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I just took off the rear seat covers and found a tag that says “June 1968 “ On one of the seat covers there is a stamp of “5/8/68” and on the same cover but a different stitched section is “4/26/68”. (See photos below). According to the fisher body plate, my car was assembled in the last week of April 1968. Anyone have an idea why the dates aren’t close? Could the car still have been in the factory into June? Thanks. —Billy
No one seems to really know exactly what was installed at Fisher and what was installed in Lansing (I'm pretty sure I remember that your car was a Lansing built possible W30). It's very possible that the seats were installed in Lansing and you only know the body build date, not the Lansing assembly date.
Also, you should have another tag similar to this one that lists all the options that were installed at Fisher as well as W29 on the tag to signify that it's a 442. I have mine but the green print is so faded I can only make out a couple option codes.
Thanks.
Yes mine is the car that was previously talked about as possibly originally built as a W30. I was really hoping to find that broadcast card, but no luck. I see a spring repair, so I guess the seats were removed at one point for the repair and whoever did that took the card out.
I’ve been researching the technique of re-upholstering the seats with Legendary’s materials. Their procedure follows pretty much the same as the original way the seats were put together. One thing I haven’t seen any tutorials mention is the burlap wire braces on the originals (see photo). I guess the new foam is more rigid so the burlap doesn’t need extra support. —Billy
Yes mine is the car that was previously talked about as possibly originally built as a W30. I was really hoping to find that broadcast card, but no luck.
Unlike the 70-71's the 68-69 Broadcast Card doesn't tell you its a W30 anyway so that wouldn't have helped.
It's too bad your broadcast card is missing. That would verify that the seat was original to the car. With your car having an April date code on the cowl tag but a June date on the seat I'd have to guess that the seat was swapped from another car at one point,who knows what happened over the course of 51 years!!. The pic of the broadcast card that allyolds68(Mike) put up is from my 442. The rear seat cushion on mine has an Aug 25 1967 date stamped on the back of the upholstery. My broadcast card has a "305" on it which is Nov 1 1967. My date code on the cowl tag is 11A, plus the "176155" on the card matches the cowl tag so the seat is original to the car.
So just out of curiosity, my car is a Lansing 04C and the last six of the VIN is M352110. How close is yours? I’m just wondering if the build date of your car somehow got pushed way back. Usually the build date of the body and car were less than a week apart.
So in a given year in the late 60s, when would production of the 68s start replacing the 67s? Was there overlap of still fulfilling special orders of 67s while starting to produce the 68s? Anyone know?
Last edited by Billyaxe; January 26th, 2019 at 04:43 AM.
So in a given year in the late 60s, when would production of the 68s start replacing the 67s? Was there overlap of still fulfilling special orders of 67s while starting to produce the 68s? Anyone know?
The line would shut down for re-tooling in late July to the first couple weeks of August. There was no overlap
Very interesting yeah sounds like it.
My vin is M361796 and Lansing 04E.
-Billy
Two weeks give or take younger than mine and 9686 apart sounds about right for that time frame. I think they ran like 1000 cars a day through 3 shifts. Your seat was probably replaced at some point
Thanks. I’m stripping the buckets right now. Below the foam is this original pink layer of cotton stuck to the burlap. The tricky thing is to hog ring the seat cover down in that groove to pull the seam down for that 3D look.
I’m stripping it all off and starting with brand new materials - burlap, cotton, felt edging, and the pre contoured foam. —Billy
Nice work on that backseat!!!! Keep up the good work!
Make sure you completely remove that burlap/jute layer on the buckets to inspect for broken edgewires and springs especially important on the bottom cushions!
Oh yeah. I’m completely stripping down the seats to the metal seat core and springs. I wire brush all the surface rust and spray them with rust reformer. I’ve been lucky, no springs are broken or rusted through. I’m using all brand new materials. —Billy
I'm in the process of putting my 68 back together, so I will be working on the interior soon, so I'm in the investigation phase, go with assembled or unassembled door panels?.
Thanks Eddie.
Hey Kevin, yes I am replacing the door panels - all 4. I ordered the assembled from legendary. I’m expecting them to arrive in the next 2 weeks. I won’t know what the unassembled ones are like, but I’m going to do a careful comparison to my originals that I’m replacing. I will let you know what I learn. —Billy
I found a broadcast card in one of the bucket seats and one in the rear seat. Unfortunately none of the seats are originally from my car. Here they are.
Thanks.
Yes I bought everything from Legendary. They get their foam from American Cushion industries. I bought the full kit from them to be sure I was doing it correctly - being my first time. Definitely watch the legendary instructional vids on their website.
For the rear seat - the top needs 3 layers of cotton on top of the burlap with a muslan cover to hold it in place before the seat covering. The bottom has burlap, felt edging and foam (no cotton) then the seat cover.
If you’re on a budget you buy and cut your own foam and use cheap synthetic batting. But definitely get the legendary reproduction covers. I compared them to my originals and they are identically reproduced.
Hey Kevin, I received my door panels from Legendary and they are amazing replicas. I took my old ones which are in decent shape and compared them side by side with the new and I do not see a single design or contour that Legendary did not replicate. I am so happy with these. I’d say definitely go with the assembled. It has the strip of chrome on them, the window felt, the metal curved top support, has pre pressed indentations in the back for your choice of power window buttons or crank handle. And they are very sturdy — better than my originals. Im really looking forward to installing these. I’ll post some photos this week of the new pieces when I take them out to prepare the holes for my power window buttons. (I i put them back in the package after close inspection and comparison). Right now I’m working on repainting the 442 badging and refurbishing my center console, then I’ll get back to the door panels. —Billy
Hi Billy,
Thank you so much for letting me know, perfect timing, I’m ready to order the interior for the car.
Did you replace your carpet? I order carpet from ACC and having issues with what they sent to me, it’s has two humps in it in the center of the transmission tunnel. I called them and they said that I probably needed the auto transmission with no console carpet kit. My car is a bucket seat without the console, so I need to carpet to pretty close to the contour.
Hi Billy,
Thank you so much for letting me know, perfect timing, I’m ready to order the interior for the car.
Did you replace your carpet? I order carpet from ACC and having issues with what they sent to me, it’s has two humps in it in the center of the transmission tunnel. I called them and they said that I probably needed the auto transmission with no console carpet kit. My car is a bucket seat without the console, so I need to carpet to pretty close to the contour.
Kevin, let me know if you have any questions as you dig into your interior, I'm right up the road from you.
I used the Trim Parts brand carpet for 4spd/no console in my 66 and it fit fantastic. The hump fell exactly ontop of the 4spd hump, and the heel pad fell exactly on the studs on the floor where the worn out factory carpet had. If memory serves there is a 2nd "bump" in the floor right between the bucket seats, its for a floor brace under the floor pan and the carpet reflected that bump i believe. Not sure if thats what you are referring to.
Unfortunately I think they got absorbed by classic industries though, not sure if they are still making carpet sets...
I got a new contoured carpet from Legendary. Not sure who theyvgey it from. I have a center console so shouldn’t be a problem for me. But I haven’t had a chance to see how the carpet fits yet cuz the car is in the shop for body and paint.
Let me know how you do and what to expect. One lesson I already learned and made a mistake on is to keep the old carpet and use it as a template to make your holes. I gave mine away when I stripped the inside. —Billy
Not sure what you mean by seat bottom stretch boards? There are cardboard pieces that go in the seat bottom back to reinforce the stretched vinyl so if a back seat passenger kicks it, it has some strength. If there is something else, I didn’t use it. I just followed the instructional video.
I don’t remember what kits I bought, but I’ll tell what was in the kits I got.
For the back seat I got molded seat foam just for the bottom, cotton batting for the top (use 3 layers), Muslen covering for top, burlap, felt edging, and paper coated listing wire forvyop snd bottom. The closest video to demonstrate install on our cars by Legendary is the Dodge Charger rear seat installation video.
For buckets: molded foam top and bottom, 1 layer of cotton, burlap, felt edging, paper coated listing wire, and the cardboard protectors.
Dont forget hog ring pliers and hog rings, Legendary can sell you those. I wound up using like 750 hog rings. Probably wasted about 200 in realigning my anchor points on my first time.
Take a million pictures of the old seats as your disassembling the old covers. They will be handy later to see which holes anchored into with hog rings snd how the assembly should look.
When you have all your materials. Watch the videos very carefully and follow the order that Randy Brown does it in. I watched em like 10 times in prep. When your ready let me know and I’ll give you some other tips. —Billy
Here’s the new door panels from Legendary. They look great. The arm rest back plate I purchased separately. I cut out the holes for my window buttons and vent window crank handle hole. The panels come with scoring marks on the back to make the holes needed for different applications. Here are the fronts. Next I’ll prepare the rear panels
. —Billy
January 25th, 2019, 04:37 AM
