For those of you out there who might be riding on "shredded" upholstery like I was up 'til a couple weeks ago here is an idea that worked for me. I have worn-out 3 sets of upholstery on my '67 Nova 4-door in 26 years. Even JC Whitney's prices on seat covers are ridiculous these days, but I noticed in a Jeep parts catalog that new replacement seats for jeeps are pretty cheap! I have an '80 Jeep CJ I use to plow the white stuff out of my driveway here in the Tundra so I pulled-out a seat to see how it matched-up to mounting brackets for the Nova. Just a few spacers and a little filing and I had it in. After driving it for a month with one of the Jeep seats in place I ordered a set made by Smittybilt for $109 each plus shipping ("standard high-back vinyl seats'). Had to wait about 3 weeks since I ordered "denim blue" to match the Nova's interior (black was in stock!) but they are real comfortable and look great. Now I will admit that the p***enger's side seat had the slider release on the inside but, hey, ITS A JALOPY! (Had two sets of Nova bench seat mounts, one for each bucket.) I know I could have scored a set of late model seats at the junkyard cheap but who knows how much h***le it might have been to mount? Now this JALOPY has BRAND NEW seats - how cool is that? Only one thing I regret: "Made in Malaysia" (sigh)
Guys!! Try ths neat thing called GOOGLE.COM!!! good source on the seats, they even have low back buckets for 139 http://www.4wheelparts.com/jeep-parts-list.aspx?jeep-subcat=362&plID=120
OK, guys. here's a link to photo and description of the seats I got on the 4wheelparts.com website (still $109!): http://www.4wheelparts.com/Standard-Bucket-Seat.aspx?t_s=418&t_pt=3921&t_pl=10110 I tried to find a camera here at work yesterday to take a photo but it was gone - will get a shot over the weekend of the seats in the Nova to post next week. It will feature the protective plastic covers that came on them as I am gonna ride on them 'til they wear-out - my **** will not touch that new upholstery 'til then, ha! ha!
What I plan on using in my truck is since it is so narrow is old school bus seats. They look clean and we have a couple busloads of them. They are pretty comfy to.
Can't beat the price on the bus seats! I had a '49 Willys-Overland Pick-up and, as I recall, the seat was almost identical to a 60s schoolbus seat, even the thick brown vinyl upholstery! Just don't paint the truck school-bus yellow, please!
To see some photos of the Nova and the new seats go to: http://www.kodakgallery.com/marks_photo_gallery/main/bluebelle_webview Kinda hard to get good photos of the seats set-up inside the car... (For scale, there's a yardstick next to my "alien pal" - I think he is about 3-feet tall!) If anybody wants a close-up of the upholstery mat'l let me know and I can pull back that plastic and take one! Those covers aren't coming off til they wear-out, just like the covers on Raymond's mother's couch on "Everybody Loves Raymond" - ha! ha!
The Jalopy Journal
