1982 Surinam metalic cabriolet advice neede

Hi I'm after a bit of advice.
i have just got a 82 gl cabriolet in Surinam metalic. It's totally 100% rust free! covered 70'000 miles, never been welded and has full history.
the paint is totally original and with the odd exception is great , but here's my problem. It has a red interior, which I believe is a one year only as per the colour, but it has faded terribly and gone brittle in places with age., now I have spoken to a couple of vw coach trimmers and they have said that there is no chance of matching up the material, so do i simply get some loose seat covers and cover them for the sake of originality or do I get them recovered in some thing close to the original that matches the door cards etc which are all perfect.
also the previous owner owned the car from 1990 and said that it had a white roof when he brought it, and that when he asked the original owner if he had changed the roof he was adamant that the white roof was fitted from factory, were white soft tops an option in 1982 thanks.
The seats were bright red when they left the factory!

Welcome to the forum Libbi

Perhaps get some pics up of the car A. so we can drool over it and B. so we can see the hood colour and interior colour and can hopefully help out.

Hopefully someone may just have some material kicking about or an interior in the same in better condition, you never know your luck!

Looking at your seats I'm not sure they were bright red when new. Have a look at this link from a US site that is a bit of a database and see the pic they have of your interior.

http://www.cabby-info.com/interiors.htm

Dan