Seat Upholstery Question

[Chris Placco]

I had a '62 B coupe with recovered seats. The seats are (and were originally) leatherette. The back of the seatback was done in a smooth vinyl and looked right to me. However, I just bought a '65 C coupe with vinyl, with recovered seats. The back of these seatbacks are upholstered in the perforated leatherette.

Any ideas as to what is correct? The seats are great and I have no plans to change them, but I'm wondering which material is correct, or if Porsche changed at some point.

Thanks,
Chris

[Jim Alton]

The perforated seat backs were correct for a 356C (at least if it had leatherette seat inserts--I'm not sure about leather seats or seats with cloth inserts). These were also used in early 911s.

I'm not sure about 356Bs.

[Emil Wojcik]

Chris, you're asking about the back side of the seatback, not the front side of the seatback, correct?

The back side of the seatback is not perforated, only the front side (where your back leans against) center section is perforated.

[Jim Alton]

I decided to do a little research. In Porsche 356 Defined: A Pictorial Guide (1st edition) Brett Johnson says on page 113:

"New softer Skai-Dur vinyl was used. Perforated inserts and seatbacks were commonly found on U.S. spec. cpupes, while most European cars had corduroy inserts."

That sort of implies 356Bs didn't have perforated seat backs but isn't definitive.

I do have an early 911 brochure which seems to show perforated leatherette seat inserts and seat backs. It's about at the limit of resolution but you can see diagonal lines where the holes would have lined up:

Porsche of America brochure--undated but believed to be late 1964

[Jan Kolm]

Late '63 356Bs had the perforated material on the rear of the seatbacks--it was extremely thin and tore easily.

[Chris Placco]

Thanks all for your responses. I think the perforated backs of the seat backs looks great.

PS: The weight of the material is reduced due to perforations. Ergo, the car is even faster!

[Dick Roth]

I bought a NEW 356 SC cabrio in '64. Seats were all leather (standard). I have never seen perforated backs, (not fronts), on any seat. The coupe seats were perforated vinyl on the front of the seat back. Leather option on the coupe was another story. They never supplied corduroy except by special order to US cars.

[Jan Kolm]

Perforated leather was never available on 356s.

A large percentage of 1953 and 1959 model year U.S. and Canadian-market 356s were delivered with corduroy inserts for some unknown reason (material shortages?); they were special-order only for all other model years.

Very late 356B and 356C Karmann coupes with the breathable leatherette inserts had perforated vinyl on the rear of the seatbacks. I have seen them on original black and gray seats--not sure about other colors, or Reutter/Porsche-bodied coupes, though.

[Emil Wojcik]

My '64C coupe's original vinyl seatbacks were non-perforated on the back, perforated on the front inserts.

[Jan Kolm]

Vented seatbacks may be a Karmann-only thing, as I believe they had their own upholstery shop. VW cabriolets from the same period have two brass grommets on the rear of the front seatbacks that serve as vents.

[M Penta]

My 64C original vinyl/pleather seats have the perforations (vents) on back of seat backs, as well as perforated 5 pleat seating area on fronts. They definitely did come this way.

[Alex Mestas]

I have an early 1963 T6 Karmann body coupe that was built in August of 62. I distinctly recall that the original front seats were made of solid black vinyl and had perforated material on the back of the seats.

[Dennis ODonnell]

"Perforated leather was never available on 356s."

Be careful with the "never"s. I traded (briefly) a new Triumph for a 2 year old C with perforated black leather; not Skai. New York market; "deluxe" horn ring, 3 band Blaupunkt, Cr wheels & fogs were all on the car as delivered from Hoffman's. First leather car seats I sat in.

[Mervyn Hyde]

My late 62 build, sold early 63 BT6 in RHD was one of 40 sold in Australia, and reportedly by the first owner, came with unperforated vinyl, back and front, with matching leatherette on the seats and door trims.

[URL=http://s736.photobucket.com/user/m ... .jpg[/img][/url]