I'm sure this question is common here - it pertains to switching a bench seat out for buckets.

I am looking at a really nice 72 Cutlass Supreme 4 sale, silver with a blue top. The car looks awesome from the outside. Problem is the although the blue interior is in perfect condition, the seats are that fugly blue paisely silky material. I think the only way I can get myself to buy this car is if I know I will be able to swap the bench seat for buckets, and they would have to be blue - or else I would be changing the whole interior out to black, which I'm guessing would be pretty expensive to pull off.

Assuming I can find original bucket seat frames somewhere, my question is, does anyone no if I'll be able to cover them in a matching blue vinyl with blue plastic backs and sides. Obviously I would want to change out the back seat too, but I'm assuming if I can make the front seat change happen, then the back seat should not be a problem.

Thanks in advance for the input.

 

You're right. This comes up a lot.
Answer: Yes.
You can convert the car to buckets but you'll also need new seat tracks. They're different for buckets than bench.

Seat material? Yes - check out Legendary Auto Interiors. They have the seat covers and door panels you're looking for. It's not cheap though.

If you're planning to change out car to a console? You'll need to do a lot work getting the console, shifter, changing the steering column and speedo. This can be a WTH moment if you don't have a plan and a budget.

BTW, Welcome to C.O.

 

Thanks for the reply Alan & the welcome.

I guess my plan would be to just change the bench seat to buckets & not attempt a shift column to center console change. That seems like a whole can of worms. In fact another car that I am looking at has factory ordered buckets with no console, which seems odd, but I've seen a few other cars on the web built that way. Maybe I should save myself the trouble & buy that car instead. They are both nice.

My plan would be to install the rails and buckets & recover the front and back seats with a matching blue vinyl or maybe there is a more modern cloth option that I could employ? This guy did something along those lines, replacing his vinyl for a cloth, but keeping the original bucket frames. The article doesn't say where he got the seat covers.

http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/..._feature3.html

Great article, love this guy's car!

-Mike

 

Mike,

I have everything you need to convert the car over to a bucket seat car.

And, Shipping through Fastenal is extremely reasonable as well.

You'll still need to recover the seats and dye the center console. I have a blue steering column and blue plastic for the seats, but the console is black and the seat covers are black.

Tom

 

Here is another good source of factory cloth and vinyl ...

http://www.smsautofabrics.com/

 

Thanks Tom. If I go for the bench seat car, I will hit you up for those seats.

 

Thanks Scott. I think this place is my answer for replacing the seat material with cloth.

 

WHere are you located? There are 69-72 bucket seat cores all over the place. Prices are anywhere from $250-$500.

All GM A-Bodies 69-72 used the same basic seat frames & tracks, and the covers are interchangeable. Just buy foam and covers for the year you want to have.

If changing the color- i'd just buy new repop side & back plastics in the color you want... one less thing to worry about on the seat cores.

Repop headrests don't take dye well, so plan on purchasing covers for your headrests so they will match the new vinyl covers.

As mentioned by others, Legendary is pretty much considered the top of the line reproduction covers.

For the buckets, make sure you get American Cushion Industry (ACI) buns. Ask for them by name. the "cheap" offshore no-name ones suck, as do the PUI ones (still offshored)

 

I hope you preserve the integrity of the iterior if it's "perfect."

 

Thanks Ben for the information about the availability of seat cores - I kinda figured they might be all the same amongst the GM brands. I live in Colorado; I see you do this work up in Washington.

So after I find frames, I would need to find/buy new blue vinyl cover & blue plastic backs & sides, in addition to new foam & bucket tracks....gotta negotiate a deal on the car first!

-Mike

 

Hey Diego,
Well I should have said the interior is perfect EXCEPT for the ugly seats!

The interior is actually perfect; the car has less than 50k on it. That's the appealing thing about this rig, is the overall cosmetic condition of it is excellent. I hear with you about keeping everything intact & original. That would be my intent by keeping everything else the way it is, in the original blue. Just want buckets instead of a bench. The car looks pretty mean on the outside, but looks like "my father's oldsmobile" on the inside.

-Mike

 

I kind of agree with Diego. I just bought a bench seat car and yes, it's not as nice as having a bucket seat car, but I am not changing a thing on it for two reasons. First; it's just too darn expensive. Second; I am really into originality.

 

Also if you go buckets instead of bench, your best girl can't sit right beside you

If mine wasn't a floor shift I'd consider changing mine from buckets to bench just for that reason.

 

That is a good point Alan! And if you can't decide who your "best girl" is, with buckets you can't have your 2 "best girls" sitting up front with you either!

 

keep the bench! had a 70 vert with the bench seat and that massive fold down armrest,loved it.you can get complete seat covers in blue or any color you want from opgi or legendary... imo bucket seats with no console and column shifter just seems wrong to me .best of luck with the interior

 

This thread is from Sept 2014. Hopefully the OP decided a while ago.

 

wow thanks joe,i'm new to this site and thought i was still on "new posts thread" thanks for the heads up...alan