Recovering the seats in a classic sports car

Seat covers are one of the few jobs on an old sports car that look intimidating and are not. The kits are well made, the fasteners are simple, and the work rewards patience rather than skill. What ruins a set of recovered seats is almost always haste: cutting the old cover off without studying it, or stretching a new one over tired foam.

Take the old cover apart carefully

Get the seats out of the car and photograph them from every angle first. The old cover is your pattern and your instruction manual. Note which panel overlaps which, where the seams sit relative to the frame, how the listing wires are tied in, and where the cover is glued rather than clipped. Cut the hog rings with side cutters instead of pulling them, and keep the old cover in one piece until the new one is on.

Sort out what is under the cover

A new cover over collapsed foam will look wrong within a week. Foam that has gone crumbly or has taken a permanent dip needs replacing, and the diaphragm, webbing or springs under it need checking at the same time. Rusty frames get wire brushed and painted, broken tabs get welded, and the backrest board gets replaced if it has delaminated. This is also the moment to free up the runners, clean them and grease them, because you will not want to take the seat apart again.

Let the vinyl relax

Vinyl and leather are stiff out of the box and much more cooperative when warm. Leave the covers in a warm room, or in the sun, for an hour before fitting, and work indoors rather than in a cold garage. A steam iron held well clear of the surface, or a hair dryer, will take small wrinkles out at the end, but heat is a finishing tool, not a substitute for fitting the panels squarely.

Fit in the right order

Start the cover over the foam and work from the centre outward, exactly as the original was assembled. Get the seams lying where the old ones lay before you fasten anything. Fit a few hog rings loosely, check the alignment, then tighten. Pull tension across the seat rather than along it, and keep piping straight by feeling it with your thumb rather than looking at it. If a panel will not sit, take the rings out and start it again; forcing it puts a crease in the vinyl that never comes out.

Details that separate a good job from a fair one

Trim the excess foam that squeezes out at the edges rather than compressing it. Use new hog rings and the proper pliers. Replace the seat back panel fasteners instead of reusing tired clips. Fit the covers on a warm day, sit in the seat for a while, then look again the next morning, because vinyl settles overnight and small wrinkles often disappear on their own.

When to send it out

Leather, deep pleating and anything where the panels are sewn to a scrim are harder, and a trimmer with the right machine will do them faster and better. There is no shame in doing the frames, foam and runners yourself and handing over the sewing. The result is a seat that fits your car rather than a generic replacement, which is the point of the exercise.