Calling Sport Seat Experts

[Edwin Ek]

Listers,

I have been led to believe that the vinyl used in 73 (and 72) for sport seats is different from previous years AND is no longer available. Are both parts of that true? If so, does anyone have a source or even perhaps a stash of the right stuff? Maybe even used? I'm thinking about just redoing the entrance bolster only on the driver's seat; the rest is good and the passenger's seat is pretty nice.

If I redo everything, what combinations of material were available in 73 for bolsters and seating area: leather, vinyl, houndstooth, perforated, etc. What has everybody seen, or is there a definitive guide?

Did the headrests have exactly the same (72 and 73 only) vinyl as used for the seats?

Also, weren't the knobs the same as what was on the standard seats?

Sorry if any of this has been addressed before. I searched the archives but didn't see anything!

Thanks,
Ed

[Zeke]

All I know is the vinyl for the '71 and maybe '70 that is perforated is NLA. Most use leather which is semi perforated. Same with the basketweave, but that isn't your problem. I bring this up because maybe that's what you were hearing; the troubles with the year(s) before yours.

Smooth vinyl should be available and a nice match to the original. Give Autos International a call on this. If you can't get your seats to them, they will send out the pre-sewn kit and your local upholstrey guy can install them.

[Edwin Ek]

Thanks Zeke! Actually, one of the people who said the 72-73 vinyl is NLA was Augustine at Autos International.

[Soterik]

The 72/73 fabric is unavailable....however there is a mid 80's that's an almost exact match....Augustine should know this...

Eric

[Edwin Ek]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33701

Here's a link to an auction for a pair of sport seats on e-bay that ended about a week ago. In the description, the seller said:

"1973 Porsche Factory Recaro Sports.. These were restored 3 years ago, installed in my 73 911S coupe and never used as the car is still not done.

Seats were completely disassmbled, striped and power coated. new foam, OEM 73 porsche leatherette and NOS parts were used to bring into as new condition."

So I e-mailed him to see if he had a source for the leatherette. This is what he replied:

"Dear Ed, I'm a airline pilot, flying europe for many years, Cut me a 1" square off the bottom where it doesn't show and I will get you some, there was 2 differant types of grains used between 72 and 73."

Any chance the stuff really is around?

Thanks,
Ed

[reed]

Ed,
I'm not sure I'd rely on the airline pilot's assessment of what's correct. Looking at the seats in the auction, you can see that they are held together with slotted screws. Definitely not NOS. It's hard to tell from the pics but the vinyl doesn't look dead on either.

[Soterik]

Edwin,

Possible that there's material floating around....that's how I got my OE houndstooth fabric. But you'd better have an OE swatch in your hand to verify if it's OE.....

I'll make a few inquiries for you....give me a week, if you haven't heard from me, PM me, and I'll let you know what I've found out. I have an original interior 73S targa....so I can match the vinyl.

Eric

[Edwin Ek]

Thanks Eric!

[larry47us]

Edwin:

I have just had Autos redo my sport seats for a 73E Targa. The interior is original, so I needed/wanted the seat vinyl to match the door panels, the dash and the rear seats.

Both Augustine and Roy from Autos International told me (and Eric confirmed) that the 73 vinyl is NLA, and they use the 80-something instead. They said that it is very close.

Hey, each of us is anal about some other - different - portion of our cars. I looked closely at the vinyl, but I didn't "examine" it. If you want, I'll take a closeup shot of my door panel and the vinyl of the seat that they recovered. The interior of my car looks neat, and I am more than pleased with it.

larry

[Edwin Ek]

Larry,
I'd appreciate that very much. I'm a 356'er also, so maybe I'm warped from that! Did you by any chance save any of the original vinyl? I might just fix a couple of the seat sections instead of recovering everything.

Thanks,
Ed