Help on identifying Early Recaro seats

[Rick Cabell]

I acquired a pair of early Recaro race/rally seats that came out of a old Porsche race car 30 years ago. They appear to be ST seats. I would say they came through the Porsche network as there is no Recaro emblem on the seat back. I am not a expert on these early seats like some of you so looking for thoughts, or facts.

[uai]

Yes, clearly original Recao Rallye seats (the ST seat however had more pronounced boulsters), possibly OEM, and at some time in the past they were mounted from the original Slider on a wrong Slider.
Rare to see the vinyl not harmed - that looks good.
Is there an issue at the front left boulster of one seat?
Difficult to see in the pics is the Basketweave orientation longitudinal or across?

Cheers

Uli

[66S]

68-69 vintage? looks like they may have been used in a 914 at some point by the extra set of slider holes.

[t6dpilot]

Rick, I have those exact seats in my 69 hotrod. You don't see them too often with three grommets per side (top and bottom). Mostly, I see four along the back. I have been told that they are 68-69 vintage. Nice seats BTW.

[sithot]

Catalog entry. FWIW, I believe these are what Peter Zwinakis started with when he was the original owner of Vintage Seats.

[Rick Cabell]

Thanks all for the replies.
Tom, Those are what we call elephant seats, due to the 4 legs, I believe that was the first sport seat. Other than the 4 legs on the base, yes, the seat looks exact.
The vent holes in the bottom I can't recall seeing before.
As far as what year, I agree with the 68/69 time frame. There are some extra holes drilled in the bottom that shows someone tried a different set of sliders.
I have some extra early sliders and think they are for these early seats.
Uai, could you post a picture of what the sliders are suppose to look like. I have seen you sell those from time to time.
Yes, one of the seats has the lower bolster foam that has twisted a bit. The vinyl is still fairly supple, so I am going to take the covers off and clean then carefully. I don't want to just get the "restored", as the original covering is 90% very good.
The basketweave pattern seems to be across. The seats are now here so I'll take a close up photo and post it. The seats are filthy, but looks like they will clean up with minor patina.
On a previous post I requested a link to the vintage Recaro website. I have seen it here before but can't find. Maybe it was a photo copy out of a old magazine, but it showed ALL the seats made and what year they were sold.
For sure these seats are all original. The plastic rivets that hold the covers in place are all there and have never been removed.
So if anyone can post the example of the different old sport/rally seats in the sales promotion folders, please do.

[sithot]

Thanks all for the replies.
Tom, Those are what we call elephant seats, due to the 4 legs, I believe that was the first sport seat. Other than the 4 legs on the base, yes, the seat looks exact.
The vent holes in the bottom I can't recall seeing before.
As far as what year, I agree with the 68/69 time frame. There are some extra holes drilled in the bottom that shows someone tried a different set of sliders.
I have some extra early sliders and think they are for these early seats.
Uai, could you post a picture of what the sliders are suppose to look like. I have seen you sell those from time to time.
Yes, one of the seats has the lower bolster foam that has twisted a bit. The vinyl is still fairly supple, so I am going to take the covers off and clean then carefully. I don't want to just get the "restored", as the original covering is 90% very good.
The basketweave pattern seems to be across. The seats are now here so I'll take a close up photo and post it. The seats are filthy, but looks like they will clean up with minor patina.
On a previous post I requested a link to the vintage Recaro website. I have seen it here before but can't find. Maybe it was a photo copy out of a old magazine, but it showed ALL the seats made and what year they were sold.
For sure these seats are all original. The plastic rivets that hold the covers in place are all there and have never been removed.
So if anyone can post the example of the different old sport/rally seats in the sales promotion folders, please do.

Got it. For what it's worth these were in my '73 S for a while. Peter Z.

[jaudette3]

This is very interesting. This is the seat that started me on the slippery slope with my dearly departed '67 rally build:



John

[Rick Cabell]

Tom, looking at details , I see your seats have 2 piece side bolster material (seam halfway down), mine don't , one piece.

[Rick Cabell]

Uai, here is a picture of the basket weave . I started cleaning one corner.