Early Porsche 911 Seats -- A more complicated topic than you think!

Sitting in the driver’s seat

So I am sitting in the driver’s seat and anywhere I look and touch, there is some connection with my efforts at getting this car to where it is today. The seats were re-skinned with vinyl taken from an extra set of seats that came with the car. Additionally the chrome Recaro recliner parts were installed as well  -- so I have slider back releases instead of the 1971 “shark fin” seat back release devices.  Note that early 911 seat recliners were fastened to the upper and lower seats with three bolts; between 1969-73, however, only two bolt fasteners were used. Also in 1973 the chrome recliners were made black. I also placed a piece of carpet backing in the bottom of the seat, to firm up weak springs and to raise the position of the driver a bit. That way I would not sink in to the floor! The new tool involved in re-furbishing the seat were hog ring pliers, that along with hog rings, when squeezed shut, fastened the skin to the seat frame.  

In the near future, I really need to do the passenger seat bolstering as well, as my wife Kaye complains that the weak springs result in her sitting too far forward and low. It is not that hard to remove the seats –just a few Allen bolts on each side of the tracks.  But one does have to wrestle with the seats afterwards. It is a job that awaits me. 

The texture and condition of the seat vinyl is fairly good – a typical German mesh or basketweave design of the early 1970s. However, there are some white “speckles” on the headrests and upper portion of the seats, due to some sort of overspray that painter and body “man” Corey left during the repaint project, of which I will speak to later. Headrests  dating back to 1965-67, were a “roll”type. Designs that followed mimicked a D shape (which I have) or Peanut shape.

What about the seat belts?  That is as story that needs to be told, and will follow next.

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