1973 seats question

[Jgordon]

What seats were available in 1973? A friendof mine is looking at a 73, the guy told him the seats are "original, with the headrests". I'm wondering what the choices would have been.

Thanks.

[ttweed]

You had a choice of stock seats or "sport" options in 1973. The sport seats were supplied by Recaro. Both types have headrests.

TT

[Jgordon]

hmmm. Thanks for the reply. Do you know if there are any telling questions we could ask to find out which they are? the seller is a self-professed "old man" with no computer, digi camera, etc.

[ttweed]

The sport seats have enlarged bolsters, bottom and sides, to provide more lateral support. The stock seats were more of a flat, "bench" type. Also, the tilting brackets and sliders for the sport seats were entirely different. The entire seat lifts and tilts forward with the bottom bracket on the sport seats, whereas the back of the stock seat merely folds forward.

HTH,
TT

[Jgordon]

Anything else I could ask? Didn't seem like the seller would be aware of a difference in bolsters, but I'll try that first. Any difference in reclining mechanism or functionality?

aka, "are the seats the ones that flip forward as one piece, or the kind where the back leans forward" type questions.

[Soterik]

How about this...

Sport seat fore and aft slider handle is next to the parking brake (on both seats....passenger as well as driver). The slider on a stock seat is down in front of the seat.

Eric

[techweenie]

The standard seats have a small 'trigger' seatback release about midpoint up the outer backrest bolster.

[Jgordon]

Perfect, thank you. I'll let you know what happens.

[Early_S_Man]

Tom's description for the one-piece, hinged sport seats is only true for '67 - '69 vintage [approximate] cars!

These are what '72 - '73 sport seats look like:

[ttweed]

Originally posted by Early_S_Man
Tom's description for the one-piece, hinged sport seats is only true for '67 - '69 vintage [approximate] cars!

Warren-
I have also seen the tip brackets on the later, '69-73 reclining sport seats, not just the early fixed-bucket type sport seats. There are two types of tilting brackets from Recaro that I have run across, one for the early '65-69 seats and one for the later, '69-73 sport seats. I am sure the SSSP (Super Secret Seat Police) from the Early S Registry can straighten this out (Eric is a deputy), but the set of later sport seats like the ones in your picture that I had in my car used this tip bracket:



Note the provision for seat belt attachment that only came in the later cars.

My seats were recliners, like yours, but with houndstooth inserts:



The early tip bracket was much lighter in construction, without as many heavy crossbars:





These were used until 1969, I believe, with both race bucket type seats like this:



and with the early, reclining sport seats like this:



Where is SWBSAM when you need him? Maybe he'll ride in here in his Polo Red '67S and save the day for us?

TT

[Soterik]

Who needs Sam?

Tom, you've done a wonderful job on this...I'm sure Sam will swear you in as a deputy shortly.

To add a little more info.

The 67 sport seats were "drivers side" only, even if installed on the passenger side, this meant that you had to reach across behind the passenger side to release the seat catch. Note however that the earliest 67 seats didn't have a "catch" on the tip bracket, they were similarly set up to a Speedster seat.

The 68 sport seats I have seen had both drivers sides on both sides, and later a passenger side became available. Generally in 68 the tip brackets were offered with a passenger side catch release. 68 was the first year for "stab in" headrests (possibly late 67...open to discussion).

Note that there were some changes in the metal construction of the sport seats in 67/68, early seats had "round" wire type bolster metal supports, and the later ones went to a 1/2" wide flat steel.

Note that "aftermarket" Recaro branded Sport Seats were available from Recaro and they continued to offer the "lightweight" tip bracketry from the 67/68 seats right up through the early 70's.

The seats and brackets are "generally" the same from 69 to 73. The "heavy" bottom brackets with sliders integrated into the bottom brackets started in 1969. With the most obvious construction differences coming in October of 1972 with the introduction of a cross bar in the bottom brackets to allow a second "finger" to catch the slider. This is commonly referred to as a double locker, and is only on the 73 seats. Note however, that given the introduction in October of 72, that early 73's wouldn't have had this feature. Other changes include the 72 and later seats having a different seat belt receiver to accomodate the electric seat belt warning system. Also, there were 2 different types of headrests in 1973, one being a flat bottom, and the other being the Peanut shape.

I'm sure I'm missing something....

Eric

[randywebb]

The early ones don't look real safe...

The later ones are just begging to be made out of some strong, light weight material...