Seat Retrim or buy new!

[blue1]

What do you think should I get my front seats re-trimmed or buy new?

I have been quoted a couple of hundred quid to retrim front seats in vinyl. Is this a fair price and I live in London.

[craig 12]

i thought i saw in rarebit that mazda mx5 seats were a very near match

[Reddi-Eng]

Depends what you plans are for the car. If you want to keep it as original as possible then retrimming or finding some original seats in better condition has to be a must.

If you plan to update/modernise it then geting some non-standard after market of donor vehicle seats from a scrappy might be a cheaper route. Be careful however, I think the space available can be limited.

You should be able to find some specialists re-trimmers from the classic car mags. unless other members can make recommendations from experience.

[GGenie69]

In the MK2 I had once, JLU 5K, I fitted a pair of seats from a Lancia Beta. Although these would be harder to find now than Gilbern ones

Were the original front Gilbern seats in MGB's?

Richard

[trippdl]

Hello Blue -

If your seats are in good mechanical condition, a couple hundred quid for re-trimming sounds good to me.

The reason for the Mazda MX-5 seats was that the seats in the Mark III were Gilbern-made, and of the several Mark III's I've had, all of them had damaged seats or replacements which were not correct and didn't fnction properly. The Mazda conversion is not too difficult, and they do look a lot like the high-backed Gilbern seats, but these were new to the Mark III.

The Genie has Restall seats; these required new seat bottoms (from Roger Spares), but were structurally sound otherwise. I was having the whole of the interior redone out of necessity, and the (top notch) coachtrimmer advised that the job in leather was likely to be only marginally more expensive than vinyl, so I went with hide. The cost has been a bit over a grand (so far) and there is a bit more to do, which requires the car to be MOT'd and driven up to Seaham for completion. One of these days...

The Restall seats have a much higher seat base height than the Mazda conversions, and the seating position is closer to the wheel, ie, your knees are bent more. This was fine for my Mark III purposes, in that I was able to move the seats farther back, having decided that no one was ever going to be sitting behind me. If you want your car to remain a '4-seater', stick to the original seats, and get them redone.

Best regards,

Dave

[Greybags]

I was in the same quandry, as my front seats needed recovering as well to get rid of the dirty gold velvet dralon, but as my youngest will be a regular passenger, thought I would go the more safety orientated route with a couple of more modern seats where the backs lock in the upright position..

Managed to find a pair of never used Corbeau GTB seats for £100 the pair .. with quite a nice red stripe to match the paint ...

Just going out to the garage to fabricate some mounting frames this morning as that is the next job on the agenda..



A tape measure says they will fit fine, but I will wait and see....

Grahame

[blue1]

How do you get the photos on the page as I will show you more photos of the car.

[Greybags]

If you check out the FAQ's it shows how to post images, easier if you use a Flikr or equivilent photo web site ..

Fabricated a subframe and the 1st of the new seats fitted ..



A nice fit....



When I get the other one in, will have a set of Mk11 Seats for sale if anyone wants them, as you can see in the photo they are a gold dralon type of material..

Grahame

[Jimbern]

Hi , I want to fit a set of high back seats from an mx5 to my estate, which model mx5 fits best . I will keep the original seats .

[R_D_Olivaw]

The MX5 tombstone seats fit perfectly.

All the best,

RDO

[Jimbern]

Hi R-D-Olivaw , Thank you for your reply , there are lots on flebay , there is a guy in Winchester that renovates old seats I might have a drive out there one day soon, It does help if you have an idea of what you are looking for , thanks again , jim

[Fareham GT]

If you are looking to have any trim work done or seats renovated, you should try Jim the Trim who operates from a small village near Winchester, he is on 07811-455170. He is currently doing some work on a Gilbern GT (see Gilbernworld).

Brian - Spares

[Jimbern]

Hi Brian , The reason I am looking to change the seats is because, a , the original drivers seat is split, b , the wife does miss having a head rest . I would keep the original seats for if ever I sold the car . Jim.

[R_D_Olivaw]

Hi Jim,

I picked my tombstone ones up from e-bay for £80 and when the car is ready to be re-trimmed (and I have the money) I'll get them done over in Winchester, probably by the guy Brian referred to as everyone likes his work, but he is not cheap.

All the best,

RDO

[Jimbern]

Hi RDO , I can't remember the saying word for word but it is something like: you can still see the quality after the price is forgotten: Jim