New leather for the Matchmatic?

[Muggins]

You what? OK, I'll come clean. I'm in the UK, and the C3 is actually pretty rare here. Not counting the one in Chamber Pot of Secrets, I've seen two C3s, and I own one of them.

One day I must sort out my stiff focusing wheel, and (a) I suspect I'll damage the leather and (b) there's a horrible mark on the rear door. Does anyone out there make leather replacements for the Matchmatic that actually match? cameraleather.com will (assuming they're back in business post-flooding) make C3 leather, but not to match the shades and as they're so rare over here, and - weird that I am - I like the black and beige, I'd rather like to have it looking as smart as I can make it. It's just so evocative of its period. If they were two-a-penny as they are in the US I'd pimp it (in fact, I'd probably cover it in brick paper), but as it isn't...

Any ideas, or should I just go carefully, and grin and bear it?

Cheers,

Adrian

[Austintatious]

This site may be of some help. Have a look: http://arguscg.tripod.com/

[Muggins]

Thanks! (I'm sure my dad used to drive an Austin Tatious - any relation?)

For future users, that site is closed, but there's a link to a more recent one and their Yahoo Group that take all of 5 seconds to find.

Adrian

[rbiemer]

Adrian,
A couple of ideas for you:
Perhaps look at bookbinding supply places to find leather in the colors you're looking for? The Argus cameras are basically flat, as you know, and it should be fairly simple to cut the pieces you'd need?
Alternately, I think that a kit from cameraleather using either a combination of black and mahogany or spring green and verdigris (see the goat skin colors) would look excellent if not original.
I suppose you could take a digital picture of the original covering and print out some sheets of it to use. Might look OK but certainly wouldn't feel or smell right.

And, you may have found this already but here are some patterns for the leather:

http://members.tripod.com/rick_oleson/argus.html

Rob

[Muggins]

All good - we do have a local bookbinders, so that's an idea (I could even give them Rick's patterns - though I'd need to make my own for the back door as it's a single piece, not 3).

Thanks!

Adrian