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MG MGA - Competition Deluxe Seats

Aside from Barney's site, does anyone know of another source (preferably with lots of pictures) for rebuilding the competition deluxe seats? It appears that unlike the standard seats, the upholstered back of the CD seats is attached as a separate unit (with the backing card) rather than as a part of a one piece slip over cover and I wonder how the assembly is made without showing the method of attachment.

Thanks,
Steve
Steve Brandt

Steve,
I too am interested in Competition Deluxe Seats, but have recently lost some interest because of comments on the decrease in leg room because of the thicker back. I tried to gather information in regard to how the seats were made and the dimensions of the frame, but came up empty save for the information on Barney's site and the confirmation that the back board is seperate and attached after the seat is upholstered. I would like to pursue my interest in these seats, but would like to know what the real dimensions of the metal frame is. Do you have an actual set of frames and if so could we correspond on dimensions?
James Johanski

James:

Yes I have a set of frames. After looking for a couple of years for originals, I bought reproductions from VB. The packaging indicates they were made in England, so my guess is, that unless you find a set of originals, all of the suppliers obtain the reproduction frames from the same source. Based on photos I have seen of the originals, these are exact replacements - including the two small welded tabs that serve as stops for the backrests. The frames were expensive, for what they are, and I am currently having them sandblasted and powder coated because they were painted unprimed - and a lousy job to boot. Interestingly, the holes where the clips for the webbing are attached came filled with a bondo-like material that the sandblasting took care of in rapid order. Also, the holes are stamped and not drilled, so there is a dimpled area around the hole that does not appear on pictures of the original frames. However, the metal is quite rigid and structurally sound.

I have ordered the CD upholstery kits from Heritage Uphostery. I was able to obtain some additional photos of the upholstering process, but I gave my word that I would not pass them along. Unfortunately, the photos raised as many questions as they answered - particularly with respect to the seat back installation. Presently, I plan to tackle the triming myself, having sewn a set of SAAB Sonett seats previously as practice, but that might change once I receive the materials and determine how much risk I am ready to take. If I do them myself, I will photo-doc each step and send them to Barney for posting.

If I had it to do all over again, I would probably order completed seats from NTG or Jim Alcorn at AutoVintagery. It would be cheaper, but then I would still probably fret that the frames should be painted properly. OCD is a curse...

The only advantages of going the way I did are the option of choosing a non-standard color combination and having seat materials that exactly match the rest of the interior, if obtained from the same source.

The leg room issue is not one I worry about too much. At the rate I'm going, by the time I finish this project, I probably will have shrunk to fit.

Steve
Steve Brandt

Steve,
Thanks for the information. If you could e-mail me off line, I could send some pictures of CD seats that I have. I also talked with Duncan at Heritage today--I am getting a quote and will probably go with them if I decide on the CD seats. I would be interested in hearing of their quality. So e-mail me and I will bounce the pictures that I have back to you along with my phone number.
I have thought about purchasing the VB frames myself but also have a set of early MGB frames that supposedly could be modified into custom delux frames.
James Johanski

This thread was discussed between 06/12/2007 and 12/12/2007

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