retro pickup seats

Time again to think about a new seat for the 72 GMC. Ideally, I want something modern, with integrated shoulder belts in all three positions, with bolstering so you can turn corners occasionally, and with flip up middle seat with storage underneath.

Like so:

Sort of. More bolstering, narrower seat.

But, I can't do that. It's ugly. The belt style is all wrong. They are too big and won't fit in the tiny cab or under the giant steering wheel. The belt receptacles are red and plastic and say something like "The NHTSA made us make this red" on them. What I really want it to look like, is the original, like so:

Now, before you get all "Just take a stock seat and about $500 worth of foam, about $200 worth of houndstooth, and about $1000 worth of labor don to the local upholstery shop and pick it up in a few months" on me, I have to get this thing for basically $0. Of course I understand that's not plausible, but surely someone on here has done some retro/modern mishmash of seats for other uses.

Get creative, let me know your ideas. I want to stay with something benchy, a bucket could work, but it has to look something like it belongs in an old pickup.

Sorry. I've got no love at all for the integrated belts in that truck.

Houndstooth bench seat. That is all.

I know you said not to, but that really is all I've got.

Looks like there are period appropriate seat covers that can be had for about $300:

Seat covers

They won't give you your belts, but they will give you the right look.

Another option would be going with the right look, but street racing clip-in 5 point belts. That's what I did in my Elky:

My Elky

Those are not the original seats. They are from an 80's vintage Monte Carlo, which I reupholstered in houndstooth fabric. They gave me the bolsters and arm rests (gave up the center seating position), but not the seat belts.

The clip-in belts let me have a little of the best of both worlds. I wouldn't like them if it was a daily driver, but it works well as a weekend fun car.

The least modern looking seats I've seen recently were the base bench seats used in Chevy base (W/T) trucks.Didn't notice the belt arrangement though.

I love that pic of the original seat, I would personally want exactly that for my truck. As much as I would like the buckets, I like the stock look so much I would go for that. Sorry, I know this post helps approximately 0%.

That truck should actually already have bolt holes for shoulder belts in it, since it was a factory option. I would say look at the late 80s-early 90s chevy truck seats and separate shoulder belts.

It does have the holes on the b pillar. I could indeed use them.

I too love the look of the stock swear, but I wanted something more modern functionally. What if I dropped the integrated belt requirement?

In reply to SVreX:

How does that five point harness work?

The interior of that truck is awesome. My dad a had '69 C-10 and it never looked that good.

Why integrated belts? Not safety I hope. You think you can use your stock seat mounts and not have the seat pull through them in a crash? Just as your cab was not designed with shoulder belt mounts and won't withstand the forces of a crash without modification, the floor wasn't designed to hold a seat twice as heavy with integrated belts tugging them forward in crash.

Just accept that you do not own a modern truck. Find yourself a seat or seats you like the look and feel of and then bolt them to the floor with large washers or make some braces. Then use your expert welding skills to fab up some good sturdy belt mounts for a set of modern belts from the junkyard. Ideally I would add a roll bar for attaching instead of using the cab sheet metal. You just liberated the area behind the seat, so why not use it to your advantage?

Not sure if it meets your butt-test and has no center storage, but FWD Grand-Am seats have been a hot rodding favorite for years. I bet you could install three across with no problem.

In reply to Junkyard_Dog:

You think I can fab up a rollbar but that I can't fab up a new mount for a seat with integrated belts? That seems silly. Also no rollbar in it at all.

Look at full size Lincoln bench seats. Comfy. With a set of lebaron bonney seat covers, will look right as well.

tuna55 wrote: In reply to SVreX: How does that five point harness work?

Aggravating. Like a race harness.

But functional. It gives me more of a sense of confidence, and lets me corner hard without sliding into my wife's lap (hmm... maybe I should re-think that! ).

That's why I wouldn't want them for a daily.

I'm not kidding myself. I've seen that video of the '59 Bel Air taking on the '09 Malibu:

Crumple zone vs steel lump

But I like the idea that my head will not smash into the steering wheel on a minor fender bender, and I won't end up in the passenger seat.

The steering wheel is going to have to come and get me.

tuna55 wrote: In reply to Junkyard_Dog: You think I can fab up a rollbar but that I can't fab up a new mount for a seat with integrated belts? That seems silly. Also no rollbar in it at all.

I think he meant harness bar (or something like it)

SVreX wrote:

tuna55 wrote: In reply to SVreX: How does that five point harness work?

Aggravating. Like a race harness. But functional. It gives me more of a sense of confidence, and lets me corner hard without sliding into my wife's lap (hmm... maybe I should re-think that! ). That's why I wouldn't want them for a daily. I'm not kidding myself. I've seen that video of the '59 Bel Air taking on the '09 Malibu: Crumple zone vs steel lump But I like the idea that my head will not smash into the steering wheel on a minor fender bender, and I won't end up in the passenger seat. The steering wheel is going to have to come and get me.

What does it anchor to? You use a normal three point belt for normal use? How?

i can't think of any modern pickup seats that are what i would call "comfortable"- they stopped that in the late 80's..

personally, i'd be looking for a set of swivel buckets out of a 73-77 Monte Carlo/Chevelle/Cutlass/Grand Prix... they are big enough that they look right in the truck, small enough that you don't get lost in them, supportive enough that you won't get tossed around, and they look "right" for that era of truck... also, they swivel, which is really what makes them so awesome..

my second choice would be a set of factory buckets out of a 73-87 Chevy/GMC truck, which are pretty much the same as the Monte seats, only without the cool swivel feature. seats out of the same era Suburban would be pretty much identical, and probably easier to find and cheaper to buy.

I don't know about the bench option, but 4th gen camaro buckets can be recovered to good in a vintage truck.

In reply to tuna55:

No. My Elky had no shoulder attachment point, and the glass configuration would make a 3 point impossible. The original car had only a lap belt.

The 5 point attaches to the lap belt points, a harness bar under the package tray, and a floor mounted reinforced attachment point for the submarine belt.

How tall are you? I drove a 69 for years, and was always cramped at 6'2". I rode in one years later that had the seat from a 88-98 GM pickup, and the thinner seatback on them made quite a bit of difference. Odds of finding a decent set are pretty thin, but you could find them cheap, which would give you some re-covering money.

The integrated belt seats would probably be a bad idea, because they are designed to work along with an airbag, and are stretchy compared to real belts.

I'm 6'1", and there is precious little room in that cab under a seventeen inch steering wheel.

I don't like any of the suggestions so far, unless there is some form of five point harness that I can use or not depending on the drive.

In other news, how about first gen Camaro seats?

get a smaller steering wheel.. if it has power steering, you don't need that big wheel. if it doesn't have power steering, you need the workout, anyways..

I'd look at 74-96 Chevy truck seats. There is a huge range and the newer seats aren't too bad.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I'd look at 74-96 Chevy truck seats. There is a huge range and the newer seats aren't too bad.

73-87 are pretty much the same, 88-94 are pretty much the same, 95-98 are all pretty much the same.. anything 99 and newer in a full size GM truck is just crap and have the integrated seatbelts. they made slight changes over time, but the basic structures follow those year breaks.

I like the two side ones, which look like 4th gen f-body seats (center is 1st gen). With those covers, they would look great in your truck.

4th gen seats are one I am looking at for my 79. They seem to be thin enough to not push you too far forward and are short enough to allow for a custom frame to mount them to the truck. No built in seat belts, though.

tuna55 wrote: I'm 6'1", and there is precious little room in that cab under a seventeen inch steering wheel. I don't like any of the suggestions so far, unless there is some form of five point harness that I can use or not depending on the drive. In other news, how about first gen Camaro seats?

also look at 80's-90's Ford truck bench seats. Since it sounds like you dont mind a little fabrication to get it to mount up. They wont have integrated belts with a shoulder strap though.

the bench in my 86 F150 lariat is faded all to hell but its comfortable and the fabric grips my ass well enough as fast as I dare drive the old thing (not very fast).

If you want I could measure the seat if you want an idea of size just for reference.

novaderrik wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I'd look at 74-96 Chevy truck seats. There is a huge range and the newer seats aren't too bad.

73-87 are pretty much the same, 88-94 are pretty much the same, 95-98 are all pretty much the same.. anything 99 and newer in a full size GM truck is just crap and have the integrated seatbelts. they made slight changes over time, but the basic structures follow those year breaks.

They stopped integrating the shoulder belt with the GMT900 trucks in 07. I don't mind the seats in my truck. It's the 'bench' from the O7+ trucks. Two flat buckets with a folding console seat thing in between. I think you'd have to mess with the bases to get the right height.
I do like the Camaro seats you posted. Can you mount three across like that? I want to do three buckets across front and rear in my old wagon.