Custom 30 seat cover confusion

[bobs409]

I just got around to reupholstering part of my bench seat for the '69 wrecker restoration I'm doing and figure this is a good time to ask about the covers it had.

This trucks option on the glove box indicates cloth in the seats (618 red custom cloth interior) and being a wrecker I can understand it needing a redo so as you can see, someone put in horizontal vinyl inserts in. (backs show cloth, one faded more than the other so maybe they reused some of the old material for a backer?)

I have 2 questions... First, notice the scroll pattern is in the center. Is that normal? The scroll is an exact match to the repro. The new cover I have is all vinyl and for a CST (only type I could find) and has the dual scroll patterns. My best guess is when the cloth & vinyl seat was ordered, it may have had the scroll in the center. Correct or not?

Second question is I see evidence this cover may have been red to start and was vinyl sprayed. The maroon color (they called it red) was a one year only option so could this have been sprayed from the factory? I see this evidence on the lower areas in the center and the ends. Inserts appear to be real maroon vinyl. Any chance these maroon interiors on these trucks were just modified red pieces?


I'll be saving the old center scroll areas incase one day I want to do an exact repro someday.

[tow guys]

Bob, our 70 GMC 1 ton also had the factory seat cover on it when we got it last year and it too, had that same fabric insert surrounded by vinyl with the scrolling. I can only assume it's factory. Our seat is in storage at the moment but I can get a snapshot of it to post to confirm your suspicions.
Check with http://www.smsautofabrics.com/
They seem to have every pattern and correct color from back in the day.
Truck looks great by the way!

Tony

[john]

Wasn't the difference between scroll patterns in 1969-1970 vs 1971 1972 years? With your original a 1969. I could be wrong.

[bobs409]

Originally Posted by tow guys

Bob, our 70 GMC 1 ton also had the factory seat cover on it when we got it last year and it too, had that same fabric insert surrounded by vinyl with the scrolling. I can only assume it's factory. Our seat is in storage at the moment but I can get a snapshot of it to post to confirm your suspicions.
Check with http://www.smsautofabrics.com/
They seem to have every pattern and correct color from back in the day.
Truck looks great by the way!

Tony

Thanks Tony. This had me puzzled for quite some time. Glad to hear it's original. Maybe a 1 ton thing? Or perhaps just the type for the cloth/vinyl option.

[bobs409]

Originally Posted by john

Wasn't the difference between scroll patterns in 1969-1970 vs 1971 1972 years? With your original a 1969. I could be wrong.

Not sure. The bag the new one came in had "1969 Red with scroll pattern". I didn't think that bright red was even available for '69 but I'm no expert.

Whatever it is, the old pattern must not be reproduced as of yet or at least I didn't find any.