Repro Nova arm rest pads?

[Mulsanne Blue]

Has anyone figured out what type of material the covers were made of and how they were originally formed? If you've taken one apart, the cover material isn't regular expandable vinyl. It's thin and dense and has little elasticity. To me it looks like a laminate made with some type of durable paper base covered with a grained tight cell vinyl. Similar to the material that originally covered door panels. The stuff has little give and tears if you try enough. I've looked and no one comes close to the making this type material anymore.

I've tried recovering arm rests with regular vinyl on a '70 Camaro; however, they just don't look right. From a combination of glue and stretching the vinyl, they looked to puffy in some areas while the transitions in the bends and tucks came out uneven and not smooth.

Has anyone tried with success vacuum forming with heat on a solid buck shaped like the foam part of the arm rest?