Thought I’d share a quick project I did while completing the interior on my 92 XJS.

I covered the plastic cover on the e-brake with leather. Original was a little faded and paint would been fine. But some extra leather never hurt.

generally speaking, as long as there isn’t a compound curve, then covering something in leather is pretty easy. Leather stretches a lot and takes glue well.

you have to use professional contact adhesive, anything else fails in heat.

You can’t really see this part installed. but one of the bonuses of adding new leather is the smell. The last pic is the dash (and a-pillar trim) in ‘74 XJ12 that I also covered in leather. That made a huge difference in the look, feel and smell of the cabin.

 

Cool!
This looks like skill needed to get a ripple free finish. Are you self-taught? Where did you get the leather from? Pricey?

 

It takes some practice but not too much I'd say. I mean, I can't sew seat covers but covering something flat like a door panel is pretty easy.

I buy my leather hides off eBay. use search term "leather hide" and you'll find a million. A full cow hide is about $2-$300 and is typically about 40-50 sq feet. I typically get cow hides, but they have goat, deer, bison etc. I dont know the differences other than cow is typically used in autos. If you buy a random hide there, you will also have to get leather dye to match it. but that's also easy. if you dont want that much work then the places that sell seat covers in original colors GAHH, Autoberry etc will probably sell you half a hide ($250 at their prices).

If you were thinking about trying, start on the vent panels on center console, those would be a breeze.

 

Great job. New, fresh smelling leather is hard to beat. LOL