Connolly Hide

[Belgian101]

Hi All,

I would like to order the hides i need for my CV8 mk3 directly from UK. It seams that will be cheaper than localy. Is there someone who has experience with UKHIDE or and other connolly hide supplier in the UK?

Regards,

Laurent
Belgium

[Keith]

I've never dealt with UK Hides, but I think it's worth a try.

There's no new Connolly leather of course, but UK Hides state they still hold some stock.

Of course I can only recommend:

http://www.scottishleathergroup.com/STI ... p/Home.asp

The Muirhead leather is lovely stuff, as is the Bridge of Weir.

This is what I specified for the S-V8. Lots of grades, of different qualities, remember, no matter which supplier you choose. Be aware of the cheaper qualities which have an artificial stamped grain. Looks completely wrong on a Jensen.

On the S-V8 project, when choosing the OE supplier for hide, I very nearly (almost!) went for Yarwood. They have a terrific choice of product and were very high quality. I don't know if they'd be interested in selling a few hides to a private buyer though. Might be worth an email.

http://www.yarwood.co.uk/home.html

[Davenewby]

Hi,
I almost replied yesterday, but thought better of it.

However, following Keiths posting, I can add that I recently bought 5 hides from Yarwoods, and am extremely satisfied with what I got.
I went along with my trimmer, and chose the hides with his advice, having examined each one.
The quality was excellent, with minimal scarring or blemishes on the hides, and having bought 5, we found that they were so good, that we actually only needed 4 for the whole job, so I am just about to return one for a refund!
The service and advice that we received was excelent and the price was excellent too!
Obviously, buying from a distance may be a different matter, but I would certainly suggest that they are worth contacting.

David

[Ian Roberts]

Wow!!!

PEA required 7 for her retrim.

OUCH!!!!

Ian

[Mark Maniatt]

Mine also took 7 hides when recovered by Jensen Cars in the late 80's.Are you only doing part of the FF Dave?

[Davenewby]

The 4 hides did the whole lot

Mark, you should know that they have very big cows up here in Yorkshire. After all, you do eat all the pies

David

[Keith]

They must be big cows! Jensen always used seven hides per car.

[Steve Prince]

This was the 60's/70's and the unions ruled.

Of the seven hides claimed I bet many employees had the finest leather sofa's. And their relatives, their friends, neighbours, the mikman.....

My guess is that Jensen were no different to other similar companies at that time and the trimmers would earn bonus time, waiting 15 minutes for the contact adhesives to tack-off for each piece glued-up.

Of course a sensible person would move on to the next piece but that would be against union rules as would be picking up a piece of scrap from the floor.

[Keith]

That's a very good point Steve.

In Issue 200 in the article on Ron Tedstone (ex-Jensen employee), Ron had told me how frustrated he would get when making up a new tool or component for a jig or fixture, he would need it to be marked up so that it could be cut or drilled, etc.

However, he could not mark it up. He was not allowed to do that. The job demarkation policy meant that he had to request (and then wait for) someone else to come and mark the piece up for him.

I won't offer any further comment. . .

(Other than the inexplicable fact that all the houses around Longbridge and Cowley were painted Old English White with the windows and woodwork picked out in Almond Green. . .)

[JonathanL]

That's a very good point Steve.

In Issue 200 in the article on Ron Tedstone (ex-Jensen employee), Ron had told me how frustrated he would get when making up a new tool or component for a jig or fixture, he would need it to be marked up so that it could be cut or drilled, etc.

However, he could not mark it up. He was not allowed to do that. The job demarkation policy meant that he had to request (and then wait for) someone else to come and mark the piece up for him.

I've heard similar stories regarding shipyards round this way. One that sticks in my head was that it would take hours to drill a hole through a wooden bulk-head faced iwith steel because you had to get a metal worker to drill through the steel then call a joiner (usually from the other side of a vast yard) to drill the rest of the way through the wood.

And we wonder why we no longer have a manufacturing industry in this Country.

J.

[Steve Prince]

That could even have been three workers if the thicknesses of the steel differed.

Plate workers handled everything over 1/8" anything below required a sheet worker.



The unions did damage industry in this country but not nearly as much as the no win/no fee legal fraternity, moronic civil service staff and human rights campainers.

Oh, and fuel tanker drivers.

[money_one_four]

Hi,
could somebody elaborate for me why there is no new connoly hide today,
i have always thought of this as a name given to a proccess used at the tannery,probably got this all wrong so would be glad to hear the true storey.

Also would i be right in thinking if there is only a limited stock left each hide is worth two arms and two legs !!!!!!

How could you be certain you are buying genuine connoly leather ?

I remember reading an article on a South London Tannery which supplied the Connoly leather for Jaguar but this was a long time ago and the tannery has now closed,anybody remember the name of this tannery ?

Thanks Alan.

[Keith]

Hi,
could somebody elaborate for me why there is no new connoly hide today?

Because the Connolly company went out of business in June, 2002.

I wouldn't think that old stock Connolly hides would be particularly valuable. I'd have though they'd be glad to get rid of them.

Best get some fresh, new leather from one of the companies mentioned earlier in this thread.

[Steve Prince]

Alan

Connolly Bros Ltd was at one time located in Wandle Bank in Wimbledon As this is South West London it’s probably the company you remember.

Connolly's were only a currier meaning they only finished the hides, Willamsons, located in Canterbury, carried out the entire messy tanning process. If I recall Connolly owned Williamsons.

There is no new Connolly hide because after 125 years the company ceased trading. There were some pressures on the company to address environmental concerns but the main reason they went out of business was because their product was so poor.

They did indeed supply Jaguar but Jaguar then sent a very significant proportion of each delivery back as being unacceptable. Rolls-Royce did the same thing and approximately 30% was rejected. Individuals or small companies buying directly had even greater difficulty as Connolly would then try and sell the hides that were not good enough to be sent to their large customers as well as the returns that were put back into stock.

The demise of Connolly's was very sad because at one time they produced some of the best hide available. All changed in the mid eighties and the last generation of the Connolly family sat back and watched it all happen. A company can trade off of its name for a time but eventually even that had become next to worthless. While in administration there were a number of companies interested in taking on Connolly but none of them took it further. I suspect when their damaged reputation has been forgotten the name will reappear. It is unlikely however that they will earn the trust of those prestige car companies with whom their name was associated

How do you tell a Connolly hide? It’s probably not that easy in many cases. It does have a number of characteristics but there are also indelible marks at the edge of each hide and a stick on label. It also has a peculiar smell that is quite unpleasant fortunately it’s quite subtle. Despite the xxx€œexpertâ€

[Patric]

Thank you for that remarkable information. Used to think Connoly were the bee's knees, Louis Vuitton for cars that sort of thing. Apparently that isn't the case anymore so yet another myth busted.