The rare "Red Seat"

[plmadding]

Another red seat in a Facebook Marketplace listing.

[cgrocen]

Another red seat truck on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/192992278222

[dtkarst]

Guess I’ll share the new one I got the other day. In a 54,000 mile camper.

[DPowers]

Nice

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by cgrocen

Another red seat truck on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/192992278222

Lets keep an eye on this one!

[Lugnutz65]

My 63 had a custom comfort seat but it was in such bad shape that I could hardly tell. The factory brochure pictures posted earlier in this post looked exactly like my seat, so I decided to have my seat reupholstered using the same pattern. I chose plain black vinyl instead of the original pattered black cloth to keep costs down and make clean up easier.
Here’s a video of my seat, BEFORE & AFTER.
https://youtu.be/6PWQsV7w0z4

[VictoriaHardware]

Adding this as another data point. A '65 Chevrolet Suburban with RPO Z62. I got this truck and much of it appears original. The trim tag had 514 and Z62 stamped in it. It had a LH red armrest, RH sun visor, RH door lock cylinder. The seat bottoms are not foam like the pickups are.

Note that the frame is painted red. Also the sheet metal strip under the jump seat is red. All of this seat red matches the exterior 514 red.

[rideblue00]

Thats really cool!

[ezz16]

this is an old thread but glad i stumbled across it. I just bought a 65 c30 with this option and didn't know anything about it.these pics are some i took when i first looked at it. bought it 2 days later

[DPowers]

62 c20

[cwcarpenter98]

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but there is a 65 c10 that is in a local junkyard with the red seat. Pretty much all of the cloth is gone, but the red vinyl is still there. The truck is red with a white roof. It had the sail panels and side trim

[Asshat]

Anyone know if they make a re-upholstery kit for this seat color?
Posted via Mobile Device

[chtr65]

No one does that I am aware of. Just as a quick note. If buying fabric from SMS in Oregon, be careful.

[Killer Bee]

Originally Posted by chtr65

No one does that I am aware of. Just as a quick note. If buying fabric from SMS in Oregon, be careful.

I posted about my saga with Doug several times.. ran me ragged over a year sending a bunch of his repops, some multiple times at months apart waiting for him to make it until I finally got the correct cloth which appears to be oem that he sent on my sample request at the beginning

nevermind bothering to tell me while I'm waiting 1-2 months in between each run that he isn't actually remaking the exact pattern but something close.. no, I'm being told "this run is what you're waiting for" as if I didn't have an actual piece they sent me in response to the first sample I sent them.. what a joke..

thank heaven I did finally get just enough to finish this.. my dad's truck I learned how to drive in.. that original fabric was important to me but my plees fell on deaf ears.. nothing but excuses and lies while I was humble and polite still hoping it would eventually arrive..

I think he's a shyster and dishonest and thank goodness I won't ever want any seat fabric that bad again to go through that.. but he must do well enough for some folks to stay in business so good luck if you try them..











then yards of this crap





and finally almost two years later my local upholsterer made a fantastic seat for me

[chtr65]

Killer Bee, My experience with him was very similar to yours. He sent me a sample of original fabric, then sent me a pour remake in yardage. I have been in the trim business many years, mostly doing high end leather work on European cars. Many years ago you could find oem vintage fabric at our suppliers. They have all sold there inventory to either Original Fabrics in Michigan, or SMS. When the place in Michigan closed down, all his inventory went to SMS. I spoke to him many years ago about selling his inventory to SMS. He assured me that Doug @ SMS assured him that he would do business the same way. Well that never happened. As a rule when we had a customer come into our shop that needs original fabric we would tell the customer to deal with SMS. Never would we deal with Doug. Why would we have SMS (Doug) tarnish our reputation. There may be a few stashes still laying around in some of the old trim shops, but they are also going by the way side as trimmers are aging and retiring and few newer people taking up the trade. I can only hope that the word gets out about the real business person that he is.Sadly his is the main source for fabric in the vintage automotive world. I guess he has helped some people, but I personally know a lot of people that he has lied to. There is a fellow in the New England area that still has some vinyls but no fabric. I believe he runs an ad in Hemmings. My post was not to stop people from dealing with Doug, but just to let them know that the purchase of fabric will probably not be a smooth transaction.

[Killer Bee]

^ thank you for clarifying, glad it wasn't just me

while I was calling all around the county looking for materials, I was getting similar advice and reluctant referrals to the only game in town.. sad..

[vince1]

I had red Rambler pillar panels above rear seat and door side panels embossed by SMS and they did a really nice job, colour was just slightly lighter. The material was far superior to original. For the red seat fabric and vinyl I was patient and it eventually came. I could not have restored the car without them but it did take me about two years around four or five years ago to get that upholstery taken care of. I do not believe the business is crooked, possibly overwhelmed by how much work comes to them.

[chtr65]

My 64 Suburban with the red seat comfort package option.

[Killer Bee]

overwhelmed? why waste hundreds of dollars in freight at their expense and hours making, boxing, and shipping fabric that wasn't requested while what was initially offered and over a year later eventually shipped was there the whole time? overwhelmed by their own ineptitude possibly a contributing factor but not customer's fault..

could have just shipped what was requested and offered for sale in the first place and saved an enormous amount of resources.. those were physical samples shipped directly from them, no mystery or misunderstanding.. I spoke directly to Doug more than once, I was straight up lied too and bullied into purchasing material I adamantly refused to buy multiple times.. I have no other description for that other than dishonest practices.. other experiences may have just been delays of time, or even glittering rays of sunshine success, mine however was not..

those are facts.. I'm not angry about it or really give two sheets about his company.. but I'm also not going bite my tongue or hold back sharing the truth about my transactions with them..

my opinion is that Doug is fully aware how rare that fabric is and knowing he can't reproduce it, tried selling me everything under the sun instead of it.. and sent the original sample of the correct material to draw me in.. then continued sending his company made fabric in hopes I would break down and accept it..

I could have much more easily accepted that he wasn't going to send my fabric for a year than repeatedly lied to that my requested fabric was on the way when they full well knew it was not.. I cannot believe they didn't know the difference or didn't know exactly what they were doing..

[chtr65]

Well Said. Your situation was identical to mine. They sent me a swatch of NOS material, then when I sent them money they sent me three times different reproduction fabric. I fully understand that close is good for some people. But that is not the way I expect someone to do business. I know there are many many other people that he has baited along. He has been doing this for years.

[factorystock]

A rare red arm rest to go along with those rare red seats.Not mine. https://www.ebay.com/itm/27466010564...IAAOSwWDBgD5Ge Red arm rest used on 65's only, '62-'64 used the older rounded style.

[60short]

This is in the facebook marketplace

[Asshat]

Originally Posted by 60short

This is in the facebook marketplace

Can’t find it - must be sold.

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by 60short

This is in the facebook marketplace

That was a great find. One year only '63 pattern. Looks good as is for a clean original, or excellent reference for a redo if your doing a high end resto.

[cgrocen]

There is a red seat on this truck currently listed on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/33452931331...=&toolid=10050