jammovette

I purchased a 59 all original number matching 59 vette two years ago and drove it twice shortly after I bought it and has been in storage ever since. I have sold my big block 66 vette and now want to start driving the 59. I'm pretty lean and fit ok if I can reduce the height of seats. Is there any ideas you guys have heard of regarding the seat heaight on these c-1's. are the seat frames lower in the 61's and 62's. are there repro's that are lower I do I hack and weld these originals up. I would If I have no other recourse. reducing the seat foam is another thought. Any suggestions? james

66BBCoupe

Al Knock has special retro seats for C1's that reduce height and depth for tall people. http://www.alknochinteriors.com/aokretroseats.htm

They can modify your seats or provide the seat bases.

firstgear

AOK seats....in my '60



Al uses wise guy seat frames and then has to modify them for a right and left hand version because of the soft top bracket interference. I am 6'3" and fit fine, would be better for me if the gut was smaller

jammovette

thanks, talked to Dale from Al Knoch today and making plans to ship originals to him.

David Schuster

Is there any reason not to just bolt the seat frames to the floor. I doubt most of us adjust the seat anyway. Comments?
Dave

dazvet

Dave, The 53-54-55 passenger seat is mounted to the floor, There are some clips on the floor that the seat slips into. It may help you come up with something if your not interested in loosing your ability to adjust. I'm not sure your gonna gain a whole lot.

Larry

DZAUTO

If you can locate a pair of 61-2 seats/floor brackets, then have them upholstered with 59 covers, that would probably be about as easy as you can get, and just store your 59 seats/frame.

Tom Parsons

jammovette

Tom, are you saying the 61-62 seat frames and seats are lower and farther back from the 59's. Al Knoch wants $1750.00 to have my originals cut down and will give me 2""-3" more clearance in height and legroom also by altering to backs too. This is crazy money for seats that will be destroyed from the survivor/originality standards. Must be a cheaper way without destroying my seats to boot. Will the 61-62 seats give me that much more room and will they line up with the 59 holes. James

Loren Smith

Man, his prices must have really gone up. He did this for me back in 2000 and only charged around $600, but I also gave him new repro seat covers and springs. The change was very nice, I'm 6'6" and the 3 inch reduction really made a difference. If these are survivor seats, of course find you another pair of seats and have him start from scratch, then have two sets of seats. Otherwise, the difference is not that noticeable from a visual standpoint, and you would probably only lose a few points in judging. But at the price he is quoting, that must also include new springs and covers. Still about a $1000 cheaper than the AOK seats, but that includes custom seat frames, I believe.

aworks

Heres a set of Al Knochs seats in my 60. These are one of the first sets he did. They fit very well but not perfect. You can't have everything. I'v been on some long drives with this car and the seats are comfy for what they are. I like them better than the stock seats anyday. Let me make this clear. Theses are not the orig. seats. These are the street rod seats he makes look stock or whatever you want. Keep your stock seats and just buy these outright. When I bought these they where 1200.00. I know they have gone up in price alot since then. But your orig. seats are worth some good money. I sold mine for 1500.00 at Carlisle. Don't send him your seats!!!!!!!!!

DZAUTO

James,
The seats in your car, as in my 56, are a SEPERATE frame, bottom and back.
In 61, the frame was totally eliminated. Thus, this both allows the seat bottom to drop as well as slide further back. The 61-2 seat back is attached directly to the seat bottom, therefore, thee is no frame behind the seat back which allows the seat back to move further rearward!!! Both the seat bottom and back have the framework incorporated inside of them.
There is a single bracket which is bolted to the floor behind the seat bottom. This bracket has slots and the seat bottom has tabs which slide into the slots. Then the front of the seat bottom has one hole on each side at the front. So, the seats only have 2 bolt holding them to the floor (plus the bolts for the bracket in the rear, which remains in place). So, what you will need is both driver/passenger seats and the floor mounted brackets at the rear of each seat. That's it.
Of course, you will need new holes in the floor for the bolts to attach the rear brackets (probably should fabricate a threaded anchor plate under the floor pan). I have never had a 61-2 and 56-60 side by side to compare the position of the forward holes to determine if they are in the same location. If not, then of course, you would need to locate new forward holes. Yes, of course, you would have to put holes in your floor pan to install 61-2 seats, but compared to hacking up perfectly good 59 seats, it's a no brainer!

Tom Parsons

jmerson

James,
I have a '58 that the previous owner lowered because he was about
6'2" tall. I'm 5'9" and 27/64 and shrinking with a short body and long legs. Maybe we could make some kind of a swap? The upholstery is easy to remove so you could keep yours and I could keep mine and the runners are the same.lf you are interested in trying to get together, email me.
Jim