I'm doing a refurbish experiment on an old Selle Italia Turbo saddle, just for kicks. I just got it and now I'm wondering if it's legit.

There is no selle italia stamped on it.. but here's some photos.

In the picture with the circle, it says 89 in the middle - is that production year?

They did make Turbos with lycra covers back then, but I thought that the lycra versions were in different colors other than black. That is a year date stamp under the saddle with the months indicated around it. The month (first letters for the month in Italian) is was made should have the dot(s) on it. I would think that this is a genuine Turbo. I don't think it's worth faking a Turbo as there were many enough of them made that they are not really that expensive to buy new OR old, considering the newest and best saddles today can cost double or triple the cost of a NOS 80's Turbo saddle.

Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV
85(?) Vitus Pkus Carbone 7

Ah, excellent. In that case my adventure continues! I'm thinking a white (synthetic perhaps - I ride in rain?) leather cover. Opinions?

You can use the material called Lorica if you can find a source.
It's the best synthtic leather material out there and is designed to be pretty much impervious to water damage.
The recently re-issued Turbo saddles uses Lorica instead of real leather.

Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV
85(?) Vitus Plus Carbone 7

I'm just gonna stop by a local fabric store tommorow and see what I can find.

A little instruction might be a help. https://www.instructables.com/id/Cove...-real-leather/

Also, I do have a cloth covered Turbo tucked away somewhere as I recall but I could be wrong about that.

Not all the Turbo's were labeled Selle Italia, but they were Turbo's nonetheless. There were a lot of OEM saddles that were simply labeled Turbo, and some came in suede, some in leather, and I've seen a couple in what looked like a stretchy black fabric. The new ones are good values.

Now, if someone would just bring back the old Flite for $50....

I recall that somebody else (was it the Avocet R-II?) was licensed by Selle Italia to make the Turbo and give it their own brand, and tho some may have been made in Italy, there were some made in Taiwan...