Is that cxmoney's Pandora? He has Nakamae slip-on covers converted to real upholstery.
Is that cxmoney's Pandora? He has Nakamae slip-on covers converted to real upholstery.
Pandora is Cxmoney's build. He checks in from time to time. If that is his car, and I think it is, then those are Nakamae seat covers imported from Japan. He didn't seem to be real happy with them at first, but after taking them to an upholsterer for proper fitting, I think he is pleased. His car photographs well.
Edit: Looks like Martin beat me to it.
Who sells this? Is that vinyl seat covers? The color look very identical. Or is that photography as you indicated.Originally Posted by Dandy
I think the material is a synthetic of some sort. Nakamae products are pretty high quality, however. There is a link to the Nakamae site in this thread: http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....1&viewfull=1#p
Several MRnet sponsors offer Nakamae products and can help you get any Nakamae product even if they don't specifically list it. Cxmoney is the only one that I am aware of that has those seat covers so they may not be in immediate stock and sometimes limited demand items are discontinued.
I think they are a good match but I have never seen them in person. Depending on the light, exposure, etc. the reds can be very deceiving in photos. If you can talk to someone that has seen them in person, then you can feel more comfortable.
Thanks again. I'm glad I have brought this out as I look at these seat covers the more the good quality covers stands out. I'm now convince of the leatherseat.com build quality and now just the color match dilemma. I know that the tan leather is much easier to match but the exclusivity of the LE makes me hang on to it. But without a good matching seat I will more likely lean towards the tan and just sell my red stash.
My red seats match my red interior perfectly. It helps to have more nakamae items that match as well. The center console from zoom is *slightly* a different shade of red, but only really noticeable in direct sunlight and if you are looking for it. The seat covers are indeed slip ons from nakamae, but I hated them being just covers. After an upholstery shop converted them to the legit upholstery, I had them tighten the covers and all, and I am quite pleased with the turnout. Eventually I will probably be going with some lotus seats recovered in the nakamae red material ive got stashed away though, for a more retro styled look.
Phatmiata (01-24-2014)
Don't underestimate the upholstery shops in your area, especially those of you located in California. Been in furniture/upholstery for a while as part of my career, some of the_best ulpholstery craftsmen I have met were Latino. It is a generational skill passed along that is lost in many cultures.
Thanks, but would they be able to source a good material?
Thank you that is good to know. Where and how did you source the "nakamae red material" from? How did it cost you?
Phat asked me to chime in and answer some questions regarding leatherseats.com, the color correctness, and so on. I'm happy to oblige.
The story, so that there is some historical reference here, is that I decided to upholster a set of '95 M edition seats about 7 years ago to a color as close to the LE red as possible. I trolled around for a while, and finally found a company willing to do what I wanted. I put together a group buy through miata.net, and me and perhaps 6 other people were able to take advantage of some discounted pricing on leatherseats.com product. They allowed us to get a discount on any seat cover, some people got the M seat covers. I scoured leather suppliers to see who had a perfect matching leather, and found that Spinneybeck did. The color match was done against a '93 LE that I had at the time, a perfect 5k mile LE. The seats and every piece in or outside of the car were as new. So, the comparison was accurate. The leather that leatherseats.com had was very close to the Spinneybeck, and was called Carmine red. A gentleman by the name of Eric was my contact there in 2007. If he is still there, he would be the one to talk to.
Here is a link to the original thread: http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=270736
So, I decided to go with the carmine red that leatherseats.com had in stock, as it was ver close in color to the Spinneybeck, and was FAR lower in cost. Spinneybeck is what high end furniture makers like Herman Miller use on there highest end lines. Check out there website to see what I mean.
Here is a link to the next thread that discusses the results: http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=277724
Since then, I have put these seats in many different NA's, and absolutely love them. They make every car look richer, the smell is to die for, and the cost was well worth it. The cost is always going to be an issue, but I had mine made in all leather, they are expensive, but again, they make the car. Here is one car that they were in, to put some perspective to them.
http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=307653
Like I said, they were in many of my cars, I have a final car that I want to build, so I am looking for the proper candidate. If anyone has questions, feel free to PM or post here, thanks.
Last thing, you may notice some fighting in one of the threads. I have been through many of those on miata.net. The guys over there are sometimes netnasty for no real discernible reason. This is a much calmer place to be. Hope I helped.
Thank you Frank for the clarification on how challenging this project is. Indeed Mazda had their reason to make this LE edition so limited and now safe to call true collectible as the challenges in putting one together will take some time. The "Carmine Red" is no longer available and now has been replaced by "Ecstasy Cobalt Red". Quality is definitely there for the Leatherseat.com seat cover. But as you indicated the better half of the difficulty is finding the acceptable material to work with. Since Mazda ordered this leather and vinyl base on their planned 3000 LE build is was prolly an easy search for them. Someone can please send them a nasty grrr... note for the torment they brought about LOL.
The Nakamae LE Red was a dead on match for my 93LE interior, but as I stated before, it is VERY expensive.
Here is a photo of my old miata, here is the Nakamae Seats, Nakamae Center Console, Nakamae Brake Boot, Nakamae Shifter Boot, and the Door Cards had been custom made by Nakamae as well
Much thanks medition! Our little clubhouse here at MRnet gets better all the time with quality posts and the helpful, nonjudgmental attitudes of those who play here.
You may have the only seats done in the Carmine Red leather. I thought mine were of the same color but as mx54life pointed out, Ecstasy Cobalt Red is the color that leatherseats.com markets now as the match to the 93LE. It is just the color family and basic M-edition seat design that our seat leathers share. The leather used in my seat skins is not smooth but grainy and the stitching on my seat inserts is not the factory original panel design but the stitching is closer together (the close together stitching is something that appealed to me). The skins are very nicely padded so I expect that they will be very comfortable to sit upon. I think I have a hybrid design that is closer to the lotus (stitching) style seats that someone had done a while back but I don't remember who that was off the top of my head.
Here is a pic of an uninstalled skin (top) laid against the OEM LE seat (see bottom):
The skin is a little more red than burgundy as this pic shows but this pic is showing more contrast than I thought there was when looking in person. They match the Nakamae leather seatbelt stalks that I have almost perfectly. As I mentioned before, it is hard to have all your reds match exactly when you have many different materials used in the interior. I'm comfortable as long as there are no glaring differences when the interior is looked at as a whole.
Last edited by Dandy; 01-24-2014 at 07:58 PM.
Waaa...why was she dismantled? She is gorgeous sire.The Nakamae LE Red was a dead on match for my 93LE interior, but as I stated before, it is VERY expensive.
Here is a photo of my old miata, here is the Nakamae Seats, Nakamae Center Console, Nakamae Brake Boot, Nakamae Shifter Boot, and the Door Cards had been custom made by Nakamae as well
Thanks again guys. I put them all info and pics in a thread so it'll be easier to search in the future.
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