What options for Seats?

[maddog350gt]

Hi all;

I have two 57 Fairlane 500's, a HT and a convertible (I guess technically the convertible is a Sunliner) and I am thinking of re-doing the front seats on one or both. I have been thinking about putting in power everything buckets but I am not sure what would work best. I saw one set on e-bay that was power, heated, and even had built in memory on the drivers side. If I go with something like this what technical issues are most important? I do plan to recover what ever I use to match the overall interior of the car. I am not sure if I should re-construct the frames (if necessary) to remove or lower the head rest (just to keep the original look, maybe more important on the convertible). Has anyone done this? What is most important? What seats did you use? What else should I be aware of?

Thanks,
Bob M.

[RICH MUISE]

Bob...It sounds like you're after a look that would be what the cars would have looked like if buckets were an option in '57. I agree on your headrest statement. Headrests, imho, would look totally out of place to arrive at your wanted end result. I can't remember when headrests first came to be, but I'm thinking your probably going to end up with either something from the 60's or an aftermarket frame. I'd start by checking Teas (sp?) Design seating. A number of guys have talked about buckets from a '63 Galaxie working well also.   Rich

[Zapato]

I'll be using buckets out of a 66 T-bird, was the look I always wanted back in High school. typical of that era only the driver side is powered. There are kits available to add heat to the seats or the heat elements can be removed from a late model OEM seat. Personally not a fan of headrest in 50s cars, just doesn't look right to me. But you don't have to please me just yourself. If you want all the bells and whistles I'd look at late model cads, lincolns or even the high end imports such as BMW,volvos, acuras etc.... On most of those the headrests are easily removable and not as obtrusive as the late 70s thru mid 90s cars that end up looking like a beach chair in a car. Walk thru a grocery store parking lot and search for ideas, they're there to be found.

But as I said its your car it only has to please you and possibly the spouse.

Zap-

[Frankenstein57]

I have tried several bucket seats in my ranchero, I found that I need something with a seat that is fairly low to the floor. Many of the modern seats are to tall in the seat area, I had a nice set of Lexus seats that my buddy bought for his 63 chevy 2. In both cars it put my head up into the headliner. Granted I'm 6 foot 3, but the newer stuff doesn't work well. Thats why the older seats are a better option. I had a pair from an s-10, fit ok but I didn't like them.  Mark

[Ford Blue blood]

I have 63 Bird seats in my Ranchero and they are too tall.  But the mounts are easy to cut and shorten.  80s Mustang/Bird/LTD buckets are the right heigth (or nearly so), again an easy install with just one leg requiring shortening (the inside rear) and the head rest, if you chose to keep them, are fairly unobtrusive or they can be easily be removed.  I really liked the MK VIII seats but never checked them to see how high they would sit.