Just Bought A 72 Coupe. I Want To Change The Seat Covers From Vinal To Leather. Who's Do You Recomend ? How Hard Is It ? Thanks Ray

 

Wilcox (Willcox?) has a good reputation for interior parts. Do a forum search and you will probably see their name a number of times.



Rick B.

 

Not the cheapest but Al Knoch has been around a very long time and their stuff is top notch.

 

Any Info On How To Install Them?

 

Here's a few articles that will help...
http://rowleycorvette.com/corvette_repair2.html

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/2001...s/seatspg1.asp
Eddie

 

With old foam that is in good shape the job is not bad at all. Use any covers you like the frames are same for leather. With new foam the job is like putting ten pounds of s*** in a five pound bag.

 

I did the same and replaced the ugly vinyl seats in my '73 Coupe. I made my purchase from Wilcox. They sell Corvette America seat covers. I did the job myself. If you have some good mechanical ability and have some patience and automotive experience I would say go ahead and take the job on. If you are a person who only changes his or her own oil and thats it you might want to consider sending the job out for someone else to do the job. Most members who do most of their own work on this forum could handle this job. Here's a picture of my seats in the '73 since I did them a little over 2 years ago.

 

Its what I would go with

 

I would go with our covers! Judging from Ffas23’s install job, we might want to hire him to do installs for us. (just kidding Fred, retirement is more fun). I will say this! The 1970-1975 seat cover is one of the hardest covers to install! Getting the moulding to align properly with the cover in the correct place is not easy! Good job Fred! These look as if we did the install here!

These covers are exactly as original and will fit prefect!

I would suggest foam and the install kit.

Willcox Inc.

 

This must be Ernie talking to me here since I read (retirement) somewhere in the post above. How are things going Ernie?

Actually this job looks harder then it really is. I just downloaded some directions on the net from Corvette America and printed them out having them beside me when doing the work. You just need a table to work on and some patience and a little bit of automotive know how. I basically took my time doing it for the first time and knocked both seats off during a weekend. After doing the job the first time I felt I could probably shave alot of the time I took learning how to do the job if I had to do it all over again.

By the way Wilcox is right. These seat covers are just like the factory originals in every detail and quality. I can't tell you how many people complimented me on my '73 Coupe after looking at the interior now compared to before with the factory vinyl seats. Although my '73 is an original 25k mile car as I mentioned in another post the factory vinyl seats did nothing for the car for looks whereas the Leather seats I feel make the car stand out some.

 

I bought Al Knoch & had one of the best interior guys in town
install them. They look & feel great.
Yes, I know there are cheaper ways to do this, but this was one area
that I wanted to be perfect.

 

I plan on doing my 72 this winter, and will buy from the boys at Willcox. Will tackle the job myself...

ffas23..can you possibly post link to those instructions?? Checked the CA site and cant find them.

 

Trust me you won't go wrong with the Corvette America Leather replacement seat covers Wilcox sells. It is hard for me to believe that someone else could of made these same leather covers I used any better then Corvette America makes them since I feel they look and feel every bit the same as the factory leather covers that Chevrolet installed in the C-3 Corvette. My first 2 C-3's that I owned prior to my '73 both had the factory leather seats in them and I owned those two cars when they were only 2 years old back in the early 70's.

Here is the link for the instructions that I used to do my installation:
http://www.corvettemagazine.com/2001...s/seatspg1.asp

Just send the instructions to your printer to keep on hand and have right in front of you while doing the installation and you will be good to go. Just one word of advice to you and anyone else reading this post. Get a good set of hog ring pliers from Corvette America. Wilcox should also carry them. I tried to use Vise Grips and pliers and got bit doing so many times so forget about them. You will need the Corvette America installation kit also to do your two seats. My '73 being an original 25k mile car I felt the seat foam was in like new shape so I only replaced the Leather Covers. You may need to replace the foam in your car at the same time. You might want to allow time to repaint areas of your seat frame also. I needed to do the bottoms that bolt to the floor on mine. Do one seat at a time and be patient. By the time you get to the next seat you will do that one in half the time as the first one.

 

Thanks! All great advise. My 72 has the original leather interior, and I plan on new foams as well, plus restoring the frames. Thanks again!

Rob