plaid highlander trim - question

[jocko]

1) Was the plaid trim a selectable option in a NON-highlander truck?

2) Or, did a Highlander's SPID have to list the special promo code to be a real Highlander? (i.e. could it be an actual Highlander without the special promo code - but with all the options of Highlander Pkg C listed separately on the SPID??)

I am willing to be this ebay truck is a Highlander (or was, originally) - just curious because haven't seen one without the promo code option on the SPID.

Pretty nice truck!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-...1e34eed8#v4-43

[ls1nova71]

Randy's (teeitup) eagle truck had the plaid seat but didn't say special promotional, but I think it was either an over sight by the Typer or just an early highlander.
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[stomper]

Originally Posted by jocko

I am willing to be this ebay truck is a Highlander (or was, originally) - just curious because haven't seen one without the promo code option on the SPID.

Pretty nice truck!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-...1e34eed8#v4-43

SPID lists white/medium red (paint) and orange plaid trim (seat cover)

I like odd option combinations but man that had to be butt ugly. ...just sayin'

[SS Tim]

Some early Highlanders have been found without the YG8 RPO code, it was kind of hashed out here a while back... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=483010 ... But no I have not been able to dig up anything confirming a stand alone "plaid" RPO trim code. I really like the Highlander combo and have wondered how a pickup would look with the Blazer's plaid buckets and white console.
The color combo of this eBay truck would have looked just fine. 544 was med. red with a white roof.. The problem here is probably the name and not the color. Might sound better if the GM sales names "Hugger Orange" or actually the '72 truck correct "Firebolt Orange" were used instead.
The truck itself looks pretty good but that SPID looks kinda new. It is probably correct as it supports his statement of it being a base V8 (307) truck though. Anyone have a '72, Atlanta GA built, Highlander SPID to compare? Lastly his engine, am I correct to understand it is a crate motor that the heads, cam, intake, and carb have been replaced? Dosen't sound like much of a crate.

[ls1nova71]

Medium red is not hugger orange, it's more red. In 71 it was called light red. They both look orange somewhat, but side by side hugger is more orange. That said, I think that combo would have looked pretty good, it would have been parchment with just orange plaid inserts so it wouldn't have been too loud.
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[SS Tim]

Thanks for catching that. It is the 514 light red "Crimson Red" and not 524 orange in the 544 code breakdown. Transposed something there, sorry. To make ammends here is a picture to help with the reds and oranges.

[BB72CHEVKT]

I have a few Highlanders and I they have been listed differently on the spid the 618 code should be the Highlander designation.

[jocko]

agree - and there was no red plaid option, so any light red or orange highlander got the orange plaid - understand the comment above about it "seems" that wouldn't look right - but I have seen a couple and it goes well with a light red truck - maybe not as well as with an orange truck, but it doesn't look all weird (is separated from the interior paint because of the presence of the parchment as was mentioned and I agree this probably helps a lot).

[SS Tim]

Since the stock bench seat is long gone and Highlander covers are a custom order deal a person could if they wanted use the grey plaid instead.

[special-K]

The plaid seat trim was available as an option on '72 GMCs and the Highlander pkg wasn't offered on GMCs. I only know of plaid trim on Chevys with the Highlander pkg.

[jocko]

member truckseats makes all the plaid options i believe..

[RShaips]

Funny I just saw this thread. I bought my green Highlander covers from Pickupman, finally got them today! Not cheap, about $500.00 just for the front. The back is the original cover and I threw the front one on just to see how matched, looks good. Mine is a 1972 Jimmy and all it says is Cheyenne Equipment and Custom Trim Combination.

[SS Tim]

Well... there is a problem here. You have Highlander correct plaid front seat covers and a GMC plaid option rear seat. GMC took the same plaid material but rotated it 90*. Look at the pictures of yours and the link referenced in my post #5. Sorry... better to know before they are installed. Chevrolet pickups and suburban Highlander packages were Custom Deluxe based and the Blazer was Cheyenne based. Like special-k said above GMC did offer a plaid option trim but not a Highlander package.

[jocko]

wow, that's a gotcha. Had heard that before (the 90 rotate) but there's a great example of it.

Wow, light yellow with avocado plaid original seat covers (assuming the back seat is original) - that's GOT to be a rare combo. I would have expected gray plaid with light yellow - but I think it looks great!

[RShaips]

That is the way it came from the factory, matches my old pattern on the front. I talked with the guy who made my covers and he said all front seats went horizontal Chevy or GMC. The back seats could be either way. He has been doing nothing but 67-72 seats for 34 years.

[special-K]

Here's how they are in a '72 brochure. But,it says Wideside and Suburban. Not Fenderside,Cab & Chassis,or Jimmy??? From what I understand,Chevy and GM are a quarter turn different. All I know is your front and back seats are a quarter turn different. Your back seat is what looks wrong.

[SS Tim]

Been melting my brain since your post looking at every Highlander picture I have.
From that, as I see it the primary plaid strip runs verticle on the Chevrolets and the secondary white subdued stripe runs horizontal. When I saw yours it immediately went "wrong" to me. Years of doing upholstery (I'm 4th generation in the family) and aircraft trim work tend to make you aware of these things.
Then I looked again at your pictures. On your new front seat covers the primary stripes do run horizontal just like the GMCs are purported to and the one supporting picture I can find that supports it. The rears run verticle as Chevrolet Highlanders do and are supported by period and know original vehicle pictures. My error was transposing front and rear in my original post. Sorry about that and if your rear seat is original as it likely is then all is good (as built). I do not however agree that all the primary stripes run horizontal and numerious pictures support that.

[ls1nova71]

I looked at this GMC a couple months ago, it was for sale in Texas. plaid looks like it's the Chevy pattern to me.

[75gmc454]

Here is a truck that I looked at several months ago. It has 613 Avocado plad trim. Yes it is not spelled correctly on the spid. It does not mention highlander.

[RShaips]

I should have said all bucket seats run horizontal. That is what he told me, sorry about that. He also told me horizontal is the only way he can recover them due to the way the material is supplied to him. I didn't even notice the difference in my seats until this post. But that's the way it came from the factory!

[special-K]

Well,as you can see from original trucks in this thread,running horizontal is the exception. The GMC brochure shows them that way,which is how I figured all GMCs were. I know from owning Highlanders that the plaid runs vertical.

[jocko]

holy cow, I've kicked a hornet's nest! Great discussion. Remember those silly pictures from the 90's(??) that you had to stare at and the "actual" picture behind the picture would pop out at you? That's what I feel like I've bene doing reading this thread for the past 20 minutes - and I could never see the hidden picture... My head hurts! Interesting that there would ever have been a setup in a blazer (or burb?) where one row of seats (if buckets) would have horizontal color stripes and the other row would have vertical. But especially pertinent is RShaips statement that this is in fact how his originals were and his seat cover supplier corroborated they probably should have come that way. We have probably collectively put more thought into this than GM ever did when they made the darn things. No matter how you slice em (or upholster em) I really like the highlander plaid seats. I don't really like the solid parchment door panels that came with highlanders, but oh well. Still, overall package is cool. I think I need me a nice dark olive metallic/avocado plaid highlander....

[jocko]

Hey, speaking of which, this low-mile beauty is back on ebay again! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Origi...754e01fc#v4-44
Too rich for my blood, but oh so nice and you could probably never find another one this original and untouched. Except for that cap thingy... But it's simply gorgeous.
Never liked the highlander pkg hubcaps, but all part of the package... What a gorgeous truck.

[SS Tim]

Well here are some verticle stripes in a Blazer. Still think this setup would look great in a pickup. Jocko if you don't like the caps just get a C/20, K/20 or a Longhorn with the Highlander package.

[special-K]

That upholstery guy is wrong. There is no one person who alone knows more about these trucks than all of us collectively. We can't go by just what he says. I have never seen a mix of horizontal and vertical in a K/5 or a Suburban. I can't say I have paid that much attention to the direction of the plaid or any number of details brought up on this board in the several decades I've owned and driven these trucks. Heck,my first one was a highlander and I didn't even know it till almost 20 years later. I certainly can't tell you which way the plaid went,but I can tell you all the names of the girls who rode on that seat. Hmmm...I guess I can't. Darn that was a long time ago.
Maybe that upholstery guy is going by brochures. Until this thread I was thinking GMCs ran horizontal and Chevys vertical,because that's how the GMC brochure shows it. I always thought only Highlanders got the plaid until more recently. I have never seen a GMC with plaid. But,look at the Highlander brochure. I never noticed until I looked at someone's sale thread of brochures,last night,that shows the pattern running horizontal too. From what I've seen,brochures show it one way and actual trucks have it the other way. One thing for sure,GM didn't mix the direction in the same vehicle.