Restoring ’57 Corvette Seats--Part II

The first step on the seatback is to install the paper-coated wire.

It mounts in the strap at the bottom of the seat and bends around the top where the seam will be in the vinyl.

The black burlap is also installed now. It’s held in place with hog rings to keep the springs connected and to hold down the paper-coated wire.

Next, the burlap is fastened to the seatback with hog rings.

Once it’s installed, mark where the paper-coated wire is underneath the burlap.

Install the foam, and make sure the paper-coated wire and the groove in the foam match up. Also, note that the foam is shaped specifically for the driver and passenger side, and that they are marked on the outside surface.

The seatbacks are identified by the high part of the seatback which faces the inside of the car.

With the seat foam situated, fasten it with one hog ring on each side like you did with the seat bottoms.

You may need to tweak the wires inside the vinyl just a bit to get them to...

...match the grooves in the foam.

Begin fastening one side of the vinyl to the paper-coated wire under the burlap. You can’t see both sides at once, so you have to rely on feel. Be careful! Clamping your finger with a hog ring makes the installation fee Al charges that much more economical.

More padding goes under the vinyl.

Make sure you don’t have any padding sticking out around the groove or you’ll have a wrinkle you can’t get rid of.

Once again, Javier is relying on feel to place the hog rings. Watch those fingers!

Add more padding around the perimeter of the seatback to protect the foam from getting damaged and to provide more body to the cover.

With the padding in place, fasten the foam to the frame with more hog rings around the perimeter.

Another one of Javier’s tricks is to put a bit of padding right at the corners of the cover before he pulls the vinyl over the foam. Once again, this prevents wrinkles.

Put some duct tape over the joints in the seat frame before you pull the vinyl over to protect it from puncture. A heavy duct tape will work well.

Stretch the cover over the edges of the seat and smooth out the surface with your hands.

Slide the paper-coated wire into the wire jacket around the outside edge of the cover, and fasten it to the seat frame. Take your time and watch for wrinkles.

When you’re done, use a heat gun to soften the material to work out any remaining wrinkles.

Javier shows off the finished product. He’s worked for Al Knoch for 14 years and is incredibly fast. Even so, it took the better part of four hours to do just one seat. He made it look easy.