Connolly Leather
From DetailingWiki
Connolly™ Leather:
This English tannery had been producing and supplying highly finished, oil-based pigmented leather primarily to car manufacturers at two plants, Northampton and Ashford, Kent since 1878. The term is also used to describe the particular brand of leather itself, when fitted in a car interior, as an expression of the quality and luxury status of the vehicle. Only the highest quality top grain (the top 0.05 inches of the hide) was selected for their use, this grade of leather is now only used in less than 10% of automobiles).
Connolly Leather ceased trading in June 2002, but their leather renovation products (replacement leather hides, pigmentation, dyes and etc) can still be obtained from Leather Care Renovations, UK - Leathercare Renovations http://www.leathercare-renovations.co.uk/extra.html
The company also sold leather-care products; restoring leather is sometimes known as "Connollising", thanks to the reputation of the company. Connolly Hide Care is a traditional lanoline based bees' wax leather care product that used to be recommended by Aston Martin, Bentley, Cadillac, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lotus and Rolls Royce and also non-British makes including Lexus and Ferrari and high-end German automobiles, Mercedes-Benz, BMW when these vehicles were upholstered with top grain, oil-based pigmented leather hides. The leather used in current vehicles is a water-based pigmented spit hide.
Avoid using these types of conditioners for coated leathers, as it contains lanolin, waxy cream and white spirit that can react with the coating used on today’s leather. It's a great product for the renovation or restoration of old English leathers or other uncoated natural leather.
Information resource -
- Connolly Leather article - http://www.leathercaredirect.com/hist.html
- “Automotive Detailing Inside & Out, A Knowledge Base for the Perfectionist"– by Jon Miller
