Bench Seat Reupholstery

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shittyslant6

shittyslant6

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So, I bought a 70' duster and it has the original rear seats and what looks like a c-body front bench seat. What I am trying to figure out is if anyone has some cheap home-upholstery tips or easy ways to fix the seat without using seat covers or a band aid fix. Cheap as in $50-$150.

*all the quotes I got from the upholstery shops around me were way too expensive.

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If you know what year/model the seat came from search upholstery as opposed to covers.
 
Yes, I looked at the Hamtramck registry for the options list for the 70' duster and while you could get a black vinyl bench seat with an armrest, it could not be optioned with the plaid rear seats. The closest I could get was the fury/belvedere seat. but i still don't know. (the seat was installed with 2x4's)
 
shittyslant6 said:
Yes, I looked at the Hamtramck registry for the options list for the 70' duster and while you could get a black vinyl bench seat with an armrest, it could not be optioned with the plaid rear seats. The closest I could get was the fury/belvedere seat. but i still don't know. (the seat was installed with 2x4's)
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You should at a minimum use 2x6s for safety's sake...
:eek:
 
I bought some nice seat covers on line for my Dart that wasn’t crazy expensive. The fit pretty darn good.
 
First off, get a proper seat in there, mounted correctly. You live in Commiefornia, so you stand a good chance of scoring locally a proper A body bench from someone converting to buckets. Then you'll know what you're dealing with, and upholstery will be that much easier to find. Use that C body (or whatever) bench as a shop couch.
 
Upholstery is very expensive nowadays. The whole hobby is, unless you use band aids, duct tape and bailing wire to build your ride. Then, do you want to trust it to your safety or the safety of your loved ones, not to mention everyone else on the roads with you? You have to get your mind out of the mindset that you're the only one in this game.

That said, I got an estimate on getting my seats in my 64 Valiant two door recovered. front and rear bench seats. $700 each. That was for the bare minimum solid red covers. No bells and whistles. It's not cheap and that's a fact.

There are lots of good videos out there. I recommend those from Legendary. You can find them on youtube. Very informative. Even covering your own seats, you're still going to be out whatever the covers cost, the tools and supplies to do it, so you will spend some money. It's going to be a good bit more the 150 bucks.

I also second the suggestion to get the correct fitting seats for your car.
 
shittyslant6 said:
@RustyRatRod, ok I will check the legendary videos out and i'll try and look into some more expensive seat covers.
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Be careful though, you can spend a ton on them. I completely agree with your assessment. This is a very expensive hobby, even when you can find cheaper ways of doing things. It's just not like it used to be for sure! Keep us posted on what you come up with and if you decide to tackle it yourself, post some progress pictures.
 
@RustyRatRod, for sure, I think I will check with some friends and see if they have any duster seat mounts or seats. Like Professor Fate said, Commiefornia is a never ending resource for old car stuff and yeah, the hobby has gotten way more expensive than it used to be. My duster would have been worth $400 in the early 80's. But hey, I got to work with what i have.
 
If the foam is good enough, installing upholstery isn't very difficult. People are just afraid to try it. It doesn't take much to attempt it. In the end it's basically like putting on a really tight fitted sheet on your bed. Just take your time and make sure everything is lined up and there's really not much to it. A pair of hog ring pliers, hog rings and some listing wire (bailing wire works) is all you really need to give it a go.
 
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