and the wrong vinyl produces an interior that looks immediately wrong despite all the other work being done correctly. The vinyl is supplied by the metre alongside matching piping, allowing repair patches, extension pieces, and bespoke additions to match the surrounding interior cleanly, and is most usefully ordered alongside the specific pre-made trim items it supports so the colours can be matched.
Period-Correct Colour Range
Trimming vinyl is stocked in the period-correct colours used across classic-MG production, black being the most common colour across the range as the standard interior colour for most chrome-bumper and rubber-bumper MGB applications, the Midget through most years, and the wider range. The fuller colour palette used across MGB production included grey, magnolia or parchment as a light cream colour popular on certain higher-specification applications, biscuit, autumn leaf as a brown-tan colour, navy blue, maroon, red, and green, each matched to the original BMC and BL specifications with the slight colour variations between production years covered where the technical details are documented. The MGB interior scheme changed across the production run, from the original contrast-piped leather and leathercloth scheme of 1962 through to the final 1977-onwards specification where all right-hand-drive trim parts that had previously been colour-coded to the seats became black.
When ordering, the colour should be specified by the interior trim code rather than by visual description, as the precise shade is important for a consistent cockpit appearance, and ordering a small quantity to confirm a colour match before committing to a larger length avoids mismatched results.
Material Construction
Original-equipment vinyl was a coated woven-fabric construction, a textile backing with a flexible vinyl outer face that gave the surface its colour, texture, and weather resistance, the original leathercloth on MGB production being replaced by Ambla expanded vinyl from 1970 with the vinyl grain generally becoming finer and less leather-like as production progressed. Modern reproduction vinyl uses similar construction principles but with improved durability, UV resistance, and colour fastness compared with the original specification, the grain pattern on the vinyl face matched to the original specifications, typically a fine-grain leather-look texture for most applications. The weight and flexibility of the material is appropriate to interior trim use, heavy enough to hold its shape on a door card or panel and flexible enough to follow the contours of a curved interior surface without cracking or tearing, and the specification matches the grain pattern and thickness of the original factory material to blend seamlessly with new reproduction trim panels and kits.
Piping & Application
Piping is supplied by the metre in colours that complement the vinyl range, running along the outer edges of cockpit trim rolls, around door-casing pleats, and around seat cushion and squab edges, with the colour scheme tied to the seat and seat-piping combination. Contrast-colour piping was a defining feature of the early MGB interior from 1962 to 1968, with piping colour following specific combinations depending on the trim and body colour, so matching piping by the metre allows this detail to be correctly replicated on a restoration. The vinyl is supplied as sheet material in the appropriate widths and cut to length to suit the application, with quantities calculated based on the panels being recovered and appropriate allowance for cutting waste and the wrap-around margins that secure the vinyl to the underlying panel structure. The vinyl is applied to the underlying panel using contact adhesives, both surfaces receiving a coat allowed to flash off before bringing together, with the material warmed gently before application to improve flexibility and allow it to conform to compound curves without wrinkling, particularly important on curved surfaces like the crash rail where the vinyl is under tension and spray adhesive does not provide sufficient long-term bond strength.