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I am lucky that my wife is fond of my '68 Cutlass convertible, but the one complaint she has is that the bucket seats do not have headrests. I have seen on other threads that the channels for the headrest are likely inside my bucket seats already since it was an option in '68, but other parts would need swapping.
My question for you is which option is easiest:
1) Find bucket seats that already have the headrest
2) Convert the existing seats
3) Tell her to get over it
I believe the headrests for your seats are reproduced. You would need to get the adjustment hardware to attach to the top of the seatbacks too, but I think adding them to your seats wouldn't be too difficult.
66 & 67 headrests will not fit in the seats you have. 68 headrests are one year only and pretty hard to find, however, 69 - 72 headrests will fit in your seats an look correct to most (the release hardware is different). You will need the plastic tubes that go down into the seats, the lock hardware (attached in top of the covers) and headrests. Before you go through all the effort of putting them in, you might want to see if you can find someone with a 68-72 for her to sit in as I have never really found the headrests all that comfortable, unless she only wants them in case of a rear end collision (whiplash protection).
I believe the headrests for your seats are reproduced. You would need to get the adjustment hardware to attach to the top of the seatbacks too, but I think adding them to your seats wouldn't be too difficult.
66 & 67 headrests will not fit in the seats you have. 68 headrests are one year only and pretty hard to find, however, 69 - 72 headrests will fit in your seats an look correct to most (the release hardware is different). You will need the plastic tubes that go down into the seats, the lock hardware (attached in top of the covers) and headrests. Before you go through all the effort of putting them in, you might want to see if you can find someone with a 68-72 for her to sit in as I have never really found the headrests all that comfortable, unless she only wants them in case of a rear end collision (whiplash protection).
This is a great suggestion. I am sure she is more focused on comfort, and I doubt that the older headrests were really all that comfortable like today's versions. While whiplash protection might be a partial concern, I think she is under the impression that it would be more comfortable. It is not like she would be able to sleep on a road trip with the top down, wind blowing around us and the constant engine and exhaust sound.
66 & 67 headrests will not fit in the seats you have. 68 headrests are one year only and pretty hard to find, however, 69 - 72 headrests will fit in your seats an look correct to most (the release hardware is different). You will need the plastic tubes that go down into the seats, the lock hardware (attached in top of the covers) and headrests. Before you go through all the effort of putting them in, you might want to see if you can find someone with a 68-72 for her to sit in as I have never really found the headrests all that comfortable, unless she only wants them in case of a rear end collision (whiplash protection).
x2
68 Seats are kind of a 1 year only unicorn (the longer you own a 68 you will realize there was all kinds of wonky 1 year only stuff one them).
You can make the 69-72 headrest tubes work in a 68 seat frame, but you will have to trim out a little bit of the metal at the top, the shape of the tube is slightly different.
On that same note- there is no easy retrofit for 68-72 seats to add headrests. you need to strip the upper cushion as the headrest tube is installed under the seat cover.
Somewhere i have a photo showing the two different openings... if you need a photo of it let me know and i can dig it up to share.
As noted above, the locks for 68's are also one year only and are unobtanium... But 69 or 70-72 locks will fit, I'd probably order 69 style as they are a little less obtrusive- just turn them to face whichever way the notches in the headrests you get face (that is the difference between 69 & 70-72 headrests, the locks/notches are oriented differently.
x2
68 Seats are kind of a 1 year only unicorn (the longer you own a 68 you will realize there was all kinds of wonky 1 year only stuff one them).
You can make the 69-72 headrest tubes work in a 68 seat frame, but you will have to trim out a little bit of the metal at the top, the shape of the tube is slightly different.
On that same note- there is no easy retrofit for 68-72 seats to add headrests. you need to strip the upper cushion as the headrest tube is installed under the seat cover.
Somewhere i have a photo showing the two different openings... if you need a photo of it let me know and i can dig it up to share.
As noted above, the locks for 68's are also one year only and are unobtanium... But 69 or 70-72 locks will fit, I'd probably order 69 style as they are a little less obtrusive- just turn them to face whichever way the notches in the headrests you get face (that is the difference between 69 & 70-72 headrests, the locks/notches are oriented differently.
The wonkiness of the '68 is why we love them so much, right?
This is all good info. The more you guys tell me about it, the more likely I will go for option #3 and tell her it isn't going to happen. I can deal with the consequences.
The wonkiness of the '68 is why we love them so much, right?
This is all good info. The more you guys tell me about it, the more likely I will go for option #3 and tell her it isn't going to happen. I can deal with the consequences.
Thanks, all!
If there is a problem, where should we send the flowers?
I'm guessing that you don't care about having completely correct 1968 headrests (they were a rare option on the 1968 cars). You can buy kits for installing the mounting tubes in seat frames that don't have them.
I'm guessing that you don't care about having completely correct 1968 headrests (they were a rare option on the 1968 cars). You can buy kits for installing the mounting tubes in seat frames that don't have them.
Thanks, Joe. I will look into it more, but it may not be worth the hassle.
I added them to my '68 back in'18 when I recovered the seats. I just like the look of them on the seats. It was a pretty simple upgrade. Like RAMBOW(Ben) stated you'll have to massage the holes at the top of the 68 frames to accept the '69 up plastic guide tubes. It was an easy to do with my dremmel & small grinding stone. The plastic guide tube kits only come with the 70-72 style lock buttons & they're about $50 a seat. You'll have to use the 70-72 repop headrests to match the locks. You can buy the '69 only locks separately & they do make a 69 headrest( the locking notches on the chrome rods are different between 69 & 70 up) & the 69 locks cost twice as much. The 69 style locks with their small round release button are more correct looking for 68. The headrests themselves look the same from 68 to 72. I am very happy with how mine turned out!.
I added them to my '68 back in'18 when I recovered the seats. I just like the look of them on the seats. It was a pretty simple upgrade. Like RAMBOW(Ben) stated you'll have to massage the holes at the top of the 68 frames to accept the '69 up plastic guide tubes. It was an easy to do with my dremmel & small grinding stone. The plastic guide tube kits only come with the 70-72 style lock buttons & they're about $50 a seat. You'll have to use the 70-72 repop headrests to match the locks. You can buy the '69 only locks separately & they do make a 69 headrest( the locking notches on the chrome rods are different between 69 & 70 up) & the 69 locks cost twice as much. The 69 style locks with their small round release button are more correct looking for 68. The headrests themselves look the same from 68 to 72. I am very happy with how mine turned out!.
For what it's worth- I took the bench out of my 68 , replaced with buckets from a 71, with head rests, and covered with the proper pattern seat covers from Year One. One other diff between the 68 and the rest- the 68 had the seat release button on the side, the others have it in the center of the back of the bucket.
Did some digging in my photo archives and found some pics of interest....
1968 Upper Frame, headrest tube opening
1969-72 upper Frame, headrest tube opening
69-72 Headrest tube- underside of the "head" showing what needs to fit through the frame
Cool diagram showing the 3 styles of headrest locks/bezels (not mine, cant recall who sent it to me)
Also- Incase you ever see them at a swapmeet and are confused- The 68 only headrest bezels are not chrome like the others, they are seat colored, and textured plastic like the seatback/side panels.
Did some digging in my photo archives and found some pics of interest....
Also- Incase you ever see them at a swapmeet and are confused- The 68 only headrest bezels are not chrome like the others, they are seat colored, and textured plastic like the seatback/side panels.
Cheers!
Ben
Awesome info, thanks. Now I have to go out and look at the factory headrest seats in my 68 W-30.
This is the best pic that I have on hand of the head rests and locks on my toro. You can just make out the right side lock plate cover under the headrest.
Forgot, i had some more.... a friend back in Iowa stumbled across a set of 68 upper cushions (and only the upper cushions, weird) that had the correct headrests & bezels still in them...
If you look at the pic with the headrest tubes you can see they have the "key" shape going all the way down the tube, not just at the head like the 69-72 ones)
This is the best pic that I have on hand of the head rests and locks on my toro. You can just make out the right side lock plate cover under the headrest.
Yes, but the seatbacks are the same as on the buckets.
Correct. The only difference is the inner hinge on both sides where the seat back bolts on the the seat bottom. The outboard hinges are identical to bucket seats, the inboard hinges bolt to the seat base from the top rather than from the side.
RAMBOW are those 68 covers for sale ? I am missing 1 never installed from GM no screw holes in the upholstry
and have 1 that has turned to powder thanks Scott in Lacey
No, the pic was sent to me from when my friend in Iowa was looking at buying them. If I recall he matched them to some lower frames he already had and built & and sold them.
I read through all of the posts, and there were many, and I have to say that I don’t recall my head touching the headrest on my car in the 30+ years that I have been driving it. Maybe I haven’t noticed its presence and if it weren’t there it would be obvious? I dunno.
Can your wife describe how a headrest would change anything?
I read through all of the posts, and there were many, and I have to say that I don’t recall my head touching the headrest on my car in the 30+ years that I have been driving it. Maybe I haven’t noticed its presence and if it weren’t there it would be obvious? I dunno.
Can your wife describe how a headrest would change anything?
My wife sleeps like a toddler. If she is a passenger in a car, she'll be asleep within minutes.
Ah, same as my wife. You need more than a headrest, you need a reclining passengers seat. In my case, that reclining seat came with a new car attached to it.
