I’m hoping to be able to write an update where I get everything done in one day….

The Station Wagon model has 4 individual fold down seats in the back. A common alternative was a bench seat. These are readily available in whatever finish you like from Exmoor Trim but the individual seats are not.

I had planned to have the 4 seats recovered by Exmoor but time and budget are against me….. Plus, its unlikely I have 4 passengers in the back on a regular basis, so for the time being, I’m reusing the originals in their current state.

Their current state consisted of being pretty filthy after 50 years and a year languishing in the basement hadn’t helped.

Step 1 was to give the seat swabs and backs a good clean. I’d tried all sorts of home made applications to clean the interior trim panels. Taking some tips from another WordPress “blogger”; (Curious Constructions), I tried using some bicarbonate of soda to get the ingrained dirt out of the fabric… Combined with some degreaser, they came up quite well.

Also to be considered were the steel seat frames….

On on…

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On the underside of each seat base is a frame to support the weight. These needed a good amount of prep. I had considered have thing these shot blasted and powder coated in black… but as I have time on my hands, it made sense to do it myself. 

 

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In order to support each leg for spraying, I drilled a 3mm hole in one end so I had somewhere to thread some fencing wire in order to hang them up to dry. The little holes won’t be seen once the brackets are in place.

 

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Rubbed back and ready for a good coat of primer

 

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Same with the brackets 

 

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The primer goes off in about 30 minutes… thanks to the fact that I have a heated garage 🙂

 

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Brackets ready for top coat of black Hammerite….

 

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There we go…. 

 

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The Hammerite takes about 18 hours to go off properly. Should be ready to fit tomorrow.

 

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Original galvanised brackets just needed a clean with a scotchpad in a bucket of hot soapy water. 

 

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Seat swabs ready for bicarbonate of soda

 

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Seating for 2 goes in here

 

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Brackets fitted (I only took pics of one side)… and this side had better light

 

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Ultimately these will be recovered, or at the least, new foam added under the elephant hide vinyl

 

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Folded up… The old canvas straps are to be replaced with new leather straps from Exmoor Trim

 

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Folder down, they provide seating for 4 close friends. The frames, when fitted will lift the nose of each seat base up a little bit.

 

I also plan to fit some lap belts in the rear. Whilst not a legal requirement on a vehicle of this age (there were none fitted as standard) it makes sense to, at least, give occupants the option.