Lakewell Door pockets - opinions?

[smclaughlin]

Hi All,

I need a set of the fold-down door pockets for my "nice driver" (not concours) '72S.

Stoddard sells the Porsche Classic part for about $900 each. https://www.stoddard.com/90155503821.html.html

Lakewell sells an aftermarket set of four pockets (two fixed, two fold down) for around $1K. https://www.lakewell.com/en/porsche/...-911-69-73-oem

Any opinions on the Lakewell parts? Any other options?

Thanks,

Scott

[Arne]

My late friend put a set in his '73.5 targa. I can't vouch for concours originality, but they seemed pretty good for a nice driver to me. Here is the only picture I have of them.

[raspritz]

I put a set of older NOS Lakewell on my '69. They look exactly like Arne's photo. They are fine.

[Arne]

I should probably note that the ones pictured above were purchased in late '16 or early '17. I don't know if there have been any production changes since then, like there was with the dash pads.

[LiveFromNY]

I haven't purchased door pockets from Lakewell recently. The last set from them that I've held in my hands was probably 3-4 years ago and I concur with Arne that they were "pretty good" back then. Not as nice as the Porsche Classic parts but certainly a good value.

HOWEVER... Lakewell is known to sell CarPoint parts and the latest CarPoint door pockets that I purchased (maybe a year ago) were not quality parts. They weren't even vinyl covered - just some kind of black plastic that has been formed with the grain embedded in the plastic. It wouldn't surprise me if those were the current offering from Lakewell. Hopefully, someone who has recently purchased a set from Lakewell can help further.

[smclaughlin]

Thanks for the replies. I asked Lakewell if they have changed their product/process/supplier and here is what they say:

Scott,

We have made these door pockets the same way for almost 20 years now. There is another company also making these door pockets. From what I hear they have indeed changed their procedure/molds.

I'll give them a try and report back.

-Scott

[M3pilot]

I also purchased a set from Carpoint within the last year. Clearly they’re not perfect but I find them “perfectly acceptable” for my purposes. My chief gripe is with the fit as the contour of the folding pocket doesn’t match that of the rearward end of my armrest. On the other hand, my armrests were restored by Just Dashes and required some reforming so maybe that’s part of it.

FWIW, mine do not appear to be as sub-standard as those that LiveFromNY purchased. At least it seems clear that they are covered in vinyl and not simply molded/embossed.

At the end of the day I just couldn’t justify the Porsche branded pockets at $3500+. No matter how “good” they are, it’s still too much money for a poor design. If I hadn’t gotten these I would have either done an RS style panel or a custom fabricated solution.

Best of luck!

[LiveFromNY]

FWIW, mine do not appear to be as sub-standard as those that LiveFromNY purchased. At least it seems clear that they are covered in vinyl and not simply molded/embossed.

Are you sure? That edge certainly doesn't appear to be vinyl-wrapped as original and your pockets look just like the set I ordered from CP complete with the too-shiny aluminum trim. I suspect if you look more closely and "massage" the surface of the pockets a little bit you'll find there is no movement of the vinyl against the underlying structure that you'd typically see in a vinyl wrapped pocket.

That said, for those who don't want to spend the (admittedly) ridiculous $$ for the Porsche Classic parts, I think your doors look pretty damn good!

[71gold]

Tony at Autobahn did a excellent renovation of mine.
If he gets good cores .
Trim sheen is also very nice

[M3pilot]

Hmmm . . . it feels like I could get a finger nail under that edge and peel away the surface material. Regardless, I agree that they aren’t great and it would be good to know if there’s a better aftermarket alternative.

71gold - what condition were yours in when you sent them to Autobahn?