Will these Thing seats fit in a Beetle?

[EMPIImp69]

Hi does anyone know if these Thing seats in the link below will fit in a Beetle up to '71? Or are they too wide? If they won't fit beetles will they fit any other cars? thanks

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=709939
_________________
1963 Ragtop Bug

[emersonbiggins]

[emersonbiggins]

Oh, also $325 seems like a crazy amount of money for those. Just my opinion.

[vwdug]

[EMPIImp69]

Do you happen to know what years have the wide slide rail? Also what would be a good going price on these seats? thanks
_________________
1963 Ragtop Bug

[uberautowerks]

'71 and '72 Beetles AND Super Beetles have the same seat tracks (rails) and the Things. The price seems Ok to me, considering that they are Thing only, and as such not easy to find.
_________________
--- The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.
- Douglas Adams -
---
'74 Thing (White)
'71 Single cab (White too)
'70 Weekender (White three)
'05 Evolution VIII (White also!!!)
'68 F-250 (White over black)

[emersonbiggins]

The problem with using a Thing seat in a beetle is leaning them forward, the knob isn't on the side. Is it the lowback seat you want in a 71 72 beetle or some other year beetle.

[uberautowerks]

FYI... I learned a neat trick with my stock Thing seats. Yes the seat back release lever is not there. However the "wedge" it connected to IS!!! And it's just visible and within finger flicking range down by the seat back angle adjuster between the seat back frame and the side of the seat bottom, Once you find it, no more sliding the seat forward just to load up something bulky in the back!
_________________
--- The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.
- Douglas Adams -
---
'74 Thing (White)
'71 Single cab (White too)
'70 Weekender (White three)
'05 Evolution VIII (White also!!!)
'68 F-250 (White over black)

[alg]

1971 Seats from a U.S. Beetle will fit perfectly in a 1973 or 1974 U.S. Thing. My Thing has a set of high-back seats from a 71 Bug and they fit perfect and required no modification.

If the Thing seats are 73/74 and U.S. models, they will fit on the Beetle for sure.

By the way, I put in the Bug seats because they are high-back.
Someone in a 1960s Bus got rear-ended at low speed and got a nasty spinal injury. The low-back seats in that Bus are almost the same size as the Thing lowback seats.

Since us antique car owners have to deal with digital-phone-driving-douchebags, I decided that I didn't want some idiot to paralyze me while they are sending text messages to American Idol.

alg

[Fun 181]

[oasis]

[kme_eone]

Seats will work in a ealy up to 67 GHIA.
_________________
Chris Blankenship
South Wind parts and service
907-276-3397
Anchorage, AK

[keifernet]

[uberautowerks]

keifernet is too nice!
-
No questioning involved, kme_eone is incorrect, wrong if you will! Seats from '71 and '72 Beetles AND Super's will interchange with our US spec Things, period.
-
And the year break for Ghia seats tracks in a Ghia is '69!
-
Can you imagine Ghia seats in a Thing? You'd be sitting on the floor, maybe peering over the dash like a little old lady!
And what about Thing seats in a Ghia, I think the tops of the seat backs would hit the headliner, maybe the perfect combo for the previously mentioned little old lady!
_________________
--- The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.
- Douglas Adams -
---
'74 Thing (White)
'71 Single cab (White too)
'70 Weekender (White three)
'05 Evolution VIII (White also!!!)
'68 F-250 (White over black)

[kme_eone]

Then I guess my seat material I got from TMI which also fits in the middle 60 GHIA shouldn't fit then after I put it on perfectly.
maybe it is the seat base that is different. Why would you want to put BUG seats in the THING in the first place?
I have seen way too many PIMP MY RIDE THINGs on the samba here.
Is there something wrong with German engineering and you guys knows better or you want another basterized THING?
Why is it VW took the THING seats from the GHIA then?
_________________
Chris Blankenship
South Wind parts and service
907-276-3397
Anchorage, AK

[uberautowerks]

1st, some people like the extra safety of the '71 - '72 hiback, for better neck protection in a rear-ender.
-
2nd, Because it's their car not yours. So help with correct information or go away. You resurrected a way dead thread with incorrect information so you get called out.
-
3rd, The TMI catalogue (on my parts counter!) lists 43-1503 as '66-'67 Ghia front only and 43-1403 as '73-'74 Thing front only. Also TMI lists ALL hard top Ghia seat kits as 43-15XX. No 14XX at all, except in the Things. When it comes down to it the seats aren't even the same shape. Now '65-'67 upholstery will fit a Thing (the seat backs share the same square corners) however the ribbing, or pleats is very wrong for our Things.
-
4th, You are doubly wrong, Ghia seats are Ghia seats, period. Go back to "guessing".
_________________
--- The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.
- Douglas Adams -
---
'74 Thing (White)
'71 Single cab (White too)
'70 Weekender (White three)
'05 Evolution VIII (White also!!!)
'68 F-250 (White over black)

[kme_eone]

NEWS FLASH: VW never designed the THING to have Beetle seats installed. If the Highly Educated desingers at VW Germany wanted to have Beetle seats in a THING don't you think they would have put them in all of the THINGs?
I am sure the VW engineers did take into account the chance of a rear ender. The engineers put everything on the THING that should be put on it. If you want a THING to be fast, handle like a current sports cars, be more off road, high back seats, warm, stop on a dime, etc. There is a new model VW called a TOUREG and TIGUAN.
I know guys want to customoze their THINGS but it comes to a point you are trying to turn a THING into something it was never meant to be.
I have a guy in the local VW club that wants me to installed some 2700 turbo motor in the THING, and I said WHY?, and he said to make it go fast. I said the THING never was designed to go fast. I told him I purchased a Porsche Boxster when I want to go fast.
The THING is not the model of a safe VW, that is why Ralp Nader wanted the THING to be classified as a car to have VW do crash tests. VW new it wouldn't pass the ten current US crash test certification, so VW classified the 73 and 74 THING as a MPV, but in 74 sales of the THING were that great and VW decided to pull the THING from the market around the same time Ralph Nader got the US government classify the THING as a car.
This gave VW a good reason to stop importation of the THING into the US as of July 1974. 74 THINGs were marketed in some places of the US as 1975MY that were unsold after July 1974. I know this becuase my dealership here showed me the paperwork from 73 and 74 when he had the dealership at a larger location. The dealer told me who has the first 74 THING in Alaska still and I met with this guy last year who still owns the THING.
When I was in Bellevue WA last year at Carter VW, a salesperson says there are rumors of a ver low mileage THING like under 500 miles somewhere in the Seattle area owned by a gentleman in his 70's. I have not yet confirmed this rumor yet.
I never guess, Ask VW Germany of GHIA seats in a THING, the rail are different because of height.
_________________
Chris Blankenship
South Wind parts and service
907-276-3397
Anchorage, AK

[keifernet]

[kme_eone]

THE SEATS WILL FITS, SEAT BASES ARE DIFFERENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHY WASTE TIME PUTTING THING SEATS IN A BEELTE, BUY BEETLE SEATS AND INSTALL THEM IN A BEETLE, AND BUY THING SEATS AND INSTALL THEM IN A THING, VERY SIMPLE PROCEDURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
_________________
Chris Blankenship
South Wind parts and service
907-276-3397
Anchorage, AK

[Glenn]