Seat Covers

[Todd L.]

I have a couple questions about seat covers, I removed the covers and foam off my 74's frames to see what all is required to complete before putting new on. I have a deluxe interior. What I have found is the covers are a combination of leather and vinyl. Looking at the seats I could not tell what area was leather and which is vinyl.
-Where is the vinyl and where is the leather?
-Different catalogs I have list original (leather/vinyl) covers and all leather, which is easier to install, and can you tell all leather over vinyl when looking at them?
-Between Ecklers, Corvette America, Paragon, and Al Knoch the price varies from $439 - $703, is one better than another? I have seen covers installed on corvettes from several of the manufacturers and they all looked good.
So many times parts are made by one company and then sold by the others, I have ordered parts from one company and received them in the packaging from another.
Suggestions, recommendations?

Thanks

[Robert R.]

Re: Seat Covers

Hey Todd,
Welcome back from your tour.
The leather section of the covers are the center section you sit on and the center part where your back rests against. The vynle parts are the surround and back side of the covers.

There are many choices out there and it comes down to your personal wants and your pocket book. Most like Knoch but Corvette America does a good job as well.

Installation will be about the same amount of work for either, and both offer the service of doing it for you.

[Paul L.]

Re: Seat Covers

I went with leather-like from Willcox. No regrets.

[Todd L.]

Re: Seat Covers

It's good to be home and be able to get my hands on the 74. I got some parts back from being powder coated and they look great. I have a friend who is going to take car of putting on my seat covers. I just need to decide what I am going to go with, buy them. I am in the process of getting the frames taken care of. When I pulled off the passenger cover the bottom frame was bent, I have to get that bent back in shape. I just don't know what would cause the frame to bend like it did. As far as I can tell they are original.

[Paul L.]

Re: Seat Covers

You can straighten the frame but it will bend again. This is a flaw in the early C3 seats. The cure is a reinforcement plate available from the various vendors. They run about $24.00 each.

[Todd L.]

Re: Seat Covers

Great looking frames Paul, I do have the braces, but my frame is bent on the side, in the picture it is noticeable on the lower portion of the picture. Instead of being a "U" like frame the side attached to the Z spring is bent inward. Is that normal?
I also noticed you have your braces welded to the frames, si that better than just bolting them?

Thanks
Todd

[Robert R.]

Re: Seat Covers

Nice work on those reinforcements Paul.

Todd, Paul is spot on as to making that part of your project.

One more option to consider;
If your interior is Black, also check out Corvette America's Driver Leather covers. They are done in the right patterns and are available in the L/V or all Leather, and would save some cash in the process.
Bob

[Todd L.]

Re: Seat Covers

Hey Bob, just PM'd you. Unfortunately my interior is Med. Saddle. Like I said I have the braces, but should I weld them in place? Here is a picture looking down at the bottom seat frame, at the top of the photo, you can see the frame does not have a close to 90 deg bend like the other sides.

[Paul L.]

Re: Seat Covers

OK, I can see that bend now. That is rather unusual and I do not know what would cause that.

I don't think it really matters whether you bolt on or weld the plates. A local restoration shop gave me a quote of $25.00 for the welds (the pair) and I could not turn that down.

[Todd L.]

Re: Seat Covers

$25.00 seems like a great deal. And looks like they did a great job. One day I will have my garage and a welding machine. I used to be set when I lived in MD. A friend of mine welded, and could get things done cheap or even free.
I was thinking about putting the frame in a clamp and just bending it back to where it looks straight, if it is not supposed to be bent like it is. Are your seats covered now? Do you know if/ how much of a hit on points I would take if I went 100% leather?

[Paul L.]

Re: Seat Covers

$25.00 seems like a great deal. And looks like they did a great job. One day I will have my garage and a welding machine. I used to be set when I lived in MD. A friend of mine welded, and could get things done cheap or even free.
I was thinking about putting the frame in a clamp and just bending it back to where it looks straight, if it is not supposed to be bent like it is. Are your seats covered now? Do you know if/ how much of a hit on points I would take if I went 100% leather?

Todd,

While I enjoy the Tech Board, my 1974 is too far gone from original to be NCRS material. Yes, my seats were completed in September of 2008. I rebuilt them with all new hardware and RPO A85 shoulder belts from Andover.

I am not familiar with the point deduction but others can advise. Having said that, the covers are "correct" 425 DR/V or dark red/oxblood vinyl.

[Todd L.]

Re: Seat Covers

That sure does look good! Can't wait until the day I can drive mine.

Thanks

[Paul L.]

Re: Seat Covers

That sure does look good! Can't wait until the day I can drive mine.

Thanks

I haven't seen my car since late October as it is in commercial storage for the winter. Next Friday (April 9) guess what comes home....

Good luck with yours. People tend to poo-poo these rubber bumper cars but they are very nice actually.

[Dennis B.]

Re: Seat Covers

Paul, Do you have any good pictures of the underside of the seat bottom frame?

You can straighten the frame but it will bend again. This is a flaw in the early C3 seats. The cure is a reinforcement plate available from the various vendors. They run about $24.00 each.

[Paul L.]

Re: Seat Covers

Dennis,
Not really. This project (like many) started off simply enough in 2008 when I bought the car. The original objective was to add RPO A85 shoulder seat belts to complement the factory lap belts for added safety. But when I peeled back the vinyl on the seat backs I discovered that the frames did not have the pass through slits for the belts and associated hardware guides. They should have been there for a 1974 convertible.

So....as the seat covers were a funky custom cloth and pretty faded I decided to start all over again. A very solid frame set came from a salvage yard in Missouri. The usual vendors supplied covers, foams, nuts/bolts, brackets, etc. The end result is shown above.

The pics show the old frame components (note the lack of pass through slits). To this day I do not know what year of C3 they came from! I sold them on EBay.






Note the slits in the Missouri units.