52 year old VW seats, saved!

[Zach Gomulka]

Right, so an old buddy of mine from high school just got back in the VW fold by purchasing a sweet, very original Fjord Blue '59 ragtop. The car lived in Seattle most of it's life, and was very well taken care of by the original owner, so there is no rust. At first glance, the original seats looked pretty well thrashed... until I took a closer look. The vinyl was in amazingly good condition for a 52 year old (September '58!) car. The thread was coming undone and the welting had cracked and broken, but otherwise I saw potential! So I carefully took the seats apart, cleaned and cleaned and cleaned the vinyl, found a perfect matching vinyl to make welt cord from, sewed them back up, replaced the pads with new ones from Wolfsburg West, painted the seat frames the original Stone Beige, and put the whole mess back together. It came out pretty good!!

[Dave Rosique]

Nice!!

No doubt it was much more work than a simple re-cover job too

Good work Zach!
 

[javabug]

No doubt it was much more work than a simple re-cover job too
 

But no doubt worth it.  I love to see original stuff repaired and saved.

Now, about that car...clean original Fjord Blue 59 sunroof?  Sounds like it has one major flaw:  it's not in my garage!   

[Bryan67]

I like it! Nice job.

[Turtle001]

Woooowwwww ! great work Zach!


ps. If somebody has some leatherette (blue/grey combo) laying around. i'm looking for one for my capri blue 59 ragtop. Got the original woven seats for the moment

[Jon]

Great job Zach! And a big thumbs up for coming up with the idea in the first place!

[Zach Gomulka]

Thanks guys! If was a lot more work than I had thought, but the end results speak for themselves. My buddy was over the moon, and he paid me more than I had asked for It's a very special car, and I'm glad I was able to make it a little more special. We're taking a small road trip in it tomorrow morning, wish us luck!

[Lee.C]

cool work dude - nice to see "minimal" restoration if ya get what I mean 

[j-dub]

Nice work Zach! Those seats look awesome. Did you restore the rear seat as well? Did the door panels just need some cleanup?

 Can you post some pics of the entire car, I have not seen it yet.

[Zach Gomulka]

I'll try and remember to snap some pics tomorrow. I didn't touch the rear seat. Right now, the backrest is great but the cushion is borderline. Sometime I will take care of that, as well. Nothing has been done to the door panels as of yet, not even a clean up! They are a little twisted, and the vinyl has shrunk some. We were talking about it last night and decided that I will make up some new panels that better match the seats, but not before the carpet is done, and the carpet wont be done until a new headliner is fitted, and the headliner wont be fitted until is gets a new exterior paint job It had a not so great respray decades ago, but the interior paint is nearly flawless original. Lastly, the motor will recieve the new Okrasa kit, as well. But for now, he's just going to drive it

[.]

Seats look great Zach !
 

[danny gabbard]

Looks very nice zack, Do you foam or horse hair to pad seats ? Is one better than the other ?

[Zach Gomulka]

Thanks, Daniel! I like to use horse hair. Gives a better, firmer, more original feel. The foam is too soft and it puts my head up into the cieling, and I'm only 6' tall. If you're short and or fat, the foam is for you