The interior of my Cerbera is flawless, except that is, for one area, the leather around the handbrake and gear stick. The Cerbera Gaitors do tend to suffer as they are after-all, a moving part, that over the years will split and tear.
They can also get really grubby, and while you can attempt to clean them, they will always be the one area that lets the interior down, especially when the rest of the interior is so faultless.
So what are your options? Well, you can’t buy these new any more. And even if you could, you shouldn’t – as new ones that match the colour of the interior when the car came out the factory – won’t match the colour of your interior now.
You see, over the years the leather changes colour slightly. Your factory new Cerbera gaitors would simply stand out like a sore-thumb being too light in colour.
Your only real option is to have some custom made. This involves finding someone who can colour match exactly to YOUR interior, and then replicate the leather grain and stitching and pattern.
It’s no simple quest, but what else are you going to do when it’s raining day after day and the Cerb is grounded in the garage 😥 The results are amazing, and well worth the effort. I actually had 2 pairs made up, so I have a spare should I ever need them
My OCD can rest a little now. The Interior is sublime.
Edit: September 2023
My gear gaitor didn’t wear too well. What may not have been obvious in the above post, is that I had them made out of vinyl, as the person making it struggled to source the leather in the right colour. I had the gear gaitors made up 6 years ago, and I’ve been through them both. After a while, they showed signs of cracking.
In hindsight, this should be expected, fake leather is never going to wear as well as the real thing.
I’m also a lot wiser now than I was in 2017, and know who’s who in the TVR world – that’s why I recently went to Dave the Trimmer, who was able to match perfectly the colour and make me up a leather one.
I have full confidence, just like the original factory one that I replaced after 17 years; this one will also put in many years of service.