Restoring and covering '68 Ghia seats with TMI covers

[kiwighia68]

It is probably presumptuous of me to think that I can teach others how to restore their Ghias, but here we go anyway.

The backstory goes as follows: I thought I was buying a '67 and it came with low-back seats. I later found it was a '68. I ordered low-back TMI seat covers from KGP&R but due to a misunderstanding - miscommunication - I received a set of high-back covers - which, of course, is what I should have had on my car in the first place. Long story short: KGP&R sourced a pair of high back seats for me. So I set about restoring them and to put the new covers on. I studied the posts on theSamba first.

Here's what the seat frames (bottoms) looked like before and after cleaning and painting:

Next I had to choose between the old coir (horsehair, sisal) seat padding and the new foam padding from KGP&R. After much debate and with my wife being my tester, we decided on the coir - it's original, that was the deciding factor. Here the two are side by side.

To protect the coir seat padding from the springs I prepared a vinyl insert from some spare vinyl I had.

I also cut a piece of .25 inches thick high density foam to go under the seat bottom for extra protection of the coir - which is now some 46 years old.

I tied the vinyl to the frame with cable ties.

I'll show the finish in a second post. Later in the week I'll do the seat-backs, which will require some manufacturing (for the boards at the back).
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[kiwighia68]

In the next part I used a trick I had learned here on theSamba. I compressed the springs and tied them down with twine. This proved to be more difficult that I had anticipated, but my wife suggested that she should sit on the seat to compress the springs. It's her seat anyway. So we did that. (She won't allow me to publish the photos with her bottom on the seat.)

I did a trial fit and marked the positions for hog rings (tarp grommets, really) - I don't like the idea of the seat covers being penetrated and torn by those sharp "tiebacks" under the frames. EDIT: I had transferred to steel rod in the sleeve from the old seat cover to the new one. It slides in the back of the cover and is designed to prevent those sharp tiebacks tearing through the vinyl.

Then I installed the hog rings/grommets. EDIT: I'M NOT SURE THAT I CAN RECOMMEND THE USE OF THESE GROMMETS WITHOUT QUALIFICATION. YOU NEED TO TEST THE GROMMETS YOU HAVE ON SOME SPARE MATERIAL TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE THE STRAIN WITHOUT TEARING OUT.

My wife suggested (ordered?) that we should install an extra layer of foam between the seat cover and the coir and I used a .5 inch thick soft foam for that. This is not shown in the photos but it accounts for the seat not being as hollow as one might have expected otherwise.

The rest was easy, thanks to the springs having been compressed.

I pulled the twine out and the springs came back up and stretched the seat covers to their final position. And this is the final outcome.

EDIT: On the original seats the covers had been glued to the seat-frame rails at the bottom. I'll wait a few days and a bit of heat from the sun before I do the same.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[TheFop]

Good write up so far, just one little point of confusion for me, you note "hog rings" but what you have aren't hog rings, hog rings are something like a staple that you bend into a ring with a set of pliers through the material and into either the seat base or on corners into the adjacent fabric.

But saying that what you've installed is kind nice looking but it worries me that they will fall off the metal tabs when you sit on the seat as the tension on the vinyl will be removed when the seat base compresses, but you may be able to use some kind of cord to string the eyelets together like shoes laces to provide some stability for the covers.

I happily stand corrected if this is a way I'm not familiar with.....its 20 years since I've re-upholstered seats.
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Rusty 61 RHD Karmann Ghia Coupe - Resto in progress....slowly
Stock 69 LHD Karmann Ghia Coupe - Driver
67 New Zealand Spec Beetle - Being rebuilt
63 New Zealand Spec Beetle - Going Baja!
86 T25 Westfalia - Family Fun car

[kiwighia68]

[KGCoupe]

The grommets are an interesting idea - I never thought about using those, but it seems logical.
I like that idea.

If I understand you correctly, you are concerned that the standard hog rings that TheFop pictured above would tear through the vinyl material under the strain of someone sitting on the seat over time.

As I recall, there is supposed to be a thin metal rod that slides into the "pocket" along each botom edge of the seat cover:

You were probably supposed to remove them from the old seat covers, and then slide them into the new seat covers.
With the metal rod in place, it would then be impossible for the hog ring to pull completely through the vinyl.

Does that make sense? It's been over 20-some years since I dealt with seat covers, but that is what I recall.
It goes without saying that there is more than one way to skin a cat, or reskin a seat.

[mlhsquared]

[kiwighia68]

[Bikerchris]

That looks great. I could never get mine to sit quite right, especially the back portion. The foam isnt even with the cover and it isn't quite taut and there are wrinkles. But I cut my own foam and horsehair so that could be why. I also used new imitation horsehair padding to replace the old stuff. It looks just like it and it is blue in color. So there is an option between reusing either old horsehair or foam. I'm anxious to see what your back half of your new seats look like.

[analogmax]

Where did you find the horsehair pads?

[kiwighia68]

[Bikerchris]

I bought the synthetic horsehair padding at a local foam/upholstery supply store.

When I said back half, I meant the back cushion of the seat. The other section that your back is against, not the section you sit on.

[kiwighia68]

[kiwighia68]

Well, those tarp eyelets didn't work, so I replaced them with what I call tabs - English is my third language so I'm at a loss for the right word every now and then. The tabs are vinyl patches that I glued onto the seat covers at the stress points to ensure those sharp devils (what's the right word?) under the seat frames don't tear my new seat covers.

The tabs look like this, with contact glue having been applied on both the tab and the area on the cover where the tabs will seat.

I similarly strengthened the points where the string may well tear through the vinyl under stress.

Then I pulled the sharp points through the vinyl at the points strengthened with the new tabs as you can see in this image. This is more or less what the factory did when they built my car - without the reinforcing I have added.

Here is my seat complete, and the two seats together.

I feel rather proud of myself. It took time, my hands hurt, my wife's nail polish job - $40 this morning - is shot to pieces, but we have 2 seat bottoms ready for re-installation in the car. I'm writing this with a glass of red wine in the hand - well, what's left of it.

Next task: the seat backs.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[DorianL]

Chief, THANKS!!!! for posting this! Fantastic pics and walk through. This is going to make my whack at this a whole lot easier. Thanks!!!

[ScottDoonan]

Looking good! Keep up the good work.
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If you take time to do it, do it right and don't be so damn cheap.....🤙🏻

1959 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet (current restoration)
1965 Porsche 356 SC coupe
1967 Volkswagen Convertible Beetle
1969 Porsche 911E Targa 3.2 twin plug
2006 Porsche 987 Rüf 3400K Prototype #2 of 2

[kiwighia68]

Okay, so I'm on to the seat backs now. First I had to do a lot of cleaning. The previous owner, it will be recalled, had '68 high-back seats in red upholstery but changed them to low-backs and a yellowish-beige colour. In order to make everything work, he/she simply cut the frame at the top and fitted the padding for a low-back seat. So my job started with the pieces to turn the seat-back into a high-back '68 seat again.

Thanks to TJ at KGP&R, who sourced the correct seat frames for me. This is what I had to start with (after the cleaning and painting):

Note how the PO had cut the frame.

I used the old coir seat-padding I had. The manufacturer's label on the back sold me on the idea to stay with the original. I could have used the new foam I had, but could see no reason to throw perfectly good coir padding away. It somehow feels disrespectful to me.

I put some light coir-like padding over the choir to give the seat-backs a little more "body".

Then I made a board to fit on the back of the seat back. The reason for this is two-fold: The original seats had a thin layer of vinyl stretched over the back of the seat back. This would make it vulnerable to being punctured by luggage slipping forward under braking or other accidents. The second reason is that I intend to craft some map pockets to go on the seat backs and I need something more substantial as backing for those.

I glued the vinyl to the board at the edges.

And the board now looks like this and will go on the back of the seat-back.

The seat-cover pulled over the frame looks like this: Final stretching and gluing to follow when the sun comes back and I can get some generalised heat on the thing!

_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[kiwighia68]

I've had to take a step or two backwards. The TMI covers for the '68 high-back seats don't quite fit the contour of the headrest. I've had to glue in a wedge-shaped pieces of foam (from the original seats I had) at the neck of the headrest on either side.

In order to smoothen the patch area, I glued some vinyl over the patch.

My wife wants to know if other wives allow their husbands to make a mess of their kitchens like this:

I plead that I'm lonely in the garage and need her advice from time to time, but she says, "Yeah, right." (This is when I realise that two positives can make a negative.)
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[kiwighia68]

Well my wife can have her kitchen table back now. I've decided to put the seat covers in storage until the sun comes out again. I've completed all but the fabrication of the magazine pockets that will go on the back of the seat backs but I need to wait until TMI have made a back seat cover for me (and have indicated that I may keep the defective one they sent me).

To complete the picture of what my seats will look like, here's a photo of the seat back with the board that will be attached to the back - and to which I'll attach the magazine/map pocket.

So this thread will go to sleep for a while.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[Gwdghiaguy]

Chris,

How are you going to attach the board to the seat back?

and I keep my copy of Miss Dose the Doctor's Daughter next to my bedside table for those times when I just can't fall asleep...

Byron
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1957 Oval Window
1963 Alabama Camper Bus
1971 Ghia
1971 Baywindow Bus

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[kiwighia68]

Small stainless steel screws into the frame at the sides and bottom capped with colour-matching "cups". The curve of the seat-back holds the back-board flush at the top.
_________________
Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015