My sport seat odyssey

[Ian Comerford]

I’ve called this an odyssey because it feels like one it has been going so long.  It will be in several stages as you will see.  So let’s start from the beginning, 25 years ago, when I bought the car.  It didn’t take long to realise that the seats were very comfortable and really had good bolsters to hold you in place.  Just right for the car.  I’ve done over 80k miles in these seats since and the best description is that they are all day long comfortable.  You really can sit in them for hours without getting a numb bum that some seats deliver.  They are also practical in that the cloth is black and quite cool when the temperatures are higher, certainly better than leather and also able to hide coffee stains from long days in the car.  The black vinyl bolsters are showing a few scars but have worn incredibly well for 44 years and 187k miles(picture below).  There is of course a “but”, one that will end soon with me advertising them for sale.  The but is that I’ve never liked the look of the so called tombstone seats, the top half is very slabby, too square and also the headrest is too far back to be practical.  So for not too far off 24 years I’ve fancied changing them.  But to what ….?

 

[Northy]

Pole Positions? 

[Phill]

A proper Comerford Conundrum!  I look forward to the conclusion with bated breath…..

[rich73]

A pair of Red Sparco Evo L? 

 

[Ian Comerford]

No, not race/competition seats, I need all day long comfort don’t forget and also to be able to access the back easily for luggage, so they need to be folding.  What I really wanted was the bottom half of the sport seats with a top half that had an adjustable headrest.  It turned out the answer was quite close to home as Recaro, who made the sport seats, made a similar seat with an adjustable headrest, pictured below in an original advert.  Only an additional DM 466…… if only!

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Ian Comerford

[Phill]

What about something like this for longer journeys? Then you get to keep your original comfy seats.

https://www.volvoparts.tmsmotorgroup.co.uk/comfort-pillow---selected-by-volvo-cars-v60--v60cc-2019-onwards-29091-p.asp

[Ian Comerford]

5 minutes ago, Phill said:

What about something like this for longer journeys? Then you get to keep your original comfy seats.

https://www.volvoparts.tmsmotorgroup.co.uk/comfort-pillow---selected-by-volvo-cars-v60--v60cc-2019-onwards-29091-p.asp

You can go off people Phill……

A few more pics of the Recaro Idealsitz S with different trim

[Ian Comerford]

The problem, they’re quite rare and don’t come up for sale too often.  A friend found some for his BMW at£2k five years ago.  So are there any alternatives with a similar construct?

[Phill]

Not sure if you are on Facebook at all but it will be worth checking the VW and BMW “forums” on there. There are all sorts of seats for sale.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BH4vBDghuLq/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
 

https://www.recaro-automotive.com/de/news/news-detail?tx_wcrecaronews_detail[action]=show&tx_wcrecaronews_detail[controller]=News&tx_wcrecaronews_detail[news]=234&cHash=0add7b8c6194cf87b5fb2ead5ad82b39
 

Expensive but available.

[Ian Comerford]

4 minutes ago, Phill said:

Not sure if you are on Facebook at all but it will be worth checking the VW and BMW “forums” on there. There are all sorts of seats for sale.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BH4vBDghuLq/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
 

https://www.recaro-automotive.com/de/news/news-detail?tx_wcrecaronews_detail[action]=show&tx_wcrecaronews_detail[controller]=News&tx_wcrecaronews_detail[news]=234&cHash=0add7b8c6194cf87b5fb2ead5ad82b39
 

Expensive but available.

Thanks Phill, I’ve actually got the answer, I’m just telling the story to stop you getting bored…..

[Phill]

Ahhhh, I am very intrigued.

[World Citizen]

Most comfortable seats I've ever sat in for a long day in a car were my 964 seats

No aches or pains even after 19hrs of driving

[sopor]

so tempting to spill the beans 😉

[sopor]

9 minutes ago, World Citizen said:

Most comfortable seats I've ever sat in for a long day in a car were my 964 seats

No aches or pains even after 19hrs of driving

late IB/964/early 993 sport seats are fab. also found in the 944/968

[Ian Comerford]

15 minutes ago, World Citizen said:

Most comfortable seats I've ever sat in for a long day in a car were my 964 seats

No aches or pains even after 19hrs of driving

And no separate head rest, so no good.

14 minutes ago, sopor said:

so tempting to spill the beans 😉

Quiet in the cheap seats!

[World Citizen]

1 hour ago, rich73 said:

A pair of Red Sparco Evo L? 

 

Would you recommend those for a 1000mile driving day

I need comfier seats in my FJ Cruiser and thinking of fixed bickets

 

[Leicestershire]

13 hours ago, World Citizen said:

Would you recommend those for a 1000mile driving day

I need comfier seats in my FJ Cruiser and thinking of fixed bickets

 

seats are personal think - one size doesn't always fit all.

Volvo seats from a 700 /  900 / V series series seem very popular with the high milers. They must be reasonable easy to fit as the appear in various cars, trucks etc. Not the thing for a classic Porsche but could work out for a FJ and should be cheap enough to experiment with. Get a porno leather set with the weird shaped pads - if they don't work out in the Toyota they would make a great office chair.

Should be plenty of trim combinations available to suit most interiors with the added bonus that most have heated seats.

[Ian Comerford]

For a while I did consider seats from later Porsches but the lack of a separate headrest ruled them out.  They had lots of positive points but I had to stockpile to the look I wanted.  I spent a while looking around at seats from other cars, Recaros from fast Fords  and similar.  They were a bit lacking in something that was difficult to define.  I had a close look at the Recaro Rally 3 seats which were fitted to the Fiat Strada Abarth I believe.  Not a bad looking seat but the hinge arrangement was unusual in that the side bolsters were one piece and the seat hinged from the front (picture below).  This would have meant the headrests hitting the roof before the seat was far enough forward to get into the back, or so it seemed.  Plus they just seemed to be quite hard to find.  On to the next option then.

[Ian Comerford]

The next option seems obvious in a way.  The Recaro Idealsitze was, at the time, the look I wanted but I couldn’t find a set or not for reasonable money.  So why not modify mine to suit, chop the top half off and weld in adjustable headrest mechanism from other seats.  Re-trim and bingo, job done!  I bought an old sport seat backrest from Southbound for £50 to help understand what metalwork was needed and it wasn’t too hard.  A bit of research in breakers yards showed that seats from a mid-90s Passat of BMW 5 series should give up headrest and mounts that could be welded in after some selective removal of the old, fixed headrest.  The challenge was finding a trimmer happy to make a new set of seat covers of even modify a set bought from Lakewell (https://www.lakewell.com/shop/porsche/911/1974-1983/sport-seat-restoration-kit-2-seats-porsche-911-74-84-2/)

On to the next option

 

[GaryH]

Beginning to remind me of this

Edited August 25, 2023 by GaryH

[Ian Comerford]

21 minutes ago, GaryH said:

Beginning to remind me of this

Oh it goes on a bit…..

[GaryH]

4 hours ago, Ian Comerford said:

Oh it goes on a bit…..

I'm hoping so. At some point (just before hell freezes over) I'll need the same thing so I'm counting on you to make a good decision IC1

[Ian Comerford]

1 hour ago, GaryH said:

I'm hoping so. At some point (just before hell freezes over) I'll need the same thing so I'm counting on you to make a good decision IC1

No pressure then, thanks Gary!

[Ian Comerford]

Then (7 years ago…..) I saw a set of seats for sale on eBay which looked about right, not perfect but close.  A set of black leather e30 BMW sport seats.  And only £500.  I spent a couple of months stripping the mechanisms, rails etc, painting rusty bits and greasing all the bits that needed it.  The leather got some good quality leather feed and all was looking good.  I had to very slightly modify the holes in the 911’s seat rail but they were surprisingly close.

These seats were apparently designed by Recaro but made by BMW

[Northy]

1 hour ago, Ian Comerford said:

Then (7 years ago…..) I saw a set of seats for sale on eBay which looked about right, not perfect but close.  A set of black leather e30 BMW sport seats.  And only £500.  I spent a couple of months stripping the mechanisms, rails etc, painting rusty bits and greasing all the bits that needed it.  The leather got some good quality leather feed and all was looking good.  I had to very slightly modify the holes in the 911’s seat rail but they were surprisingly close.

These seats were apparently designed by Recaro but made by BMW

Did your head hit the headlining? They look 3” higher than a sports seat. 
 

I had a pair of those Recaro Rallye seats from an abarth. I thought they were going to be perfect, but in the end I sold them to Jon and they ended up in his super duper green turbo backdate. He did a much better job with them than I would have done. 
 

keep the story going 👍