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Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:50 am

So I'm a rookie. A green-horn. Wet behind the ears.
How 'bout some of you ol' "Masters of the Bus" cluing me in.
I am restoring a 1960 splitty bus and I am trying to ascertain the correct middle and rear seats for this bad boy.
I read some of the other discussions on seats, but they are not my year.
Anybody out there help me??? [/list]

Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:32 am

Here's a seat from a 1960 Deluxe Bus. Yours will be the same, except for different upholstery color if you do not have a Deluxe

Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:10 am

crusty60man wrote: So I'm a rookie. A green-horn. Wet behind the ears.
How 'bout some of you ol' "Masters of the Bus" cluing me in.
I am restoring a 1960 splitty bus and I am trying to ascertain the correct middle and rear seats for this bad boy.
I read some of the other discussions on seats, but they are not my year.
Anybody out there help me??? [/list]

Do you have a Standard, Kombi, or a Deluxe? That information will let us more accurately describe exactly what you are looking for. The year range I believe would be from 1958-1961 unless it's a Deluxe then it's 1959-1961.

Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:26 am

Here's a picture of a Carmel Brown middle seat that would have originally been in a '59-mid '61 Standard, as I understand it. This seat would be correct in a Seagull Grey/Mango Green or Grey/Grey Standard.

Here's a picture of a '59-mid '61 Deluxe seat.

This picture shows one of the significant differences between the seats. The ribbed grab bar (for extra pleasure;), on the Deluxe seat.

Here is a picture I took of the seat in Mike Plicky's '60 Kombi with original interior. More pictures are in the Community>Feature Cars section on theSamba.

None of these seats are for sale at the current time. Hope this helps.

Fri Jan 14, 2005 11:10 am

Sorry to cut in. I was also wondering about a middle seat. I have a late 61 Deluxe. Does '59 -'61 apply to me also? Is it because of the spacing of the legs? Can a later 60 seat do? Thanks everyone

Fri Jan 14, 2005 11:51 am

iodized wrote: Sorry to cut in. I was also wondering about a middle seat. I have a late 61 Deluxe. Does '59 -'61 apply to me also? Is it because of the spacing of the legs? Can a later 60 seat do? Thanks everyone

Hey, you're not cutting in, this thread is about middle seats.
There is some great information about colors and interior combos here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/colorstype2.php
Most of what I know about middle seats came from the above color charts and talking to people here on the forums.

Your late '61 deluxe (from March '61) would have different color combinations for the seats and exterior colors than the earlier '59-Feb. '61 buses. The middle seat should still work in your bus if it has the proper mount plates in the floor. As far as I know (non-Barndoor), only the '67 buses with the short middle seat (2/3 length) have a different leg mount position (same as '68-on bay windows).

What type of grab bar handles does your late '61 seat have? What color is it? These details will influence whether it looks "correct" or not. Most likely only a major bus-nut would be able to tell if your middle seat is "correct" or not.

I currently use my '59-'61 Deluxe middle seat in my '65 DD Panel, which is totally "incorrect", but it works for me, and my kids. The Carmel Brown seat is waiting for me to find a Mango Standard bus to put it in;)

Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:14 pm

So do you think a 62-66 middle seat would also work? Like you, I just want something for my kids to sit on besides beanbags.

Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:56 pm

iodized wrote: So do you think a 62-66 middle seat would also work? Like you, I just want something for my kids to sit on besides beanbags.

Yes, it should work if you have the seat mount plates. Some buses have seat mount plates for 2/3 length middle seats, some have them for full length middle seats, and some might even have them for both.

In my opinion, the '64 and earlier pleated seat upholstry seems to hold up better over time than the '65-'67 "mesh" style upholstry. This may be something worth considering for use with kids.

You can check my gallery pictures for more middle seat details and installation techniques.

Fri Jan 14, 2005 1:12 pm

Thanks for the info. Very much appreciated!! Now if I can just hit all six numbers this Saturday