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My newly acquired 69 Cutlass needs some interior love. The car Cowl has TR 930 which means black interior with buckets. I believe the interior in my car is all original. I have an all black interior with black buckets. The seat covers are torn and the seats have sagged quite a bit over the years. While I was looking up seat covers in the local classifieds, I came across a great deal for a good condition Bench from 70-72. I picked it up. The rear holes align with the seat brackets but the front do not align. I fabricated brackets to make it all work.
I was going to dye the seat black and use the bench until I reupholster my buckets but I got quite a few compliments on the brown color bench. At this point im considering finding a brown rear seat cover or maybe dying the rear seat cover to match the front. Im wondering if anyone knows what the color the seats are and where possibly I can find seat covers in that color or perhaps some dye to color the black ones although I suspect going from black to brown may not work. Anyways here are pictures. What do you guys think?
It looks like a PUI cover for a 71/72 Cutlass/442 hardtop, the convertible and supreme are different style. Maybe sienna or dark saddle. I think if you change the back seat it would definitely attract more attention. It makes it look like real leather instead of Naugahyde (what the hell is a Nauga anyways?) You might consider doing the door panels also, I think Legendary can do a special order and make your style door panels in that color material. I don’t know if they can make a convertible cover that will match the front though. I would call them or PUI for the covers but I would stick with Legendary if you decide to do the door panels. You could also have somebody local re-do your seat to match.
There are reinforcement plates needed to be installed on the floor when switching to bucket seats. Just mentioning in case you didn't know about them. The brown bench does go nice with the blue exterior.
This is your car to do as you please... but... In my opinion that brown seat looks completely out of place. I can see using it until you get your buckets fixed, but I wouldn't spend more money to match the brown one. I don't know if you are new to the hobby or not but I have found that when you drive car around or are at a car show the people will tell you whatever they think you want to hear- ( My brother had a car just like yours except it had the 442 Rocket-Hemi and was a four door.. bla bla) They just want to be friendly. I would run it by some people you trust and ask them what they really think about that seat.
Thanks for the Input. I know this seat wasnt for the 69 year. The pattern in the seat also does not match the rear or the door panels. My original plan was to dye the bench black so it looked somewhat factory. However, the brown is growing on me especially with the exterior. My rear seats have a bit of a tear in the bottom as well. Ideally I would like to redo the entire interior with factory patterns in black.
Does anyone know whether a 1970-1972 convertible rear bench would fit in the 1969 convertible? Im thinking about keeping all my original seats and finding a used rear seat as well to play around with.
Ideally I would like to redo the entire interior with factory patterns in black.
If that is your goal, get to it. It sounds like all you need is new seat covers and cushions on your original frames and you'd be back in business. I wouldn't waste time "playing around" with anything that doesn't move you towards that goal.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Originally Posted by sjay1989
Thanks for the Input. I know this seat wasnt for the 69 year. The pattern in the seat also does not match the rear or the door panels. My original plan was to dye the bench black so it looked somewhat factory. However, the brown is growing on me especially with the exterior. My rear seats have a bit of a tear in the bottom as well. Ideally I would like to redo the entire interior with factory patterns in black.
What a dilemma. I like the saddle colored bench you have in there. It's from a 71/72 Cutlass fastback. Problem is your car is a supreme and the supreme didn't offer the split bench unless A65 option (with center armrest) was specified. That means you'd have mismatched seat covers as I believe the convertible rear seats were different width than the fastback design. I'd take the easy way out and just re-cover the original seats with new fabric and call it good. So much work involved with changing the interior color of a car.
Thanks for the reply Allan. I wouldn't change the entire interior of the car to brown. If i can find a spare convertible rear bench to cover/dye in brown, I may do that while keeping my original black front and rear seats in storage. This way I can always go back to stock interior in a few minutes and a few bolts!
I am with Greg. If I was at a car show and saw a blue car with brown seats and the rest of the interior black, I might question your sanity. IMO, either make it all black (my 1st choice) or all brown. Mix and match will look tacky.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
The bench you have in there has been re-covered; an easy spot is the deep pleats for stitching are missing. What about just trying a small spot down low on the front of the seat to see how the dye will take? Most dyes today are really good and won't rub off on your clothing. I've used this stuff Vinyl & Leather dye and Duplicolor vinyl dye with good results. That way it's a cheap fix and you don't have to worry about changing the seats out. Aside from the Olds crowd, who would know the difference? This stuff you can get almost anywhere and it's super cheap.
I am with Greg. If I was at a car show and saw a blue car with brown seats and the rest of the interior black, I might question your sanity. IMO, either make it all black (my 1st choice) or all brown. Mix and match will look tacky.
I understand that alot of you guys are much older than I am and probably used to interiors all being 1 uniform color. that being said, my last few cars have been black interior with saddle seats (C43 AMG) or black interior with red seats in a newer corvette. Ofcourse this isnt how these cars came, but the contrast does work. In any event, im still on the fence on what im going to do with it. Tinkering with this car is why I purchased it, its not for shows. I have the factory Buckets which I plan to have refinished in factory black.
The bench you have in there has been re-covered; an easy spot is the deep pleats for stitching are missing. What about just trying a small spot down low on the front of the seat to see how the dye will take? Most dyes today are really good and won't rub off on your clothing. I've used this stuff Vinyl & Leather dye and Duplicolor vinyl dye with good results. That way it's a cheap fix and you don't have to worry about changing the seats out. Aside from the Olds crowd, who would know the difference? This stuff you can get almost anywhere and it's super cheap.
I actually just picked up a couple cans of this to do the sunfaded carpets. I wasnt sure how well it would hold up on the upholstery itself as Ive seen mixed reviews online.
I like the brown seats, if you match the back seats. I'll also say I enjoy the ride of my bench seat cars much more than my bucket seat cars. I can drive forever in the bench seat cars. I don't think the brown with the black door panels is all that crazy. Most interior color combinations in these cars are pretty consistent throughout be it blue, black, green etc. But what many people don't realize is that when you have a pearl or white interior many of the items that would be color matched with other interior colors are black in a pearl interior (e.g. sun visors, a pillars, carpet etc. is black.) the only thing that's pearl is the door panels so having a brown interior with everything else black is not unprecedented.
OPGI would have seat covers to match what you have. It looks like a 71. The rear seat cover is about $215.00 I would order some color samples to make sure you get it right. Beware the Supreme and the S have different patterns. I got a bench seat with an armrest for my 69 S not knowing I couldn't get the a cover to match the S pattern on my rear seat.
Can anyone confirm whether the 71 cover would fit my 69 rear seats? I dont imagine there was much of a difference in the shape/design of the seats between 68-72
For bucket seats 68-70 have the same seat foams and 71-72 have the same. As far as bench seats go 68-72 is the same. 68 does not have headrests. I would call PUI 800-342-0610, or Legendary 800-363-8804, they are both very helpful and should be able to let you know. OPGI has some sales going at the moment that might be worth looking into. They will send you free samples but, It looks like Dark Saddle to me.
Called both legendary and PUI, no one seems to have this pattern. Also noticed that the seat is brown but has black "spots"/darkers areas almost like a smoky pattern. Not sure if its just super dirty or its a part of the design!
I suspect that someone had the seat cover made by a local upholstery shop. It's similar to styling from the era but not exact. My 69 had a complete interior made by a shop, it didn't match any year either. I'm sure there was a period when correct match interiors were not available. You might just want to check some local shops.
September 1st, 2020, 06:05 PM
This stuff you can get almost anywhere and it's super cheap.
