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Replacement Seat Recommendations

BritsUpNorth

Silver Level Sponsor
Hello all,

One of the (many) tasks I need to perform in order to get my '66 Alpine on the road is to get a functioning set of seats installed. My originals are pretty beat up, and I find them to be real back-breakers - so I'm looking to replace rather than restore them. I've heard some people have had luck with Datsun 240 seats, but I'm curious as to what other options are. I've previously fit some Miata seats into my TR6, so I'm wondering how well a set would fit into the Alpine. Anyone have some recommendations?

Thanks in advance,

Ed
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
We installed 2007 Miata seats. Not the easiest installation and require some rather minor modification if you want maximum seat adjustment range. But they are comfy seats and being tower seats, support the seatbelt shoulder strap. I've heard the first gen Miata seats are a much simpler installation.

Bill
 

BritsUpNorth

Silver Level Sponsor
The seats in the TR6 are from a first generation Miata, so at least I'm in familiar territory. I also know that the later generations of seats won't fit in the Triumph, so if you managed to cram them into your Alpine I've got a bit more room to work with than I did with the previous installation. Any other suggestions?

Best,

Ed
 

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
...I'm looking to replace rather than restore them.
Just a work of caution, if your seats are original, I will tell you that rebuilding them will be far cheaper & quicker than try to engineer something else. Hey they are 53 years old, they would hurt my back as well.
Jan
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
Just a work of caution, if your seats are original, I will tell you that rebuilding them will be far cheaper & quicker than try to engineer something else. Hey they are 53 years old, they would hurt my back as well.
Jan
I disagree. Depends on what "something else" is. Used Miata seats, no way.

Bill
 

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
Actually, a couple of years ago I fully rebuilt my original SV seats and they are now *very* comfortable. I used kits from Martha Wheat that I purchased about 18 years ago (when I suspected she might retire), as well as new diaphragms and Dunlopillo foams.

I also added Dorman #628-040 heated panels which fit into the Sunbeam seat foams like they were made for them. I hid the switches under the edge of the dash so they don't detract from the car's original look. The heated seats have extended my top-down motoring by almost a month on both ends of the season.

Little known fact, but these later Alpine seats were actually made by an aircraft seat maker, Microcell, and were far more comfortable than nearly all of the other car seats of the time. Unlike all the cars in its class (and more), the Alpine seats were 3-way adjustable, and if you include the adjustable steering wheel and the adjustable pedal heights, the car was probably the most advanced car of its age in terms of interior comfort. Shame to spoil it!

I'd encourage you to rebuild the originals first. If then you still you don't like them I'm sure you could sell them for nearly what it cost to rebuild them.

Before and after...

(Photos removed - they were kinda big and cause the page to load slower or not at all. See my photo post further down the thread.)
 
Last edited:

pruyter

Donation Time
Another option is installing the seats of a Triumph TR 6, something my brother did with his series IV Alpine. It does not require any special engineering and the seats are indeed more comfortable than the original Alpine seats.

Regards,

Peter
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
Kevin, I can't seem to get your PIC attachments to display.... ? What if anything am I doing or not doing wrong?

By the way I like very much the stock Alpine seat design. At a tad over 6'2" I have no trouble being comfortable while travelling in my Blue Boy.

I am however installing a set on high back Miata's in my '65 SIV GT BW35 that is getting the A4LD tranny, probably because the original seats were missing from the "Junk Heap" long before I became the proud owner.
 

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
Hmm. Odd. They appear on my screen. Anyone else not seeing them?

They were linked from tinypic, but here are the same photos linked from Google Photos.

rzKDp8jFj5bA718e6


zTpqH65IcoPZ-T3vtLVexqQmmJwNxeKSso0gmShijd2_hgnQdEJN6z2MzdOwNWGkqeeZSMxl-lwuoSf3oxlN-hFYYkS0o_8Jc34cHXkDH6GNNNPhke6kFN6vJwE8ntky698OEGfCOydEciMOWVm6Fsi97cN6YiUAHDpMD87empBsVH1cEZOp0gGJ8xznhdVI0HDF6ax8-SssgZ7MtJ08IE2mrlvZbB2xnnyegMlgR4eXcX3T2oC1-lK6aUUd6P7P6fhCg9Hq8ozDpL4b6juzjadr866N2I9ul0btYQYtzUhPkXVrbrm6YydETpOPUZeP19ld-yJa4oSSA5imP5m5IE_s3aItsa61evMVo_WE3gs6pEEG-zfyc92qs744ATUrmh37Ti0YZWtIoqUHwjCwouD4NJdR53b__MLWmobCFFPwZmm3sVU2irse89FBpznX-vSsjh_BDSTQGN_km9Cbv98CEvpF7MmlVaCRiy7ICLzOC9CG6uJ8JBgwecstgm22XFwUbqxyUWyRxqpAUymCWEYpqMRbKEXO2y5knjqHTvjupiH8bs2EhMYgMVBj4va8bKmZ3JKE8pJAqx4nqENHAweuoGlGeg0C1QkFUX60T46Ym8mPlCzjo-M21wIr6dLp8KrCV4luKbITB2ER4FeWcY_d=w1600-h1200-no


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Last edited:

husky drvr

Platinum Level Sponsor
Hmm. Odd. They appear on my screen. Anyone else not seeing them?

They were linked from tinypic, but here are the same photos linked from Google Photos.

SUfqFFq_nfZDoDl0Bn5YpUp3IJjsYqGt9XTUx76zZL-q5UTwmALfQm7QJWf9ldIbu8BhuSjMHG7Xvlu-oUrGohmR_5-muSoDKvj4-c1472881FybT_HRc7d5RHSIcsH41YBGr5I6EiUNItGasJk6t6epLrOW4lj7BFjDNHXE1vQK8v63y97bmI8OK15X-HxACCT-XS9506zdkwC7C4mtXNpyxFW5Rh40lmoR_-g9ReV-iqDcyG86ImJ68RQy1lX8fhz71822roDGWLBC7ulzZZL1m-HOyr-PxBcqgY-HoO0HFlHJW8i6pB8P8gFST7VDwbW9c5BaBlZhwnz0cUIjmDD05-g-EMbtRzF2rP-G733CkJWValGcvrnkWEhdRyRsjxTVAOcbi0Ppmz-EeFfsbyQbAgmYJ4rKfyYg_YveyVGGtfyoRYHCfS4LPZcmu1IFvycQXbDhPvlEEUm_u-kSN24MLryAs5kLL2BzeNSUoceRzH9ItDFY-yLyn_oR28kvgY-9lEfx6RRLBKlbh0Nr78fACKTrRdMZ7IocbUkoxRtXqYJhoBJR-rMrhCNAZt4PRveLJnQdNiwqXhUOfuoRRvSGtH0yBZ-H_1rwSiqYbKzhcFlBsmgfwiQAEcN8m98LAdtqhFHIOYLhPJ0iTpQVYnWa=w1600-h1200-no


zTpqH65IcoPZ-T3vtLVexqQmmJwNxeKSso0gmShijd2_hgnQdEJN6z2MzdOwNWGkqeeZSMxl-lwuoSf3oxlN-hFYYkS0o_8Jc34cHXkDH6GNNNPhke6kFN6vJwE8ntky698OEGfCOydEciMOWVm6Fsi97cN6YiUAHDpMD87empBsVH1cEZOp0gGJ8xznhdVI0HDF6ax8-SssgZ7MtJ08IE2mrlvZbB2xnnyegMlgR4eXcX3T2oC1-lK6aUUd6P7P6fhCg9Hq8ozDpL4b6juzjadr866N2I9ul0btYQYtzUhPkXVrbrm6YydETpOPUZeP19ld-yJa4oSSA5imP5m5IE_s3aItsa61evMVo_WE3gs6pEEG-zfyc92qs744ATUrmh37Ti0YZWtIoqUHwjCwouD4NJdR53b__MLWmobCFFPwZmm3sVU2irse89FBpznX-vSsjh_BDSTQGN_km9Cbv98CEvpF7MmlVaCRiy7ICLzOC9CG6uJ8JBgwecstgm22XFwUbqxyUWyRxqpAUymCWEYpqMRbKEXO2y5knjqHTvjupiH8bs2EhMYgMVBj4va8bKmZ3JKE8pJAqx4nqENHAweuoGlGeg0C1QkFUX60T46Ym8mPlCzjo-M21wIr6dLp8KrCV4luKbITB2ER4FeWcY_d=w1600-h1200-no


qQ_ZVuEek3ELsE18tXKiiqJjRfbdHBcZpkocXTNK0d-wB47Wan1opR-17pk__IgBNWnxQBGahbhkP80gCG4kr8j3Zi2DZLbVWeQ-Vx4tSJLamjLp-aG6wnWacG9nBTTb0NxyLcd6FldvkGormb3B4Bz0oBRr1Xa5cmnzNnzoTbhj9liT3Rx2Xm499bkHOULPPsmRFe95HBERaQLSEiO4ImQNsZgZE-WnO_SqKTSDJcGSD0ilTZGWdYwWb8-PiVwG0UmxskAjv0mq9vzySRuFxbj_Azps3xf1GtI5h37s2Leb9yClYey0_x3Q79reHf6gKBXRuaAhr3p_QZPk6fxA_laGCE1u3XiEN5q16-yrBkuc_m1mcaq1hI8IYnJLiAOVaNBrqV10WsBWQDMKdze9i3b4DrSlmhano-R6Oxquv9y1BwnFU6FB5uvcEJhtXcUuZA-ZnfON4myFBuOSBufkifUTXJWNaSv9mONC7NSAVIbUsWUlKocoNX8NKn7Y4jf4_nA90qvRKFKgHNwLq6CxyNnRuwUBBHVA_ENtlbd3jvgFdnp05C021hYgeZiXHVWp-ZrVoj4VlVeI90CKS-0rOQbqiT2USHdE9FbJnp-sh_80E-5mROPjNVJ0wiApr34VIvX_59x8VVHP-DnUAx5vIlGL=w1600-h1200-no


Hi Kevin,

Your seats do look good.

Just for the info - last evening I had no trouble seeing all three of your first pics - today I had to refresh the page several times to get all three to show at the same time - your last post's links only show as
qQ_ZVuEek3ELsE18tXKiiqJjRfbdHBcZpkocXTNK0d-wB47Wan1opR-17pk__IgBNWnxQBGahbhkP80gCG4kr8j3Zi2DZLbVWeQ-Vx4tSJLamjLp-aG6wnWacG9nBTTb0NxyLcd6FldvkGormb3B4Bz0oBRr1Xa5cmnzNnzoTbhj9liT3Rx2Xm499bkHOULPPsmRFe95HBERaQLSEiO4ImQNsZgZE-WnO_SqKTSDJcGSD0ilTZGWdYwWb8-PiVwG0UmxskAjv0mq9vzySRuFxbj_Azps3xf1GtI5h37s2Leb9yClYey0_x3Q79reHf6gKBXRuaAhr3p_QZPk6fxA_laGCE1u3XiEN5q16-yrBkuc_m1mcaq1hI8IYnJLiAOVaNBrqV10WsBWQDMKdze9i3b4DrSlmhano-R6Oxquv9y1BwnFU6FB5uvcEJhtXcUuZA-ZnfON4myFBuOSBufkifUTXJWNaSv9mONC7NSAVIbUsWUlKocoNX8NKn7Y4jf4_nA90qvRKFKgHNwLq6CxyNnRuwUBBHVA_ENtlbd3jvgFdnp05C021hYgeZiXHVWp-ZrVoj4VlVeI90CKS-0rOQbqiT2USHdE9FbJnp-sh_80E-5mROPjNVJ0wiApr34VIvX_59x8VVHP-DnUAx5vIlGL=w1600-h1200-no
(image not shown place holder) - not sure why

Have fun,
Don
 

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
Hmm. Maybe 'cause they're kinda big. I'll delete them from the original posting so the page loads faster.
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
Not cheap to rebuild the stock seats!

Depends how bad they are...but when rebuilt properly they do last, are very comfortable and .. Look good :) .. Also wide range of adjustment.

I have had cobra classic bucket seats in my alpine since 1997, look good hold you tight, but not as good and durable as the stock microcell seats used in s3-V and tiger
 

tigereater

Silver Level Sponsor
While only temporary and not a rebuild, I recently recovered our old seats to practice upholstering for when we do rebuild ours. The original materials are still underneath and will all be replaced. They're more a combo redo/seat cover type of thing. The fabrics were discount upholstery fabric and vinyl we picked up at Joann's Fabric. It's been a good learning process.
Gina
thumbnail_20190728_183340.jpg
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
Got to see Dwain's GEO Seats. Very nice and look to be better suited for the Series II Alpine than the originals.
 
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