Hello! Not sure if this the right place to post or if I’m doing it correctly but here goes! My 76 bay has had a ripped canyon brown vinyl sear for ages but a spring breaking and poking upwards encouraged me to do something about it! I managed at last to find another seat in the same colour/style but am curious to know about their relatives ages, given their different adjusters. Mine’s got the side lever, the replacement the central ‘paddle’. Anyone knowledgeable about the history of VW seat development?!! I’m just off out to get a new anorak....!
those 2 seats aren't interchangeable as the runners are different and the sliding mech too, ones pre 75 ones post 75 ish
I have a seat like the one in the top picture in my November 75 built (January 76 registered) crew cab. I too had a broken spring which caused a tear in the same place and ruined the horsehair pad. It had been bodged by stuffing an old t shirt in the hole. I tried welding the springs back together but it didn’t work. I’ve since discovered spring steel is difficult to weld and loses its temper. Anyhow, I couldn’t find a seat with same fore and aft adjustment mechanism anywhere. I ended up buying a seat like the one in the bottom picture and swapping the springs from one seat base to the other and fitting a new Wolfsburg West seat pad. The metal seat bases are different and not interchangeable but the seat springs themselves are luckily the same on both versions. I pulled the tear in the cover together with duct tape on the underside. There is a patch of brown duct tape on the seat outer face as there was a bit of material missing. Not concours but mine is a commercial vehicle after all. It’s all bit of a faff, particularly getting the seat cover back on but as Flakey suggested very doable and quite satisfying. If you take the seat cover off, post a pic of the broken spring as I have some seat parts left over. Stirlingmoz
Thanks for the responses, - all confirming what I kind of suspected re. the different seat runners! It would be far too easy for them to be interchangeable! In any event I'm hoping my friendly neighbourhood upholsterer 'Rob the Upholsterer' will be able to swap the seat covers for me, as I want to keep the original seat if I can. (Better than me trying to do it!). I'm just glad to finally find a similar 'canyon brown' cover, as I've still got the original (if a bit tired) '76 Devon Eurovette fittings through the rest of the van! I was just curious about the different seat designs, - I probably should get out more....!
