[DeTomaso] Seat refurbishing question please!!

[Garth Rodericks]

Give Scott Bell a call at SACC Restorations.  He has excellent reproduction seat buns/foam and upholstery.
https://www.saccrestorations.net/seat-upholstery/


I had the seats in my 72 (#4033) redone with his foam and covers and they look great!  A couple of comments/thoughts...

1. They're not an 'exact' match to original, but very close.  I think the pipe welting was a little different, and perhaps the size of the stitching was a little different.  Very subtle differences that you'd only notice if you had the recovered seat next to an original seat.
2. The seat bun foam on for the pan (butt part of the seat) is a little thick.  I sat almost an inch lower in my original seats - maybe it's because the foam was 40 years old, compressed, crushed and deteriorated.  But the new buns have me sitting an inch higher than original.  It felt really weird the first few times I drove the car with the new seats - it took some getting used to.  The original seat's pan in the middle sat lower than the side bolsters.  The new foam has the pan section in the middle almost level with the bolsters, so that the bolsters don't really offer additional lateral support like the did with the original foam.  I would have your upholsterer cut 1/2" out of the foam for the pan (center section between the bolsters on the bottom) so that it doesn't raise you up, and allows the bolsters to continue to provide lateral support and hold your bottom centered in the seat pan.  FWIW, I found the same thing when I had my 70 Mach 1 seats reupholstered with new repro foam and seat covers.

You could possibly do it yourself, but you'll need hog ring pliers, patience, and a hot sunny day to let the covers sit in the sun and soften up before attempting to install.  I'm sure you can find 'how-to' videos on recovering the seats online. Instructions will be the same for a vintage Mustang.  I took mine to an upholstery shop because frankly, it cost less to have them do it right than it would have cost me in my time to spend a weekend futzing with them.

Overall, a very high quality product. I'm very pleased with how they look.


Cheers!
Garth
-------------- next part --------------
   Give Scott Bell a call at SACC Restorations.  He has excellent
   reproduction seat buns/foam and upholstery.
   [1]https://www.saccrestorations.net/seat-upholstery/
   I had the seats in my 72 (#4033) redone with his foam and covers and
   they look great!  A couple of comments/thoughts...
   1. They're not an 'exact' match to original, but very close.  I think
   the pipe welting was a little different, and perhaps the size of the
   stitching was a little different.  Very subtle differences that you'd
   only notice if you had the recovered seat next to an original seat.
   2. The seat bun foam on for the pan (butt part of the seat) is a little
   thick.  I sat almost an inch lower in my original seats - maybe it's
   because the foam was 40 years old, compressed, crushed and
   deteriorated.  But the new buns have me sitting an inch higher than
   original.  It felt really weird the first few times I drove the car
   with the new seats - it took some getting used to.  The original seat's
   pan in the middle sat lower than the side bolsters.  The new foam has
   the pan section in the middle almost level with the bolsters, so that
   the bolsters don't really offer additional lateral support like the did
   with the original foam.  I would have your upholsterer cut 1/2" out of
   the foam for the pan (center section between the bolsters on the
   bottom) so that it doesn't raise you up, and allows the bolsters to
   continue to provide lateral support and hold your bottom centered in
   the seat pan.  FWIW, I found the same thing when I had my 70 Mach 1
   seats reupholstered with new repro foam and seat covers.
   You could possibly do it yourself, but you'll need hog ring pliers,
   patience, and a hot sunny day to let the covers sit in the sun and
   soften up before attempting to install.  I'm sure you can find 'how-to'
   videos on recovering the seats online. Instructions will be the same
   for a vintage Mustang.  I took mine to an upholstery shop because
   frankly, it cost less to have them do it right than it would have cost
   me in my time to spend a weekend futzing with them.
   Overall, a very high quality product. I'm very pleased with how they
   look.
   Cheers!
   Garth

References

   1. https://www.saccrestorations.net/seat-upholstery/