Early 1600 seats

[mm1600ti]

Looking for a set of front seats for a 1600. Early seats with no headrest and chrome sides. Any condition OK, will reupholster. Would like the rails for it too. Thanks

[Conserv]

As I'm confident you know, these might be a challenge to find.  So I like to speculate what my personal "Plan B" would be if I found myself in the same circumstance!

 

I believe most 1966, 1967, and some 1968 1600-2's had the chromed side hinges whose top half "disappeared" under the vinyl of the backrest sides.  See Anders's fabulous 1966 Bible for lots of illustrations and some discussion:

 

http://02forum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=8603

 

These seats tilted forward for access to the rear seat and had, if I recall, a three-position adjustment to the rake of the backrest, over a very small range, actuated by turning a knob on the outside of the seat.

 

I suspect the only real difference between these early 1600-2 seats and 1968 2002 seats is that, at least for Hoffman-imported U.S. cars, the 2002 seats likely had the recline option (which quickly became a Hoffman "mandatory option"), which necessitated a different style of side hinge (technically, it became a "recliner").   But I'd bet that some European 1968 2002's did not have the recline option.  And although headrests were required on U.S.-spec cars from January 1, 1969 onward, the implementation of the headrest on Euro-spec cars may have been later.  So perhaps your first expansion of your search range includes European 2002 seats without the recline option and without headrests.

 

But perhaps a second expansion of the search range would permit seats having the recline option, which would include 1968 U.S. 2002 seats and early 1969 U.S. 2002 seats (i.e., anything pre-January 1, 1969) as well as European seats with the recline option but without headrests.  And whose to say that someone ordering a 1600ti didn't also order the optional reclining seats?  

 

And what about those headrests?  Well, I suspect you'll agree that your ti should not have headrests.  But, if you're restoring/recovering seats, it's quite easy to leave the headrests off, removing the headrest mechanism entirely or at least covering the holes.  This would allow you to expand the range of your seat search to include any '02 front seats with chrome-plated steel hinges (a.k.a., recliners). The chrome-plated steel hinges survive on U.S. tii's until approximately the end of the 1972 model year although they seem to disappear from the non-tii models in the 1971 or early 1972 model year. That would really expand the range of possible seats and you could wind up with seats that were still 95% authentic.

 

And, of course, you could always continue to look for the perfect non-reclining 1600-2 seats!

 

Below:  July 30, 1968 ("30 VIII/68") '02 brochure with glimpse of front seats during the "1600ti era"

 

Good luck and best regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited October 15, 2016 by Conserv

[Guest dq48]

Hey Matt, As we discussed,there are the seats in that crashed, white '67 behind the shop,that are still available. They have the chrome hinges,so, you can just do a headrest delete?  Give me a call.    dq

[HBChris]

But the early no headrest seats are also wider, they almost touch each other and came on 02s through late 1968.

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, HBChris said:

But the early no headrest seats are also wider, they almost touch each other and came on 02s through late 1968.

 

Very good point, and another reason to wait patiently for some pre-January 1, 1969 seats, but...how long do you wait?

 

Regards,

 

Steve