First Gen with Non-stock interiors...?

[Guest Stevie G]

I hope you are all enjoying the Memorial Day Holiday(The U.S. guys anyway).

Question for the group. I remember at least one member had installed late model BMW seats with integrated seat belts in their First Generation Riv. What other seats have you installed in your cars?

I pulled the seats today to facilitate replacing the front floor boards, and there isn't much left, so...barring a set of really nice '63 Dark Blue leather seats magically appearing on my steps, what seats have you guys tried in your cars?

[Jim Cannon]

High end BMW 2 door seats work.

Hard to find and pricey.

[RivNut]

I originally bought some Chrysler Sebring convertible seats - leather, 6-way power, with the intergal shoulder belt. Once I got the old seats out and set the sebring seats in, I didn't like them; too tall and just didn't look good. What was really nice in the Sebring Convertible I owned just didn't work in the Riviera.

What I've since found is a set of buckets from a '97 Cadillac Eldorado Touring. They're basically the same shape as the OE seats your taking out, but ALL of the controls are on the side of the seat - no need to try to wire into existing door harness - or you can add them to a car that didn't have power seats in the first place (me.) AND the same controls are on the passenger's seat. The ones I found have the usual 6-way adjuster knob, plus they (both driver's and passenger's) have power recline, adjustable lumbar - up/down as well as in/out. Although I'll probably never use them, they also have tushy warmers.

I'm going to install them as close to stock appearing as I can. That means that they'll have the basic pattern sewn in (matching the OE back seat,) no headrest, and just a lap belt. This is my next projecct to tackle upon returning from Monterey.

Ed

PS - I've found that there are a lot of nice Eldo's out there that are being parted out. Head gaskets go, and it's about a $3K job to replace them. Folks are just salvaging them. The guy I got my seats from is working on three cars at present.

[CTX-SLPR]

I'm with Ed on the Eldorado seats though I personally think the 98-02 seats look better than the 92-97 units. I have a set of light grey ones in my basement waiting for other things (such as fixing the floor pans) to install.

Another nice thing is that may of the aftermarket interior vendors have the pattern for them and can work with you to create something special without going through the trouble of getting them a template. Aftermarket covers also don't come with headrest holes in them so deleting them is actually predone and you have to cut the holes if you want to keep them. Be forwarned though that the headrests are also power and can be a pain to get off.

Another seat option I thought would look good is the Acura Legend Coupe (a bit more rare) and something I think would really be nice is W140 (~91-98) S-class Mercedes Coupe seats (not as rare as the BMW 8 series but still not easy to find). The later CLS seats look good but have this funny storage bin on the front which would clash with the rest of the interior without someother restyling I think.

[Guest Stevie G]

Well, I was lucky enough to find a local guy that had parted out a first gen, so I have my insurance policy. I'm still going to go look at the later seats. I like having a shoulder belt. Thanks for the replies. Now I know where to look when I go to Pull-a-part.