Seats change thoughts good or bad

[1938 P2 14]

Hi all my 1938 P2 seats are in a really bad condition the leather is gone the timber is rotten and the metal is holed with rust. So I have obtained a complete interior of a Rover 45 Grey Leather, my car will be Black over Grey. I did some measuring the front seats will be a tight fit the rear seat I will have modify ie remove the cover and padding cut the base and back to fit luckily I am a very good welder. My other point is that the front seats have seatbelts already mounted to them all I would have to do is weld a nut to the top of the "B" post and sill side. Your views are welcome Iain

[Vince]

Hi. My seats were pretty knackered too but have managed to repair them with patches, leather filler and leather binder. I have replaced some of the sections and the lot will get a re dye and softened with leather balm. I think most people would have scrapped them but they were salvageable. Are you sure yours are too far gone.
I'd rather see old and patched up originals than new any day.
I think it'd be a mistake to fit later seats but it's your car!

[1938 P2 14]

Thanks an honest answer but the leather is totally beyond repair is like cardboard/concrete all the horsehair is like dust the wood is like broken chip board. Iain

[Vince]

My seat squabs were really tough like hard card and I softened them with neatsfoot oil.
But yours sound pretty far gone.

[dhbuchanan]

Having been professionally involved for many years with Rover and other classic car interiors, I have to agree with Vince that it would be a bad idea to fit Rover 45 seats in a '38 P2, except as a pro tem driver's seat substitute to facilitate mobility during restoration. It certainly sounds as though the prewar originals under discussion have well and truly "had it" and are beyond repair.
Some degree of customisation has been a feature of every interior restoration I have known, but to fit an obviously modern set of seats in a period car such as a P2 would, in my opinion, be going too far and would result in unsightly incongruity.

So what to do? Viable spare P2 seats, particularly fronts, are very few and far between. Realistically, you are going to be very lucky if you find any, even with the resources of the internet. However, seats for other pre, and immediately post, war marques produced in larger numbers than Rovers, do occasionally come on the internet market, sourced from cars similar in dimensions and character. The products of several high-volume manufacturers operating in the 30s and 40s middle-class car market shared a common "look", though not to anything like the degree that makes so many of today's mobile jellymoulds virtually indistinguishable from each other and, consequently, so boring.

On websites such as classicvintagecarparts seat sets from these "sister" volume marques DO sometimes appear for sale- I spotted one a few weeks ago- and these are going to be much closer in size and appearance to P2 originals than anything produced in recent years. With careful pre-purchase measurement, a few mods to the floor, and a set of universal seat runners from Paul Beck Vintage Supplies, it should, with a bit of luck, be possible to rig up some seating much more suited to the character of a dignified Rover PVT than any ultra-modern transplant. The basic structures of such sets offered for sale are usually fairly sound, so the worst scenario is having to pay for a re-trim, and the best is a few hours (or days!) spent doing local leather repairs followed by refinishing with one of the several excellent kits currently available from suppliers such as The Leather Repair Company or Furniture Clinic.

A few final thoughts: rear seat squabs (the back rest bits) tend to survive more often and in a much better state than the other 5 seat set components. However, they can be difficult to adapt to fit if sourced from a different marque, so get hold of a P2 one if you possibly can. Front and rear cushions (the bits you sit on) are the least difficult parts to fabricate yourself from raw materials such as the advanced foams available today. The front seat frames/backrests are the crucial components of seat trim. They have to match in respect of the backrest shape, but anything with real age that will fit the space between transmission tunnel and door, and will still allow the door to close fully, can be made to do the job. If the cushions are missing, it's not really a major problem to make them yourself or have a trimmer/upholsterer do it for you at relatively modest cost. Lastly, patience and a long-term view is required because it's very unlikely that all you need will become available at the same time.

[Vince]

Have a look at
http://www.classicvintagecarparts.co.uk/
They are breaking a p2 and have seats

[1938 P2 14]

Can anyone tell me if these are original seats as I can never seen a P3 close up.

http://www.classicandsportscar.ltd.uk/R ... -sold/2579

[lakesrally]

Hi, they look about right, though they have been recovered. Mine are original, I'll take some pictures this afternoon.

[Chris C]

Did you mean P3 seats, as I thought that your car was a 1938 / 14 (P2).

The seats in a P2 are of a "fluted" design (looks like strips of leather sewn together)
but the P3 seats are made up of much larger pieces of leather ( centre section with
a piece on each side).
See below link to seats in a 1939 Rover 14, I bought this car 3 years ago.
http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq34 ... th_R8A.jpg
Rgds, Chris C.

[1938 P2 14]

Yes Chris mine is a P2 but I had not seen plane seats like the ones in the video.