cost of seat recovering

[billwagnon]

What is the usual cost of recovering original seats? The owner of the car I am looking at has racing seats in the car (he did keep the originals) and I want the original look.

I know materials (leather etc) will make a difference in the price. If you have had this done, what did you use and what was the cost?

This is for a 1972 911.

[pbs911]

I reasearched this a while back. I went with the aftermarket Monaco RS seat, below. I got two for less than $900. It didn't bother me to lose the original OEM seats.

Vinyl was about $600 to redo. Leather was over a grand.

[rob911]

bill

The seats were shot in my '84 3.2 cab.

Not sure of your location, recovering in original leather was £800 for the front two, not including new pads and bolsters.

I bought some second hand electric leather seats from a 964, including door cards and loads of interior trim for £800.

If you want the original look it might be costly. However trim items do seem cheaper in US. Check the projects section, there is an article on replacing the whole interior carpet, cost was approx $200, this would cost me £450 in UK.

Good luck

[Superman]

I'll respond here, and I'll be e-mailing Leland because of his interest in seat restoration. I have just finished my passenger seat and will be doing the driver's seat next. With the passenger seat, the seams were starting to come apart. With the driver's seat, there is additionally a small tear to patch. I have a semi-matching piece of leather for patch purposes. They will both look nice when I am done, but not mint.

I learned how the seats are constructed internally and I replaced the cloth pieces that hold the seat cover down, giving the seat its shape. Now that I know what I know, I am sure I could do a decent job of cutting new leather pieces using the old ones as templates. I could finish the job on a sewing machine, but a skilled local upholstery guy is a smarter decision. Charge for his sewing services would be minimal.

In other words, you can rebuild these seats, using new leather and avoiding the very spendy (VERY SPENDY) factory upholstery kits. If you have the time and patience.

[adamnitti]

bill-

just a suggestion: you should email my father for a quote at jgnitti@mindspring.com or give him a call at 941-541-1767. his name is joseph nitti, and he's been doing exotic car upholstery for over 25 years... incredible work, and his pricing is very fair.

[plain fan]

Here is a tip, if you take it to your local interior shop, don't tell them it is for a Porsche. If you go by the place use a different car. I've had a couple of people jack the price up when they heard Porsche, not everyone but enough to make me never mention the car when discussing work.

[CamB]

I have had my non-sport front seats (in the '75) recovered in leather & vinyl (leather faced with perforated inserts, vinyl side and back - I am a cheapass) for NZD1900 (about US$800) for the pair which also included the material cost for the rear seats.

This included rebolstering as necessary and repainting all the metal parts.

They look like new - absolutely beautiful.

Of course, I probably only paid about US$20 per hour for the labour, which will be why it is pretty cheap compared to the US or UK. (Just remember I get paid in NZ$ too).

[zotman72]

First off, did your car originally have the period sport seats? If you did, well that is a real shame. The PO did you a disservice. If you had old bucket (literally bucket) seats, then do not waste your time. Get some later 911 seats in your car. My wife had some high back, 911 sports seats recovered for me for Christmas three years ago as a surprise. It cost over $500 and they are already splitting apart at the seams. By the way if you really want old '72 bucket seats, I have got a set that I will never use again. Perhaps a trade for your race seats.... Proper seats make a world of a difference in the ride of a 911. The old bucket seats are not worth two shakes of a dog's tail as proper seats IMHO.

Bill

[campbellcj]

If you want a price quote for a proper, concours-quality job, call Tony at Autos International (www.autosintl.com). Be sure you're stitting down.

Personally, I agree that the early stock (non-sport) seats -- and some of the later sport seats for that matter -- are for the birds. They have zero lateral support and are not very comfortable either.

If you have factory Recaro sport seats -- keep them and get them redone well. They are worth the money. If they are standard non-sport seats, IMHO sell them and either get some period-correct sport seats, or go to good aftermarket sport/race seats.

[scedmonds]

Ditto on the recommendation for Tony Garcia at Autos International . . . they're highly regarded for their P-car interior work.

Tony has managed much of the interior re-do on my '83 911SC, but I had our leasing company get the seats re-done BEFORE I knew AI existed. I paid about $500 to get the original seats re-covered two years ago, and I got what I paid for.

I figure I'll get another year (at best) out of these seats, then Tony will get the chance to do them right. He's forewarned me that it's run $1K or better for both seats.

He's also let me know that he can get any sport seat I'd like for the car . . . which can run $2K and higher for two seats.

Well, I didn't buy the car to have it sit and/or look lousy. The sound of that engine idling (OK, and revving) makes it worth it.

Cheers!

C.