1968 seat cover vinyl pattern

[Shawn Soeder]

My question is regarding the proper pattern for standard 1968 vinyl seat covers. The TIM (and Dobbins, etc.) show the standard basket weave pattern. My seats have a smoother insert, more like a leather grain, but the same overall stitching pattern. I figured that this was some kind of repair or aftermarket thing. As I was ripping the seats apart to restore them, I was surprised to see the date stamp on the seat cover which shows "Dec 17 1967" which would appear to be correct for my January 1968 car. The stamp is on the inner portion of the seat, albeit on the backing material, not the vinyl itself. Hmmm. I'll probably go ahead and change these to the basket weave pattern, but I wanted to know if it is possible that some cars were built with a different style of vinyl.

BTW, my car's trim code is STD.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1968 seat cover vinyl pattern

Shawn-----

As far as I know, all 1968s with vinyl interior used the basket weave style material as shown in the NCRS literature. In fact, early 69s used this insert material, too. It's very possible that the insert material on your seats was replaced at some point by an upholsterer. The insert material is usually the "first to go" and someone may have decided that replacing the insert material was cheaper than replacing the whole seat cover. Plus, if it was done a long time ago, there may not have been reproduction seat covers available at that time. In that case, just replacing the insert material would have been far less expensive than having the whole seat covers made up by an upholsterer.