1957 seats cushions finished.

[Richard G.]

Been a long time coming but I just finished the seats for my 57.
Blasted and powder coated the springs. New internals, foam and covers.
Labor to install the new covers was $600.
I considered it a deal as the work is first rate.
Seats can be expensive and that's if you have a set already.
If you have to source them, new or used, all bets are off.
It has a Florida State sticker in the window of the hard top.
The guy I purchased it from transported it across the county.
Also has rear radius arms on it from a later Corvette, like the 59"s?
A long an checkered history is my bet.
Or as many call it, road hard and put away wet.

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This will not be a NCRS car but will be fun.
Purchased the car 46 years ago for $2200.
Had a blast with the car when I was a youngster.
Spent most of it's life with a DZ 302 in it.
Rick

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 seats cushions finished.

Rick, They look great. I remember when I did mine(59) back in the 80's, my hands hurt for weeks. Unless you've(figurative) done them before, you really don't know the extensive and complex process that it is. It's a lotta work! Good idea having it outsourced.

I recall taking mine apart, then using my buddies big giant blast cabinet to clean a 4 cushion frames, and the 2 main frames, then the 4 tracks. that alone took forever as I recall.

Then I got all new foam and covers and the wire and burlap kits for the installation. I think I spent a whole winter during the evenings to do it then.

About 5 years ago I restored a '59 and the seat cushion frames were so badly rusted from sitting in the weather that they were unusable. We found a nice NOS complete set(from the GM Trim Dept someone had at the FL Regional). The frames were perfect and just needed paint. I had them recovered by a local upholstery shop familiar with the early Corvette seats. When I brought them to him I also brought one of the main frames with me so he could test fit the cushions to make sure the joints were right. They came out very nice.

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After
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About 10 years ago I restored another 59, a body off, and the seats were sent out by the owner to a different local shop. I asked if the guy did early Corvettes before. He said yes, but I doubted it. I knew the shop did mostly hot-rods and customs. Well, when we got them back and installed them in the car, they were so thick at the joints where the backrests and seat cushions meet, the decklid wouldn't close. He had to bring them back to the shop and the guy had to redo all 4. He didn't cut the foam at the joints like a experienced shop would. In fact, many folks don't know that extremely important tidbit when doing these seats.

Rich

[Richard G.]

Re: 1957 seats cushions finished.

The fella that did mine didn't want to do another set. Too hard on his hands, like you mentioned.
Seats were Great swap meet find.

Right now there is a set of cushions on eBay for reasonable.
Unsure about any rust issue they many have.

And yes the blasting of the frames took forever. One of my best investments was my powder coating oven.
Built out of a large commercial refrigerator. It has a foot print of 2-1/2' square and is over 6 feet tall.
The height gives it flexibility to do most large items and it has a small shop foot print which is important to me.