seat upholstery

[MAK]

So which vendor has the best seat upholstery kits or do they all come from the same source? Don't think I want the ones with the velour inserts but think the ones with the two diff types of vinyl may do the trick. Haven't seen any up close though. Anyone have any close-up pics or recommendations? Thanks
Mark

[Joe Kriston]

I'm sure I saw a place online under old Ford parts or something that had the vinyl seat covers with the real tight basket weave inserts....I've never seen a Ranger type cloth seat insert,though...I hate the velour inserts...They totally take away from the original feel,unless you're doing a full custom....I went to several fabric shops in town until I found a good vinyl,parchment in color, that matched my original door panels,then found some charcoal fabric that at least had the 'era' look for the inserts...Wouldn't fool anybody here but it blends with the rest of the truck....I'll have pictures soon...

[willowbilly3]

Some one sells the original material. I had the address somewhere but due to an error in my filing methods, can't find it. I think it was in the NW somewhere. I have to agree on the velour. My truch has had the seats redone in velour at some point. Someday I hope to have leather. My dream is to find seats out of a King Ranch with the saddle leather, probably never happen though.

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

I believe Comet mentioned he found a source in Washington.

[Jay]

Attached is a snapshot of this catalogue;
http://www.nationalpartsdepot.com/catal ... ftruck.zip

there are three pages with pictures of seats, I wasn't sure exactly what you were going for.

Hope that helps in your searching, I haven't seen any of them up close though, sorry.

[MAK]

I've got several catalogs and have seen the online pics. They all mostly look the same. I'm not necessarily going for a 100% stock match so probably won't go to the trouble of trying to find matching vinyl or having someone upholster a custom set. Was mostly looking to see if anyone here had tried any of the kits or knew if there was a difference in quality. I like the looks of the LMC original style sets (at least from the catalog). I'm thinking something with the smoother vinyl trim with the "basket weave type vinyl inserts. Thanks all for the input so far.

[willowbilly3]

Just a quick opinion on the woven vinyle. On both of the highboys I had that came new with the woven vinyle, it gave up the ghost real fast on the edge where you slide in and out. Within 20,000 miles was already coming apart.
FWIW, I have just bought the high quality 2 piece blanket seat coves and then take your seat out and hog ring the cover on. When it gets dirty you can cut the hog rings and wash the cover then reinstall. A friend of mine sewed his own out of all old Levis and had the back pockets all along the front of the seat cushion. At the time I thought it was way cool.

[Ozark Tim]

If you are looking to buy the original matching viynls or fabric's I have always been successful with SMS Auto Fabric's in Portland, OR for vintage stuff. They actually have originals, and the looms to re produce.
Phone # 503-234-1175

[91Bear]

503-263-3535 <--- new number

[morganater]

Does anyone know if you can reupholster a seat easily by yourself? Such as buying the new vinyl like Jay posted?

[DuckRyder]

Does anyone know if you can reupholster a seat easily by yourself? Such as buying the new vinyl like Jay posted?

It isn't hard. You will also need a Hog Ring and Plier kit. NPD has those as well.

You do need to do it on a fairly warm day, so you can lay the vinyl in the sun to heat it up.

At least thats the way I remember the Mustang and Volvo Upholstery.

[MAK]

Does anyone know if you can reupholster a seat easily by yourself? Such as buying the new vinyl like Jay posted?

This is the 3rd set of seats I have reupholstered myself. They came out looking ok but I couldn't get them perfectly wrinkle free like I have been able to in the past on my Mustang and Cougar. I even added an additional layer of foam and have the top seat skin pulled as far as I can and still have something to attach the rings to.
http://onlinecache.com/seat2.JPG
http://onlinecache.com/seat.JPG
I got them from BOTP. Went with black in place of the original blue and got a slightly different design. I think they are called the Ranger style but I got vinyl instead of the cloth inserts. The inserts are a different grained vinyl than the surrounding vinyl but I got them all the same color, not two-tone like in the catalog. They will do them up with any pattern and color combination you want and took about 2 weeks.
They go well with the rusted through floor pans.
Mark

[flyboy2610]

Lookin' good!
('Cept for the floor pans! )

[91Bear]

Does anyone have a shot of the original 1969 Lt. Parchment interior that you would be willing to post?

I'd like to try to match it.

[hardtailjohn]

I just got my seat back from the upholstery shop tonight. They took it in on Thursday, and would have had it done by Saturday, but found a broken spring that they had to go to town to get, and another broken piece that I welded today. The best thing about this is that I got to pick out just what I wanted for vinyl, and the lady and husband that did the seat will be Fordification members soon, as they have a super clean '71 F100!!!
Anyway, here's a "before" and a couple "after" shots. It's soooo much more comfy now, and I sit up like I'm supposed to!! No longer do I look like the little old man that can barely see over the wheel!!!
John H.