In Detail: Our Carpet Kits

Our carpet kits are renowned worldwide for their excellent fit and finish. 

Crafted from highest quality materials, cut with speed and accuracy on our digital CNC machine and assembled by our skilled machinists, our carpet kits are simply exceptional.

Over the years, we have adapted our carpet kits to allow for greater flexibility in fitting. We have updated production-line patterns without compromising originality and our kits are designed to accommodate modern-day soundproofing technology should your restoration demand.

The nostalgic part? Our carpet kits are bound and sewn with the Seiko and Singer sewing machine models that would have been seen on the original factory production lines.

Read more about the key features of our carpet kits below.

When it comes to car flooring, we really know our stuff. We have developed all our Carpet Kits with a highly informed level of knowledge which not only informs good fit, but also accurate material allocation throughout the car cockpit. Whilst some models simply have carpet running through the whole flooring area (such as the Triumph TRs), other models (such as the Jaguar E-Types) feature carpet, hardura, moquette and vinyl materials in a variety of combinations depending on the year of manufacture. Austin Healey’s were unique too in their use of a ribbed flooring material called Armacord which was complemented by a ribbed effect carpet known as Karvel (and before you ask, yes, we do know which direction the ribs run in the car according to model!)

Our extensive knowledge in Jaguar, Austin Healey, MGA and Triumph flooring has informed the options we offer in our Material Library. Flooring materials have been sourced according to original specifications and colour options are varied enough to satisfy all interpretations of original schemes.

We advise our customers on their flooring material choices based on the look and feel of their restorations, in addition to what would have originally left factory production lines and our in-house Primary & Secondary colour system helps guide colour choices to ensure there is a cohesive look between flooring, panels and seats. We can also suggest where material upgrades / adaptations can be made from original trim without compromising the feel of authenticity.

Our carpet kits are made of a number of pieces with bound and unbound edges.

Bound edges are cut-to-fit and are ‘on-show’ when in position, whereas un-bound edges are often hidden under adjacent parts. This gives a cohesive visual ‘blend’ to the carpet pieces as they pass from piece to piece without gaps between them. This enables our carpet kits to completely cover the floor area of the car, hiding any unsightly bodywork and covering over draughty gaps.

For bound edges on our Carpet and Boot/Trunk kits, we use leathercloth binding as per original specification.

Leathercloth has many qualities that make it suitable for carpet binding. With a woven cotton backing, its lack of stretch helps our carpets maintain their shape both during manufacture and once fitted in the car; it doesn’t snag; and it may sound obvious, but its overall specification means that it simply looks good and is fit for purpose.

We most commonly bind our carpets around their external edges and around cut-into areas positioned on the carpet to accommodate fixed elements of the car, such as throttle pedals.

We attach our binding to our carpets with our 1940’s Singer sewing machine. This loops the binding round the edge of the carpet, giving a neat 1cm binding finish to the surface and creating a ‘e’ style cross section construction. This is shown in more detail in the below image.

Our leathercloth binding is available in a range of 23 colours which complement our Wool, Nylon and Karvel carpet ranges. You can view all our Leathercloth bindings here.

Our carpet kits have been created to work in conjunction with our Underfelt Soundproofing Kits.

The fitment of a carpet kit is largely determined by the thickness of the Underfelt below. In addition to providing heat and sound resistance, the thickness of our Underfelt Soundproofing Kits ensures that our carpet kits fit well, look good and give added comfort underfoot once installed within the car.

Whilst there are now much more sophisticated soundproofing materials available on the market that utilise modern-day sound and heat resistant technology – and we would recommend you use these should your restoration budget allow – they’re very thin and are not suitable for use with our carpet kits alone. We always recommend installing our Underfelt Soundproofing Kits on-top of any modern-day soundproofing before fitting our carpet kits.

A few more details that really make us proud of our Carpet Kits…