As I have been getting closer to finishing the floor, I decided it was time to make a decision on seats. I will need to weld in appropriate attachment points, so it's best to do that now before paint and body work. I do have a good drivers seat, although it was moldy and smelled of 37 years of sitting enclosed in a car outside. The originals also have no headrest, have a low back, and no lock to keep them from flipping forward. Not exactly built for safety. The back seat is in perfect shape, so I am hoping that with Febreeze and some air it will be useable. That leaves me needing to find front seats that are modern, but somewhat match the original seats. Quite a challenge.
Several classic GTO's have gone with the modern GTO seats. They fit well, are comfortable, and have good side bolstering. I was thinking this would be a nice combo to have with the GTO engine as well, although the GTO logo on the seat back was a little offputting. Replacement seat covers can run upwards of $2000, so recovering really isn't and option on my budget. We were fortunate to see an El Camino at the Super Chevy Show where they had used the LS2 and entire interior from a GTO. This must have been a ton of work to get the dash and everything else fit into the El Camino. More on this El Camino below. While I love the seats, the style is just completely off. In person they remind me of an overstuffed couch. I just don't think this works well unless you use the complete modern interior. Unfortunately, these had to come off the list of options.
My next find were Nissan 350z roadster seats. A rare few came with buckets with a four panel back, maybe a little closer to the originals. There is a lot more styling to the seat, but I thought it would be a good fit. I lost an auction on eBay, and couldn't find another set like this anywhere. Back to the search.
Here is a picture of original 1965 Chevelle interior, maybe easier to see what I'm looking for here.
I came across a set of 2008 Ford Taurus seats, with power, heat, lumbar and airbags. Obviously airbags won't be usable, but the heat will be nice. They have the four panel back reminiscent of the Chevelle interior, with a nice boxy shape. I think these will be a great match to the original interior while adding leather, power, and headrests. It will be interesting to see if people notice they are not stock; I know Chevelle people will pick up instantly, but I hope they are close enough it isn't obvious they are not originals. There is more bolstering than the originals (which have none), and they are very comfortable. The picture really doesn't do them justice. One problem with sedan seats is they do not have a flip lever like seats from a coupe, so to get in back I will have to use the power functions. How often do you use the back seat in a coupe anyway? I'm quite happy so far, I just need to see how they fit. The scary part is underneath - I counted 21 wire connections on the passenger seat and 39 on the driver's. There are two computer modules on each seat to control the electronics. I was thinking that a seat should just need power and maybe a ground. There are more electronics in one of these seats than the entire Chevelle had in 1965. Crazy when all a seat is is a place to put your butt. When it cools off I will see how these fit in the car. Looks like there will need to be bracket adjustments at the front to make them fit the flat floor; the rear just needs studs welded in at the right place.
A couple weeks ago the Super Chevy show came to Gateway Motorsports park. I thought it would be a great place to talk with Chevelle owners and get ideas for mine. At least we came away with the latter. It was a hot day with lots of great classic drag racing, although they were only running the eighth mile. I guess just so they could run through cars quicker. We found this beautiful early fifties Chevy truck at the show. I love the color and the subtle modifications the owner did. I tried asking the owner about the color, and his response 'black cherry'. And who makes it? 'Dupont'. I don't get it - why bring your car to a show and be rude when people show interest in it? If you don't want to show off and get questions, then stay home. Isn't the purpose of a car show to show off and brag about how awesome your ride is? Three words were all I could get out of this guy.
I only saw three LSx swaps at the show, one in the El Camino, and two in first generation Camaro's. All looked like nice clean swaps. The Camaro below looked like a great daily driver with probably an older swap. A couple guys were walking by as we were looking complaining about it - why would you put an LSx in a Camaro? They didn't like how the motor wasn't polished - the exact comment was 'They must have just pulled it out of a wreck and dropped it in the car'. I thought it looked like the owner was driving and enjoying the car. More power to them. This was the first negative comments I have heard from anyone about this swap. I'm guessing they have never driven an original V8 and compared that to the LSx. I have nothing against Chevy small blocks, but for drivability, you can't beat modern engines, and why would you not want to drive your muscle car everywhere?
