Reupholstered rear seats

This week's blog is going to be more pictures than writing, and you get to see a little preview of where I'm headed with the final project.  When we picked up the Chevelle, the interior was pretty destroyed from years of moisture and being closed up.  Everything was covered in white mold or mildew.  We were really hoping to save the seats, since they were in such good condition.  We went over the seats with bleach solution and Febreeze, and tried setting them in the sun, bagged with coffee grounds and drier sheets.  Nothing worked to get rid of the musty smell.  We decided a few months back the interior wasn't salvageable, but were hoping to wait until the car was painted to get anything recovered.  Last week we decided we had enough of the smell in our basement and decided to go ahead and get the rear seats recovered.  I had purchased front seats from a 2008 Ford Taurus because I liked the boxy style, plus they were heated and full power.  Seats from a sedan do not have the lever to flip the back forward to get into the rear seat, but this is a small price to pay for modern seats.  The original '65 seats don't even have a lock to hold the back in place, so they can flip forward at every stop.  I'd rather have fixed backs and headrests.

Rather than recover the backs with factory covers that would be a different style, I decided to try to get custom covers made to match the Taurus seats.  The fronts also have nice silver stitching as an extra detail.  We found a local shop, Mark's Upholstery, and gave them a call. He immediately pointed out the seats are black, but a dark charcoal.  I hadn't noticed this since we didn't have them next to a true black.  I really like the dark charcoal, and I think it will look really sharp with the stock black door cards and carpet.  They were able to find a charcoal that is a perfect match, including the perforated center sections.

Here is what the seat looked like when we started - all covered in mildew:

I was surprised to hear back after just a week that the seats were done and ready to pick up.  I think the mildew smell had them motived, or maybe Mark's is just that good.  They did say they smelled the mildew every time they walked by the rear seat in the shop.  The replaced all of the burlap and cotton padding, so the smell is completely gone.  This was the last bit of soft material left, so everything inside will be new or refurbished.  No worries about mildew any longer. Here is the final product back from upholstery, next to the front seat for comparison.  The center vinyl is perforated just like the fronts, with silver stitching around the edges.  The sizes of the panels matches perfectly, like both seats were meant to go together. 

I took a few pictures of the rear seat sitting in the car.  It's amazing how much it transforms the car just having interior sitting in it, you really get the feel of what it will look like.  It's a different style that looks more modern to me without being out of place.  I've seen lots of examples of new seats people fit in from GTO's that I'm sure are very comfortable, but the wrap around buckets just look out of place.  I'm sure it's partly because it's my car, but I think this looks updated without looking out of place with the boxy style of the '65.  I took a few pictures without the headrest so you can get a little comparison how it would look like compared to the factory look.  They may be Ford fronts, but Chevy would have built it like this if they had more technology back in the day.