Seats for Mk 1 works race cars

[MagnusHolmgren]

Hi
Do you know if anyone has made any replicas of the light weight glass fibre race seats used in the works cars? See links below of KPU 392C and 7070 KO.
I would love an original one, but I suppose finding one is impossible, must be rare as hens teeth....

http://www.lotus-cortina.com/photos/7070ko/7070ko-pic.htm

http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/classic-car-auctions/legendary-lotus-cortina-coming-up-for-sale

/M

 

[Steve 155C]

Hi Magnus - I was in contact with a member from here call Garth Richards about making me one of those. I sent him loads of photo's and measurements from genuine ones and I believe he said it would be possible. I didn't go ahead with it in the end.

He also makes excellent reproduction Microcell seats.

Have a look at some of these previous posts for his contact details and photo's of some of his work:

http://lotuscortina.net/~lotusc7/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1645&highlight=microcell


http://lotuscortina.net/~lotusc7/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=805&highlight=microcell

http://lotuscortina.net/~lotusc7/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2066&highlight=microcell

http://lotuscortina.net/~lotusc7/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2288&highlight=microcell

 

[Steve 155C]

I also seem to recall Trevor Barefoot may have had some made in the past - but you'd have to check with him to see if this was true of not.

 

[MagnusHolmgren]

Hi Steve! Thanks for the tip. Do you remember if Gareth got all the measurements he needed? I would order at least one seat, maybe more if the price was right and if the seats would be 100% correct. I will contact him.

How can I get in touch with Trevor Barefoot?

 

[Steve 155C]

Hi Steve! Thanks for the tip. Do you remember if Gareth got all the measurements he needed? I would order at least one seat, maybe more if the price was right and if the seats would be 100% correct. I will contact him.

How can I get in touch with Trevor Barefoot?

I did give him all the measurements he needed. This was 6+ years ago - hopefully he's still got them.

You can contact Trevor by sending him a PM. His forum username is Devonboy

 

[mickmade]

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/mickmade/cortina/cortinaseat002_zps99104234.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/mickmade/cortina/cortinaseat001_zpsac3c08bc.jpg

I believe that this was the seat shell used in the original works race cortinas.
they just fabricated a tube frame with a padded (vinyl?) cover.
Regards Mick.

Correction.
This is likely just a copy of the race seat shell.
It has no provenance. :wink:

 

[Steve 155C]

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/mickmade/cortina/cortinaseat002_zps99104234.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/mickmade/cortina/cortinaseat001_zpsac3c08bc.jpg

I believe that this was the seat shell used in the original works race cortinas.
they just fabricated a tube frame with a padded (vinyl?) cover.
Regards Mick.

So where did you get the seat shell?

 

[devonboy]

I had a fibre glass mould made as a direct copy of the works seat.
The seats were then copied by my trimmer.
They were a exact copy of the works seat.
The fibre glass mould was sold to Dale Stephenson with a lot of other parts when I had a garage clear out prior to my Exeter house sale.

 

[mickmade]

Steve and Magnus you both have pm's

Regards Mick

 

[L2Man]

See link below?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271595305101

 

[Steve 155C]

Steve and Magnus you both have pm's

Regards Mick

Hi Mick. No PM received

 

[mickmade]

Steve, should be ok now.

 

[MagnusHolmgren]

Works seats finally finished! They look great!
Has anyone got any information about which runners were used? Knowing Colin Chapman, they probably used runners from a more common car...? The passenger seat should be fixed, but the drivers seat should be on runners, able to adjust your position. One lever on each runner for the drivers seat.
I have runners that was used underneath the Corbeau seat that I have had in the car up until now. They can be used, but if I can I would like to have everything as close to original as possible. Any clues?

//Magnus

 

[Lashman]

Hi Magnus,
Yep those seats look great!
If it's any help I think Bryan used to use a mk1 escort runner in his KPU car.
Cheers
Louis

 

[Steve 155C]

Magnus, the seats look great. Who made them? I'll have a look to see if I have pictures of the runners. I seem to remember no two cars we the same. Some had a fixed drivers seat and some didnt

 

[MagnusHolmgren]

Hi Lashman! Thanks. I will use the runners that I had for my Corbeau seat to start with. They are slightly longer, but otherwise almost the same as "original".

Hi Steve! Thanks. If you can find any information about which runners were used please let me know.
I have pictures, I know how they should look.

The information I have is that the seat should have runners able to adjust your position on the drivers side.
Two levers, one on each runner (!) - probably to make it more stable for racing. But the passenger side seat should be fixed in place. That is on the type of seat that I had made.
E.g. on KPU 392C there is a different type of seat, deeper with more tubing (on the side of the seat). These seats seem to be using the original Cortina floor mounts with a tube under the two brackets. I don't know why, I don't really think they made them like that to enable passengers in the back seat....? :roll:

The tubing on the two seats are different, the left hand should have symmetrical tubes/"legs", but the drivers seat should have wider spaced "legs", and be slightly different underneath the front of the bucket on the left hand side, as far as I know. The reason is that it makes it possible to have them fully adjustable (the transmission tunnel interferes ever so slightly otherwise), easier to fit them due to the way the floor is constructed, and to be able to have the steering wheel (almost) in front of you instead of slightly offset.

They were made as a one-off by a friend of mine from reproduction buckets for the Lotus 18, just like the black one that mickmade wrote about above. Tubing was made from measurements and pictures etc, and the upholstry was made by a craftsman specialized in car interiors. A lot of work, and they will need some fettling to fit.... But it will look good , and probably be better than the standard seats for driving, especially on the race track and on curvy roads. My original seats are not bad at all, but would probably benefit from some new padding after 51 years...
I know that some LC owners do not like replica parts, but I really like the look of the works cars.
All modifications I make on my car are also easily reversible, if I -or the next owner- change my mind. The original seats will be stored on a shelf for future use.

/Magnus

 

[Steve 155C]

Magnus - can you post up the pictures of the seat sliders / adjusters you have , and I'll see if they are any different to the ones I have. I have a feeling I may have sent you mine in the past , so they are probably the some photo's!

 

[Steve 155C]

Hi Magnus - I'm sure the works cars seats were just bolted to the floor.

I found this company that does a fairly good range of seat runners - you might find something that suits.
Scroll right down the page as there are other ones displayed in among the seats. You'd probably need one of the single lock options then you don't have to worry about the correct spacing between the two sliders for the double lock ones.

http://www.europaspares.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=seat+runner

 

[MagnusHolmgren]

Hi Steve!
Thanks for the information and the link! I think they have some useful stuff.
I plan to use the runners that I had underneath my Corbeau seat that was in the car until now. They are similar to the ones on europaspares, but not quite original.

I do not think I recieved any pictures from you before Steve, the ones that I have have come from other sources. I did get an answer from you in this thread about Gareth Richards, but when I contacted him he could not make any seats for me so I had to look elsewhere.
The best picture of runners I have comes from Hiro Otsuka in Japan, I saw it on his facebookpage. I hope you do not mind me posting it here Hiro, if you read this...! He has an original works seat on the drivers side, but the standard seat on the passenger side in his car.

This is apparently the way they should look. I am quite certain that they come from another Ford, Triumph etc, or maybe another Lotus model, but which one? The Elan has many parts from other manufacturers so it is not unthinkable that they did just that.

According to Trevor Barefoot which I had a mail conversation with recently, Lotus bolted the race seats to the floor initially, in 1963 and early 1964. When they went to the USA, long distance racing at Sebring in Feb 1964 and onwards, they needed to have runners on the drivers side, because Jim Clark and the other drivers couldn't do all the driving themselves. They needed to have the seats adjustable for optimum driving position for different drivers. That makes sense.
My car will have runners at least on the drivers side, e.g. if a friend also wants to have a go in the car. It will also be somewhat easier to use the back seat, as the seats are not foldable.

I have had some delay in placing the seats in the car. The holes had to be adjusted ever so slightly, as I think it will be vital to have the runners completely parallell, otherwise they will be hard to push back and forth.
It is getting close now though! 8)

Next project: Black foil underneath the Consul badge on the bonnet! :lol:

Magnus

 

[johnwest]

These runners look the same as the ones on my 63 Austin Healey 3000.
John