How To Repair Front & Rear Seats

Open the door on your classic Mopar musclecar and survey that interior. Unless we've paid attention to the vintage vinyl inside, the 30-plus years that have passed-since skilled craftsmen sewed the upholstery together-have taken their toll. Fortunately for us, aftermarket reproduction suppliers such as Legendary Auto Interiors sew together new skins to make old and tired vinyl look new again.

Our vintage '70 'Cuda ragtop was no exception to the ravages of time. Far from being a time capsule survivor, our 'Cuda was reassembled 10 years ago with a rag-tag combination of boneyard and swap meet parts. Seat upholstery from a Gran Coupe was part of the first poverty-rebuild effort. With a blast of white Marhyde and some Pep Boys seat covers up front, the 'Cuda made due in street duty with shabby old skins. After being on the back burner for a decade, it was time to face the music and do the interior right.

A complete seat upholstery kit and bucket-seat foam were the first items on our interior shopping list. Upon receiving the Legendary set, we were immediately intoxicated with the look, feel, and smell of the fresh threads. True to the company's reputation in the restoration industry, the new skins are faithful reproductions of the originals, with the correct, factory-original grain on the material, the factory pattern smoothly stitched in true form, and the correct density backing sewn in. Unlike the cheap pieced-and-glued replacements sometimes found in reproduction foam, the Legendary front seat foam (rear bench foam is not currently available) is a true molded reproduction, in the correct durable, high-density material.

Stripping out the seats is an easy task, with the fronts unbolting from below the floorpan.	The lower rear cushion is pushed back and unhooked to lift away, while the seatback on this car is bolted in at the bottom, and attached to the top well liner with a long moulding strip.	We'll begin with the front high-back buckets. First, the molded seatbacks are removed. Earlier high-backs, such as these, used a three-piece seatback with the main moulding in plastic, and two die-cast hinge caps. Later seats used a single-piece moulding, and some versions eliminated the back cap altogether.
Next, the seatback is unbolted from the bottom, and the latches, hardware, and tracks are removed. Organize all the bits to make the reassembly less of a puzzle.	Now its time for the Charles Atlas Grip Workout. Cut loose the hog rings, which secure the seat cover to the frame. Special hog-ring cutters are available from Year One (PN YJ3, $13), or use a mondo set of diagonal cutters, such as these.	With the hog rings cut, pull the old cover from the seat.
The old foam comes off next. We've chosen Legendary's new molded foam, since the original was trashed.	If you're lucky, you're ready to reassemble. Under the foam on our seats, like many, was this mess. The burlap had perished, the fine support wires that were woven in it were rusted and splintered, and the frames also were a rusty mess. Cut loose the burlap jute surrounding the perimeter, and listing wire anchors. The placement of the anchors for the listing wires is critical. Know where spring loops are clamped, or take a photo.	The seatbacks were in better shape underneath, but we decided to go the full resto route and strip them to the bare frames. Note the fine vertical support wires woven into the burlap.