I have a 1970 Cutlass Supreme and have been sort of looking for a pair of headrests for the Strato's for years (long story but the guy that did the interior for me over 20 years ago magically lost the headrests) and he is in upholstery heaven now so .....

I see them at that GoodmarkIndustries.com for more than I want to pay and I never heard of anyone getting parts from them so I don't know if they are cheap-o replacements.

I have got cheap-o replacements from Year One before so I tend to like actually seeing parts these days before I get out the Ben Franklins.

 

You might check with Legendary, I believe they sell them.

 

Thanks

They look like the ones at that other site and same price but Legendary looks like a better place so now I have to figure out what to do about putting the holes in the top of the seat backs for those and get the chrome parts there........so probably remove the back of the seat and see what it looks like there.

http://www.legendaryautointeriors.co...CK/detail.html

 

It's been a while since I recovered my seats (1998) but I seem to remember just feeling around to locate the hole under the material, cutting an X at that spot, and then installing the trim/locks over the holes.

 

Ok so I imagine those headrest locks have something for those 2 screws to attach to under the material.......hopefully screw holes into some sort of metal so it is easier to locate the proper spot to do the X in that material.

Thanks again

 

I would opt for a set of good used ORIGINAL headrests....the repros are not very well made. I believe they only come in black so if you have another color interior you would have to paint the repros.....might as well paint a good set of used headrests.

This is from personal experience prepping/painting a set of repro headrests for a customer....

>The textured surface was extremely porous in some areas.....you can paint and paint and paint and you will still have these unsightly "holes"/pores showing through. The lighter the color you need them the more apparent these pores are once painted.

>Good adhesion also seemed to be a problem.....even with thorough cleaning and using an appropriate adhesion promoter

>The raised "ridge" that runs across the top center/down the sides of each headrest was a mess in many areas....you can see where a razor was used to trim the excess "flashing" off this ridge and whoever did it cut too far down/into the ridge in many areas

Spend your time and money on finding a good used original pair unless you have a black interior in which case the surface porosity and potential paint adhesion problems won't be as big of a deal to you possibly.

 

Well yeah I would like originals just because........but yes my interior is black so that part doesn't matter.

I just don't want to buy a pair that doesn't look original.

Where I live you don't find many cars to get parts and if they are outside (wrecking yards) they will be a pile of rust and hornet nests here on the Olympic Peninsula.

I also wish I had a local chrome plating place since the rear bumper is like they usually are after 45 years and she has been inside for 30 of those years.

I used to have a 1966 442 and I had the front and rear bumpers and the tail light chrome done perfect and then I sent those 442 fake fender vents to be rechromed and the place burned to the ground and the owner hid from all the customers since he had no insurance.

So I lost those 2 pieces and the hood chrome and the trunk "Oldsmobile" piece.

 

I have a extra set of head rests, from a 72 I believe, they are covered in brown/tan material now. Let me know if you are interested and I can post a pic after work today if you are.

 

Yeah show me a pic or two.

I guess they are the same from 70-72 (not that I ever saw a 72)

Suppose the black vinyl paint works but I never have tried any before either.

How far away from me are you?

(Port Ludlow WA)

 

I'll get a pic or two for you after work today. I have used the black paint and it works well- I used it on the bucket backs and sides on the brown seats the rests came off of. You will not be able to paint these though as part of it is cloth material as opposed to the paint-able vinyl. They will need to be recovered.
I am in the Maplewood Minnesota.

 

Maybe, maybe not.

The cloth was likely glued on I assume. I've stripped old paint off of original GM headrests before and the original vinyl covering will withstand a fair amount of "abuse" from solvents. It's possible the old glue could be removed leaving the original textured vinyl covering on the headrests well intact.

Problem is you don't know until you try it and if you discover it won't work then they have to be re-covered, etc.

The usual interior suppliers typically sell matching vinyl covers that can be installed over the bucket seat headrests. Won't look 100% original as these covers are sewn vinyl (originals have a the vinyl molded on the outside) and have to be stretched and glued to eliminate wrinkles, etc. I saw one set of '70 bucket headrests locally where the guy took them to a shop and they did a fairly nice job of stretching and gluing on the sewn vinyl covers he got from Legendary Interiors. These sewn vinyl covers may just be the same covers they provide for bench seat headrests...I don't know 100% if they are or not. The bench seat headrests used a sewn vinyl cover.

 

Man the more I think about this the more I just want a pair of originals that are black vinyl ....but still nice looking including those chrome (as I remember) slides.

Damn I will always be pissed at that old %$#! that probably threw mine away for some reason........he must have screwed them up when he did the seats

 

Patton,

Thanks so much for your input on this thread.

I have to restore a set of these too. Do you have a suggestion for the disintegrating plastic piece on the bottom?

MVC-777F.jpg

 

I wish I did have a solution....I've "tried" a few things but none of them have really looked very good....

>Cut out a "sheet" of the same grained plastic from a kick panel and tried to form it/curve it to match (probably using a heat gun). Result....nah...not so great.

>Tried some thin ABS black sheet plastic with a heat gun but didn't like the results either.

Admittedly, I didn't spend a huge amount of time trying the above so an acceptable replacement might be possible with a lot more time and some addtional ingenuity. These exercises (in futility!) were more of a "let's give this a quick try and see what happens" type deals.

One problem is these "sheets" I made don't have the raised ridge along one edge like the originals....although that's really only a cosmetic difference to us (the ridge was likely put in there to stiffen the overall panel originally).

Bench seat headrest underside covers, after taking a QUICK glance, appear to be a lot smaller overall so they probably won't work well as a starting point.

Here's what gets me.....kickpanels are repro'd, real nice bucket seatbacks and sideskirts are, armrest bases, etc....all polypropylene stuff like these bucket headrest underside fillers. AND....look at them....not a complex design or mold relative to the other parts. Seems like the repro market would have come up with these by now!!

VERY LARGE potential market for them...all the Abody buckets use the same headrest and this piece so it's not like there's a "limited audience" for these.

Original headrests are sought after as well so again, why not offer a piece that is "a natural" for those with original bucket headrests? (thes things always seem to be well-baked and chalky).

Sorry I can't offer any solutions to this part.....my bet is the repro guys may eventually make these. Bucket seatbacks and sideskirts went through a number of iterations (quality-wise) and that didn't hold back the repro folks from investing in a better version. They've pretty much "nailed" the grain/texture pattern (which was a huge issue on the seatbacks/sides) and it's the same for these headrest fillers....just gotta get someone to make that mold. Another "plus"...there's no L and R side for these...ONE MOLD pattern does the job.

 

Be patient...out of all the interior colors the BLACK vinyls and plastic survive the best over time so the odds of finding a nice set in black (vs the other colors) are on your side here.

 

Patton we have to get you off the restoration side and in the manufacturing end of the repro parts. seat backs headrest parts and so on. You've got the drive and knowledge, just got to get you hooked up with the right people.

 

i have one headrest that is black you can have just pay shipping chris

 

Supreme... Do you ever get down to Olympia?

Biscay's Classic Chevy is right off I5 just south of Olympia, and they keep all this stuff in stock, so you could actually touch and feel the repop headrest before buying it.

I find the repop headrests to be "ok" as long as you only need black.

My experience attempting to recolor them is exactly the same as Patton experienced (my experience may have been worse actually they started peeling before the customer came to pick them up).

 

I may also have a lead on some local non-cracked originals... a guy I know just bought a set of 69-72 seats to go in his '67 and I don't think he's going to run the headrests. I'll see if he's interested in selling.

 

Sorry I just saw this......been busy with home projects....

Been a while since I have been to Olympia but it sounds like a place to check since I like buying stuff that I can actually see and touch first.

(but I did go to Bothell HS back in 1975 )

Btw do you know of any chrome plating place in our part of the planet?

Sure would like to get my rear bumper to look better than new.......and here when a car is 30+ years old we don't have to use the front plates so the front bumper sure looks better without that damn license plate.......and Oldsmobile knows how to make huge pieces of plated steel on their cars!

 

Art Brass is the last one in our area that i know of. Not cheap, but they do good work.
I had a bumper straightend and rechromed by them about 8 years ago, turned out great.

http://www.artbrassplating.com/w_o_flash.htm

 

Thanks Rambow

(do you know if they have an email address? )

I need to check that website on one of my other pc's because I can't get it to show me anything on my laptop right now.......anyway.......my bumper is in pretty good shape other than the chrome plating being bad even when it was about 10 years old.

If they can do a perfect job that is better than factory I almost don't care how much they want.

I actually replaced the front bumper about 20 years ago when I got the very last OEM one from Year One but I still have the original.

If the rear one came out perfect and the price is not too insane I would actually have the origina front one replated and put it back on.....just because

Where is Art Brass?

If it isn't too far from me I might try driving it over in my 4X4 but don't mind shipping it UPS to the place either.

Sure would be nice looking at that huge piece of steel with some show chrome.

It would also get me back in the mood to do other things (like a full core radiator so I could actually drive it anywhere)

Do you live in Bothell??

 

5516 3rd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108
(206) 767-4443

Yup, I'm in Bothell, work down in Issaquah durning the day