[Hanzel]

I was just wondering,

Mostly on this forum I see bucket seats in Lemans, and if they didn't, there were leathered bench with a armrest in the middle.
Now, mine 66 has a non-leather front bench with no armrest. (Also the door panels are non-leather).

Is this non-original or do I have a very very "stock" option ??

ps I now that my bench was re-done because not right match with the door panels

[gtospieg]

Definitely not stock...

[Txbobcat]

No way that is stock. Do you know the history of the car?

[Hanzel]

uhmm, not really.

Stock, in the sense of the upholstery, or also the bench without the armrest?

[GT182]

Not Stock at all. Bench seats in 66 were vinyl... some with fabric insets. My 66 Tempest Custom HT had vinyl front and rear. No armrest up front.

[Hanzel]

So also the panels aren't stock, weird they that choose for this. Oke, for new upholstery I have gonna look to the Tempest Custom HT.
Ty

[Jeff Hamlin]

Notch Back (center armrest) bench seats were commonly not found in 4-door models.
You interior is very much original in as far as seat type (solid back bench seat) sadly someone recovered it with IMO fugly cloth.
It would have originally had cloth inserts which did not fair well over time and would split and tear.
This is why grand-ma always had the heavy thick plastic seat covers in her car
Question is the original cover still underneath?
The door panels look to be 100% correct.
When new this was a very luxurious quilted interior.

[Hanzel]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hamlin

Notch Back (center armrest) bench seats were commonly not found in 4-door models.
You interior is very much original in as far as seat type (solid back bench seat) sadly someone recovered it with IMO fugly cloth.
It would have originally had cloth inserts which did not fair well over time and would split and tear.
This is why grand-ma always had the heavy thick plastic seat covers in her car
Question is the original cover still underneath?
The door panels look to be 100% correct.
When new this was a very luxurious quilted interior.

Thank you Jeff, for sharing your detailed information!
I was not aware of this option. I understand now why it is restored this way . This upholstery is very hard to find, i guess.
It doesn't feel as the original cover is underneath .
I could need some new padding even so.
Is the upholstery of benches with no armrests, of tempest and lemans the same in size?

[Jeff Hamlin]

Yardage of material would/should be aprox be the same amount for all models.
Unfortunately you will likely need to fine a true upholstery shop that knows what they are doing to make up a bench seat cover. I'm not aware of any ready made.
When I did the '67 GTO that had a notch-back/split bench had to buy rear seat material/covers and recreate a matching front seat due to nothing pre-made avail; luckily no fabric involved just vinyl.

There are a few suppliers of oem/nos factory materials;

Harry Samuel has oem interior stock. See ads in POCI Smoke Signals.
I've bought real nice NOS stock from him in the past for my '66.

O.A.I. is another good supplier of oem/nos; http://originalauto.com/
I found some real nice fabris from them for the '63 Tempest.

SMS is another; http://www.smsautofabrics.com/products/seat-materials/
I have not dealt with them.

Getting the main vinyl should be somewhat easy.
Then if you can find the correct fabric and someone who can make the pleated inserts you could have one real sharp interior, seldom seen.

[GT182]

I'd say someone covered Hanzel's seats with this material for warmth in the winter months. Vinyl seats were very cold in the winter months when I lived up in Northern NY. I always had a blanket on my front seat in the winter to keep from freezing my a@@ off when it was below freezing. The colder it got the thicker the blanket was folded.