So, I bought this 1971 Convertible that had "work" done to it back in 1985 or so. The seats were recovered and now look like the photo.




I would like to recover them with a more correct cover. The covers I see advertised for this era show a metal or plastic trim parts near the top of the seat. Do the replacement covers come with this attached?

 

No. The insert you refer to is a separate metal insert piece. If you had them, you'd remove from the old seat cover, and reinstall on the new. You have the 1976-78 style seat covers in your car now, which did not come with the insert. To make your correct you would need to order the correct seat covers for your car and purchase a set of the inserts.

The 1970-75 style will be sewn to accommodate the insert, as seen below.

 

Hi B71,
Here's a close up of the bezel O74 describes.
The bezel was installed on all seats.
There are left and right versions for the shoulder belt to pass through them.
There's also a small bezel on the back of the seat for the belt to pass through.
These photos show the bezels before the vinyl seat covers have been cut. (This is the passenger's side seat.)
Regards,
Alan

 

Shoulder belts were optional equipment on convertibles for your year model. Likely didn't come on your car as less than 10% opted for them to be installed.

 

Hi HF,
Good Eye!
I missed the word 'convertible' and didn't notice the deck lid behind the seat in B71's photo!
A car without shoulder belts still had the bezels on the seats…. both sides of the opening were solid on those bezels.
Regards,
Alan

 

Quick question Alan. Did those bezels just punch out depending on what side they were installed on or was there a dedicated left, right and no belt bezel?

 

Hi CG,
On my 71 the bezels are solidly closed on the inner 'slots'.
There are part numbers on the back side of the bezel that indicate a left, right, or no hole bezel.
There seems to now be bezels that can be left solid or have either the left or right side 'punched' out.
I think it was member Paul74 who reported that.
So I'm not sure when the punch-able bezels became available.
Regards,
Alan

Here you see a closed bezel and the 3 part numbers. 648 for the closed version.

 

It was also common place to replace the stock seat covers with those from a later model year. (I actually do all the seat install's here and I've done them for years). But one way to know is if you look at Alan's picture and see where that rear bezel is.... Cars with shoulder harness's all had an extra metal bracket bolted inside the seat and it's common for those to still be under the old seat cover. If you push inward where that bezel is and feel the bracket pictured below then you would have had shoulder harness's in you car.

On the other hand, there were actually two brackets to a shoulder harness seat frame and one was welded in place one unbolted (pictured below) so converting to a shoulder harness car would require some work for those interested.

Here is what the bracket looked like.


Seat back moldings are available too https://willcoxcorvette.com/catalogs...+back+moulding

My advise and I tell this to everyone, remove the old foam and covers (save the corrugated wires off the back of the foam) and see if there is are three holes in the upper portion of the seat frame assembly.

If you find the three holes (where the studs Alan shows in his picture go), then you have the correct seat frames and I would order the correct covers, install kit and foam.

Installing the covers is not all that difficult and CA made this very easy for amateurs when they released their seat cover installation video. The only thing I've found that is wrong in the video is when they reference the 3/4" wire clips... There isn't a 3/4" clip, it's more like 1/2" if it's that long. While CA makes folding the top over look very easy, it's not and that would be your biggest fight but take your time and roll it easy and you'll get it.

Willcox

 

Thanks for all the replies!
That's exactly the info I was looking for.
Now to decide on who to buy the covers from...
So many options and I'm sure many differences in quality...

I do have an assembly manual on order which should help on lots of the other issues this car has.

 

Hi B71,
Actually there are only a couple of seat cover manufacturers whose products are sold by many different vendors.
Many folks like the covers made by Al Knock in Texas.
One of the vendors on this site, Willcox, often has good prices on them.
Also I think Al Knock is having a sale now too.
It's important to ask who the covers you buy are made by when considering price.
Will you do the work yourself or have someone else do it?
Regards,
alan

 

I will probably purchase the Al Knoch covers. Will most likely need a new top also. It has been left in the open position for the past 8 years.

I do plan on doing everything myself.

I have done ALL the work on the car in this thread myself.
http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...e-home-stretch

 

Hi B71,
I enjoyed looking at your thread about your 40.
I played around with a 40 Pontiac 2 door sedan in 68-69. Not QUITE as round as your Ford!
There is such a PLEASURE to be had from doing it yourself!
Regards,
Alan

 

Can you tell me if the covers you carry are in fact by Al Knoch?
Specifically your PN 417820