Tartan Projects: Automotive Upholstery Ideas

To be honest, I am not particularly interested in cars, they get you from A to B and that’s about it as far as I’m concerned; therefore some deep research was necessary for this blog. Being the hard-working and conscientious young man that I am I promptly went home and forgot all about this blog, turned on the telly and found a movie to watch. Now, you aren’t to have known this about me but I love the Vacation movies of the 1980s – Chevy Chase doing some of his best work. I noticed that they have remade one of these movies for a more modern audience, don’t waste your time by the way, and I was delighted to find out that the car the family use in the movie is called a Tartan Prancer – It’s the Toyota of Albania.

The Tartan prance is neither tartan nor does it give the appearance that it could prance, more like stomp, but the mock promotional video is hilarious. Here some ways that people have actually utilized tartan to modify their cars, not just the name of the car.

We were very kindly sent some pictures of this gorgeous mini cooper by one of our customers. He was asking us to identify the tartan on the seats so he can re-upholster them. I have to admit, we are stumped, even Auryn the Tartan Guru had no idea what tartan this is, presumably something made up to suit the car.

It looks to me like MacLaine of Lochbuie Ancient, it's not a perfect match but, close enough for me.

I said above that I am not a massive car person, but is there anything more beautiful than the Mercedes 300sl Gull-Wing? If you said no, you are a liar my friend because the only thing more beautiful than a Mercedes 300SL is a Mercedes 30Sl with a perfect tartan interior.

The tartan in the far left picture looks a little bit like Macrae of Conchra Modern Tartan to me, minus the yellow stripe, Auryn on the other hand thinks it looks like Moffat Modern. The one on the far right looks like... well actually we don't have a clue. If you think you know what it is, give us a shout, we'd love to know.

Phwoar... Look at that raw American power, it looks like a Bald Eagle and Mount Rushmore had a baby which was raised by James Dean and Marilyn Monroe on a diet of apple pie and pepsi-cola. That was my TopGear impression by the way, what I mean is, this Chrysler is about the most American looking car I can imagine. The interior, like many of our American cousins, has a touch of the Scottish about it.

The big tartan cheese - Auryn- informs me that this isMacPherson Ancient tartan.

The history of the Volkswagen Beetle isn't the sunniest and this particular example has certainly seen better days. However, who can look at a Beetle without getting a little tingly somewhere, the slight stirrings of a smile playing about the corners of their mouth? This one, although in bad nick, is certainly charming and the interior is made more so by its nifty tartan seats.

I thought that the tartan here looked fairly nondescript but the tartan guru has struck again. Auryn reckons it is probably MacDonald or MacDuff dress tartan.

This has always been a car to divide people, that sounds like something a car journalist would say, doesn't it? With its rear-wheel drive and rear mounted engine you wither love it or hate it.

The tartan interior is much the same as far as I'm concerned. Without a doubt this tartan is a variant of Thompson Camel tartan, which not unlike the car pictured above, you either love or hate it, unlike the car Above, I do not love it. Let me know how you feel about this one.

When I was growing up we had a family friend who did up Kombi vans. There was a point in time when they could be picked up fairly cheaply, I'm not sure this is the case anymore but he used to buy two, one which had a good body and one which had a good engine - clever, huh? Unfortunately the end result of his labours never came out looking like this example, which I think is very charming indeed.

The very charming tartan inside this Kombi Van is not one that Auryn or I recognise, however, I think if you wanted to emulate this style, you would be hard pressed to go wrong with Cameron Hunting Ancient tartan, Galloway Hunting Ancient or Taylor Ancient tartan.

I love the design of the Mk1 Polo, all the other examples I have seen look a bit boy-racerish but this one is almost sophisticated. Ok, the beige colour scheme might not be to everyone's taste, but then people listen to Justin Bieber so it just goes to show that the popular opinion can be and is often, wrong.

I have always wanted brown leather and tweed seats in my car, I always thought it would look great and thanks to this car I feel absolutely validated. I would go for Kirkton Brown Tweed, Sloane Sand Gardens or Teviot Brown Tweed just for a wee bit of colour.

Aren't lorries wonderful? Think about it, where else in this country do people so openly display their pride in their heritage?

I personally wouldn't go in for a tartan clad vehicle but I think the curtains in Ramsay Blue are a fine way to display your family colours.

I do believe this is a Heinkel Trojan Bubble Car. To be perfectly honest, this is my ideal car, it is simplicity itself. The only embellishment, apart from some fairly slick chrome trim, is the rather natty tartan seats, an understated extravagance.

If you too long for understated style in your bubble car renovation, you should check out our Stewart Royal tartan or perhaps, if you feel daring, Hay Modern - go on, live a little.