Seats....

[trwp72]

I finnally found some replacement 50/50 seats for my 1991... The car had the 50/50 originally, but were toast when I bought the car. I had given up finding any of the police version of the 50/50 seats to go back in the car. I did find a set of the Police bucket seats out of a 93, so I had them recovered and put in the car... along with the center console I had re-installed and updated last month. ALL I will need to do is take the siren, radio, and switch box out of the center console, re-route the wires, and bolt them into the original radio mount.. I had run the wires from the passenger side just in case I found the seats, so all I would have to do is reroute the wires, and remount them. I will probably be selling the console sometime next month. Anyway, the original seats were so torn up, it would have cost almost $1000.00 to redo them (ALL new springs, padding, not to mention recovering them...) Whoever had the car for patrol, DID NOT take care of the seats, and must have been quite large, as all the springs were broken down on them... I found a 91 in the junkyard last month, and have been getting parts off of it all month... I was finnally able to go get the seats Wed. It was supposed to rain all day, so I looked at the weather, and it was supposed to let up for a few hours from 12:00 to 2:00... So I scooted over and picked them up. (They were already removed, and they let me put them in their warehouse) So I put them in the trunk, and bungy corded the trunk lid down and hauled ass for home... Well, about three miles from the house... a monsoon hit... I could barely see the end of the hood! I got home, and unloaded them on to the front porch, so I could get the trunk lid closed on the car.... (It had about a 6 inch gap with the lid bungy corded down!) Of course, I got soaked in the process. The seats will have to be recovered, as I want cloth seats, vinyl is too hot down here in the south! I will also have them put some more foam padding in them, to make them more comfortable. So here are the pictures:

This is the worst one, the drivers seat.. weird how that seat is faded out and discolored...


I took the seatbelts off the seats and cleaned them up... they were a dark brown from oil and gunk (The junkyard threw the gas tank in on top of the front seat...) When I got done with them, they now look new. I cleaned them with some shout and clothes detergent in the sink, by soaking them, then scrubbing them... came out like new!

I am going to put the lightbar switch panel, radio, and siren back the way it was from the
Sheriff's office...

From the first day I bought the car... I will be putting the radio mount back in the car like it was... (I still have it) It is actually mounted in a good place, you can open the ash tray, AND the glovebox, with no interference...

[87gtVIC]

When you have them recovered will you try to keep the original pattern of the vinyl? I dont know how shops do these types of things.

[1987cp]

Exciting!

So what have you been running for seats?

[1990LTD]

Yeah I'm interested to see what you've got in there for seats now.

[87gtVIC]

It seems as if he may have police buckets from a 93 Police car that he recovered, all according to what was written above.

[trwp72]

They will be the same pattern, just in cloth... The 93 seats were blue vinyl, and were recovered in the correct color, in cloth. They look excactly the same as far as the pattern goes...

I don't know how the Deputies could stand sitting on those vinyl seats here in the south.... Even with A//C, they are HOT to sit on!
The seats I have now:





The problem with these seats are the trim piece on the sides keep cracking and breaking, and they are getting harder and harder to find in junkyards... eventually, you won't be able to find them. (And the 50/50 seats are much more comfortable!) The 50/50 seats don't have any trim on the sides... So if they get torn or whatever, you will ALWAYS be able to take them to the shop and get them redone.

[trwp72]

I have decided what to do with my old seats... I'm going to make an "Art Deco" piece for my living room.... Sort of a police love seat / couch... Going to make a frame out of 2X6's, the excact width of the seats when they are mounted in the car... I'm going to cover the frame with tan carpet, then mount the seats to the frame, with the console mounted in between. I will have a plywood bottom in the frame, so I can put a small power supply under the seat. Then hook it up to the switch panel on the console. I'm going to try to get another cage, to mount to the back of the seat frame, and then mount a lightbar on top of it.... so when you turn on the switch on the console, the lights will come on... Sort of a
Police car "mock up"!!! Should be a good conversation piece!

[1987cp]

Oh, that'd be interesting! I'm always fascinated by the weird chairs they use on Top Gear that were made from car seats, so it'd be interesting to see it actually happening. Besides, I have a small selection of car seats I don't need that'd be better utilized as indoor seating.