Juliet

Who has the best quality seat covers & foam from a NCRS purist point of view? I'm looking for 1970 bright blue vinyl and I *think* I want to install them myself. My seats are the original seats with aftermarket vinyl in the '68 basket weave pattern. The structural parts of the seat will need some restoration work (de-rusting, paint etc...). At the same time I'll also switch from lap to shoulder belts and make the appropriate seat back changes. (See my post in C3 for Qs about the changes for the belt pass-through in the seat backs.) Thanks, ~Juliet

Larry B.

Hi Juliet, A few years ago my wife and I did the seats on a '74. With older seats, new foam is a MUST or you will have excess material. Be sur to order the kit of wires an installation stuff. The wires are different lengths to give the "bucket" shape. The bottoms were pretty easy. The backs were a little more challenging but came out great. It was actually pretty easy for the most part. It just takes a little patience and forethought. It is a two person job and will take a few hours. Look at it this way... At least it isn't a greasey messy job. BTY I got my stuff from Eckler's and was happy with the product but I don't have anything to compare it too so......

JmpnJckFlsh

HOLEY SCHMOLEY!!! Is this the Juliet I know?...the NCRS purist?

Nah, can't be. Someone must must have hijacked her computer. I thought 70 convertibles didn't have shoulder belts, and even it they were optional, wouldn't that be cheating on your tank sticker? :D :D :jester

Al Knoch once had the unquestioned best seat covers in the business for 68-70 cars; the vinyl material was HEAVY DUTY and the craftsmanship was excellent. Alas, that was years ago, and I don't know what kind of quality he has now. Al has a partner and there may be more emphasis now on the bottom line than on the authenticity of the product, but probably no more than other reproducers.

If I were doing it now, I would probably do a personal evaluation of several suppliers again by examining the product in the box and interviewing owners with nice interiors.

Juliet

Well we all have our family secrets now don't we? :p:

Uh Chuck, that's why I'm asking here - who has bought seat covers / foam recently??? I can't see myself going through another center console or carpet fiasco. :mad: ~Juliet

71-LS5

As far as I know Al Knoch has the most correct comfort weave seat covers available. His are the closest to original that I know of.

PHulst

Juliet,

I have the Corvette America covers in my car. While they fit fine and look OK, the Al Knoch covers have a better weave pattern, and that is what I would choose if doing them again.

Also, having done a couple sets of these seats, I will NEVER attempt to recover them my self again. Sandblast and repaint the frames yourself, then do yourself a favor and spend the $200 to have the guys at Al Knoch install the covers for you. You will not regret it. The quality of my 71 covers, installed by Corvette America, is far better than what I could ever achieve with the 70 vinyl or 72 leather covers I put on myself, no matter how much I tried to stretch them, shrink them or pad them. I love doing work myself, and the bottoms are relatively easy, but the seatbacks are so much of a pain that it is not worth $200 on the frustration scale.

And we tried to have a local auto upholstery shop install a set as well. What a joke. My two sets are better.

Patrick

3X2-427

Hi Jewels
When I did replace the original black leathers in the 69 I chose Knoch. Had a local artist upholstery guy do the install. He tried three times to get them wrinkle free without success. I sent them to Knoch they did them for free...I still didn't like them, called and arranged to meet them at lat years Orlando show. they removed the covers, let them bake in the Florida sun and reinstalled them, perfect. Florida has better upholstery sun.
All no charge
jer

Juliet

Thanks everyone. :) :seeya

dennis

The seat vinyl from Knoch is very good. Being a little picky, the seat foams leave a little to be desired. In Al's defense, I think most venders have the same type. The bottoms are Ok, but the backs come in 2 pieces. A full front and a short upper rear piece that you glue to the front. I found the edge cuts on these pieces to be rather crude. You can detect the glued joint when the covers are on. My original foam backs were 1 piece with a split down the rear section to go around the seat back release button. No distiguishable glued joint. Just a nice smooth bead. I olso noticed a fiber type reinforcing on the inside of the foam. I mentioned this to AL and he told me to bring them to Carlisle and he'd check them out.Didn't hook up with him though. Good luck

TNT

I'm one of the few that Juliet has shown her TANK STICKER to and it reads {shoulder belts}. Hey Juliet, in the last year or so I have noticed that AL's stuff has slacked in quality! Just my opinion. Thad