I need to get by buckets recovered and would like to know who has the best replacement cover and foam out there. They are black & I am out of the Chicago area...

Thoughts and pics would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance...

Joe

 

http://www.legendaryautointeriors.co...pholstery.aspx

Anyone have pics of a 70 w/ their buckets?

 

Legendary all the way.

 

I'll echo that - Legendary. Quality thru and thru, great fit, easy to work with. Recovered my buckets and rear seat with Legendary. Photos on my restoration thread

 

 

Legendary covers and ACI seat buns. You wont be disappointed
avoid repop seat spring assemblies unless you REALLY need them. They are way too stiff and make for a tight fit behind the wheen and under the headliner.

 

X2 and X3 on the repro seat springs

Legendary sells the ACI seat foams and depending on how much of a hurry you are in you might wait and see if Legendary holds their usual Christmas season sale where you may be able to save 25% or so on the parts that Legendary manufactures (ie the seat covers but not the seat foams).

 

Thanks for the info fellas...
I can wait for a few months...

Have any of you sent your seat to them???

BTW
The pics of your interiors are outstanding!!! Nice to see they sell a good product!

 

I know of a few people that actually sent their parts to Legendary,to have everything recovered & restored.One was a pearl interior for a 70 442.They media-blasted & painted the springs for the seats,which was never done originally,but the owner wanted everything the best as possible.I think the bill was about $5,000.00,but it is one of the nicest interiors that I have ever seen.
Any new seat foam that you buy,will need trimmed or shaved,to achieve the correct shape,before the seat covers go on.Legendary will also tell you the same thing.Most people will simply pull the foam out of the box,install it,then cover the seat.It "will work",and most might think it shoudl be that way,but it should not.A recovered seat should not look like an overstuffed pillow,and this can also cause premature wear or damage to the seat covers.I like to use the original seat foams,whenever possible,unless they are deteriorated,then you have no choice.
With the 70 Cutlass 'S'/442 hardtop seat covers,you also want to make sure that the buttons have the correct retainer washers on the inside of the covers.These help retain the buttons,and spread the load to a wider area of the seat material.If they are not used,the buttons will eventually pop out.You might need to reuse your old retainer washers,if they don't have new ones,but just make sure they are on there.

 

Brian, i humbly disagree with your statements regarding seat foams.

What you said used to be true, and can still be true- UNLESS you buy the ACI seat foams. They are the only ones that are the same size, density and shape as originals.

The foams made by PUI, Classic Industries & TMI all need to be trimmed and still will be stiff as hell.

A lot of the vendors don't sell the ACI buns because their profit quite a bit more on the "cheap" foams vs these ones- and they usually wind up being $20+ more per seat than the cheap ones... but its worth it.

I turn customers away now if they bring me the cheap seat buns. Its just not worth it, knowing they will be unhappy in the end.

 

I will have to look at those ACI foams.Maybe you are correct.I know even the most expensive ones that Legendary was selling still needed trimmed,and they even suggested so.There are also slight variations of the shapes of the original OEM seat foams,depending on what car they came in exactly.I have seen 70 chevelle foams look different than the 70 cutlass/442 foams.Some are solid foams,with no creases or divides,some have a divide in the center,some have two divides,etc. This was to help enhance the shape of the pattern in the seat.make sure the new foams match your old ones,or if you are using cores from another car,make sure you get the foams that would match.I keep all sorts of stuff like this for this reason.
I have been fortunate to have foams from all of my cars,that were all in mint condidtion,so I have been fortunate to reuse them,but I've had to help with friend's & customer's cars that were no so fortunate,or were starting with a junk seat to begin with.Who sells the ACI foams?I would like to check them out.

 

ACI Sells the specific foam combinations for the different seat patters, with and without the channels. Only a couple pontiac and buick combinations with the center channels are missing from their lineup.

Legendary sells them, National parts depot sells them. I'm unsure of who else. Ask your vendor of choice.

here is their website, not the best, and they do not sell directly to the public, but shows off the various ones they have and lists some of their vendors- any of their vendors could custom order

http://americancushionind.net/categories/cutlass.php

 

It's not the channels that "enhance" the shape....they are put in there to match the corresponding "pull panels" that were/are sewn into the backside of certain model seat covers (for example, '70 GTO front buckets have 3 of the "pull panels" on the backside of each bucket seat base and bucket seat back...'70 442 hardtops and Cutlass S's have 2 "pull panels" on each bucket seatback and base). It's the pulling and attachment of these "pull panels" down into the channels in the foam that gives the added "depth" or enhancement along the pull-paneled seams. These "pull panels" probably have some sort of technical, auto upholstery industry formal name but that's what I refer to them as. Said another way...if you don't attach the "pull panels" then there isn't going to be much, if any, "enhancement" of the seat cover surface.

I'll second what Rambow said...ACI's are the way to go, WELL WORTH whatever additional $ they cost over the other brands...they fit right and sit right.

 

If Lengendary sells the ACI's,then that is what we put in Nate's seats,and we still had to get a little creative to get the look we wanted,but they are nowhere near as bad as the cheaper foams.However,he was also using a different upholstery person that I use,if I don't do it myself.I don't think he had a good understanding of what the final product should look like.I had to intervene a few times.I had to redo a lot of items in & around that car,before the show.I had to correct things that guys getting $80.00/hr couldn't get right.

 

Thanks for the info fellas...
I cant swing $5k to get my seats restored, but I can wait to grab the covers during the XMas sale...

Joe

 

PUI had great seat covers when they first came out in the 1980's, and I still have a set that looks mint after all these years. However, we all know quality changes over the years. You need to work with your budget in mind as you may find other things that may need changing once you get into your project.

 

Here is a pic my old PUI's

 

They look nice...
I appreciate all of your input....
I just want it done right....
Going with the Legendary and ACI's....
This is going to sound ghetto but I might ducktape for the time being...
I do not drive it a ton b/c I need to finish a bunch of little things...
When I get it painted I can then spend the $$$ 1X...
The rest of the interior is pretty solid for the most part...

Thoughts?

Joe

 

I was just looking at the papers for Nate's order,and we did get the ACI's for his seats.I still had to massage them a bit,but way better than the other foams.I also had to take-over for the "professional" that was doing the interior,so I can't say for sure that it was all in the foam.
I have to do my 71 seats,but my originals aren't even ripped,so the foams should be real nice as well.I do need to do another set of 70 442 seats,and I will get new foams for those.