Hot Rods Euro Sports car Seats in Gassers

It seems that I remember reading European sports cars seats were used in gassers due to their light weight. How popular was that, and what were the seats of choice?

I picked up a set of 1964 Sunbeam Alpine seats for my Falcon project. They even look British.

 

The seats of choice were most likely the ones you could find cheap.

So the ones you have should be perfect!

 

Well, they should look British, they are!
And yes, I think the Austin Healy was used too, among others.

 

True. It will only cost me a gear set-up for my buddie's '65 Mustang so I guess that's a pretty good deal.

 

These are out of a British Sports car. Austin Healey I think. I made the bottoms and narrowed the backs to fit my car.

 

We used Austin Healey seats in my first RPU. I also used Healey seats in the '28 Tudor I built in the early 70's. They were more expensive than the ones we bought in 1960. I had to pay 100 bucks for the pair!!

 

AH bug eye sprite seats have that wrap around back

 

These are not out of a European sports car, just out of a European sedan. A 1967 Opel Kadett. The price was right...Free, so they went in my 1934 Chevy coupe gasser project.

 

Healey and Sprite seats are identical. The TR3 seats look the same also.

 

1964 Sunbeam Alpine.

 

Hello,

When we were ready to install some bucket seats, the European seats were common in the local scrapyards. It had something to do with an abundance of accidents in small sporty cars and being totaled by a huge Buick sedan or another large USA sedan. So, we had our choice of plenty.

Our friend had an MGA roadster and we liked the size/fit of his bucket seats. So, we priced them. The USA factory seating was too large and bulky for the small coupe interior. Plus, they were not comfortable for adjustments.

The scrapyards had rows and rows of these European bucket seats separated by make and model. The price for the MGA seats was a little more than a similar Triumph Roadster seat. They actually looked the same and had the similar under seat brackets. So, we settled on a pair of Triumph sporty car bucket seats.

Jnaki

Since we moved the 292 SBC motor back 10% to be legal for the class rules, we had to move the seats all the way back as far as they would go. Then the big two brothers could fit easily.

They were the most comfortable seats, as they could be back adjusted and not like the USA factory 90 degree seat backs. When we were finished, I was able to sit comfortably in the passenger seat, despite the nice shiny Moon Aluminum gas tank with a pump, sitting in front of me in the footwell.