Coupe replacement seats vs restoring

[RDG496]

I need to decide on what to do with my seats, the foam has broken down in the back rests and the foam bases have also seen better days as have the covers.
The cost of foam and covers alone would likely come in north of £1000 before having them covered hence why I am considering buying some inexpensive retro bucket seats.
Im assuming Id have to fabricate some kind of base to attach the seats and lose the tilt function which I can cope with.

Has anyone replaced the original seats with after market products, if so any thoughts/advice/guidance.

Many thanks.

[neil-yaj396]

The new seat pads advertised in Viva Lancia are only £66 each......

[lancialulu]

I need to decide on what to do with my seats, the foam has broken down in the back rests and the foam bases have also seen better days as have the covers.
The cost of foam and covers alone would likely come in north of £1000 before having them covered hence why I am considering buying some inexpensive retro bucket seats.
Im assuming Id have to fabricate some kind of base to attach the seats and lose the tilt function which I can cope with.

Has anyone replaced the original seats with after market products, if so any thoughts/advice/guidance.

Many thanks.

If your coupe is an original not messed about then you would be well advised to keep it original. Have you asked Brian Cates (member) for a quote to retrim?

[RDG496]

The seat bases are indeed inexpensive but the set of covers are approx £800 (front and rear). Factor in the cost of having the foam back rests redone and paying for labour then its a £1300-1500 job vs Retro bucket seats at say £400 + bases.
I would keep the original seats for future owners, Im just not convinced for a daily driver that spending an extra £1000 is a cost I'm willing to pay.
(And yes I did get a quote from the forum member).

To be clear Im not bemoaning the cost of having them done, more a case of I'm not sure I can justify the additional expense.......having just spent a decent chunk on replacing front floor pans and some minor sill repairs.

[Wangler]

I guess it depends on how the original seats suit you. Mine were extremely well recovered and look great, but they don't suit my fairly standard six foot build. The base is too low and flat.

I'm half tempted to replace at least the driver's seat and keep the old one carefully stored. What's important is how comfortable the driver's seat is if you're going any distance, or perhaps driving in a spirited fashion.

[DavidLaver]

If you can turn up a decent pair of seats then recolouring to match the original interior and "topping up" the colour of everything else isn't too bad a job, either as a DIY or paying someone.   Fulvia seats are really good seats.  I had them as my "every day" option when I had an Aurelia with a bench seat that never went in and a pair of buckets for competition, one of which became my eldest son's gaming chair.

My vote is give yourself a month or so to hunt for better seats while sitting on cushions, bits of camping mat cut to size or whatever it takes to make it comfortable in the interim.

I'm also a fan of loose covers.  More a 50s thing than 70s.  The Aurelia bench had a lovely loose cover with map pockets on the back.  These days you see it more "as the dogs make such a mess".   Growing up it was towels over the seats to stop us sticking to them.   Not sure I can quite visualise it for a 70s Fulvia but "a bad idea in the hope it sparks a good one".

Another idea is repaired seats.  There are more and more "patina" cars now.   Maybe replace the front seat bolsters but not the middles?  (assuming that's the wear rather than all the stitching has rotted). That rather depends on you finding someone local who's interested in doing that as repairs of anything are always a right pain relative to a fresh start.  My godson found (and pursuaded) someone to do a tricky torneau cover for his MG midget who usually does high end neon interiors for funky camper vans but was up for it.

Period buckets...again "a look" and if you go for it and follow through then why not?  Bumpers off, driving lights, reversing light, map light, map nets, pen clip, trip meter, watch holder, navigators foot rest, harnesses.

Another way to go is a random pair of seats from an MX5 or whatever else...with heaters...but coloured to match everything else.

[davidwheeler]

My nephew, who lives in Carlisle has recovered my Fulvia Sport II seats in leather and has done a fantastic job.    Just if you are interested in going the whole hog.   He will also do plastic but why not do it properly?

[RDG496]

its not so much the covers, patina and wear i'm ok with but the fact that the foam in the back rests has completely broken down, its like sitting on a cadburys crunch with the floors covered in honeycomb dust.........i love honeycomb but only to eat not to sit on !

[JollyClubUK]

its not so much the covers, patina and wear i'm ok with but the fact that the foam in the back rests has completely broken down, its like sitting on a cadburys crunch with the floors covered in honeycomb dust.........i love honeycomb but only to eat not to sit on !

New seat foam available on eBay and advertised in the club magazine.

[frankxhv773t]

I'm fairly sure the new replacement seat foam is only for the base, not the backs which the OP needs. Perhaps seat backs need reproducing too.

[chriswgawne]

We had exactly this rotted stitching/powdery foam rubber problem on a couple of Fulvias a few years ago.
I bought some high density foam and using a very sharp kitchen knife shaped the foam to suit.
I thought the leatherette material was  damaged but on inspection I realised that it was only the stitching - the material Lancia used for the covers was truly excellent quality so very carefully using the existing holes I carefully re-stitched the covers with great success.
The only slight problem was that the foam I used was a little too stiff so I ended up sitting a little high but over time this improved.
I suppose what I am saying is before throwing money at it, have a go yourself. You might surprise yourself.
Chris