Van Seats & Camaro Seat Covers - Muscle Buckets

van Seats And Camaro Seat Covers seats   |   van Seats And Camaro Seat Covers seats Coming from a custom upholstery background, I have had an idea bouncing around in my head for awhile and no real chance to try it out until now. The idea is to take classic seat covers with the subtle die-electric pleats found in most muscle cars and make them fit in a later model truck. I have always been fond of the simple interior design these cars had, so when I got the '89 S-10 I knew it was going to be my guinea pig. Initially, I was going to modify a set of deluxe covers from a '67 Camaro to fit a factory set of S-10 buckets. I figured this would look cool, but I really didn't want high-back buckets like the S-10 came with. I was getting ready to chop off the top of the seats when my dad said, "Hey, you want to use these?" "These" happened to be a set of ultra-compact buckets from an early '70s Chevy Step van. They were pretty beat-up and covered in an ugly green vinyl, but they were the perfect size. With the addition of the new seats I had all of the parts to make it happen, and here's how I did it. If you try this yourself, you better have some basic upholstery skills and a sewing machine. I'm not really trying to teach you how to sew in this article, but rather show that fitting classic parts in a modern truck can be cool. van Seats And Camaro Seat Covers van Seat   |   van Seats And Camaro Seat Covers van Seat Old Seats, New Skins
Check out the donor seats my dad got from a '70s step van. Even though they are ugly, the proportions are perfect for my S-10. What I like about using an early seat is that there are still springs under the foam instead of a large pan. Once I get them covered they'll be nice and cushy. Here is the deluxe cover set for a '67 Camaro, which I ordered from Classic Industries. All I really need are the inserts, but until a company sells just those parts, you'll have to buy the whole cover. I could have recreated these with just material and some sewing, but the pleats would not look factory. I wanted the factory look, so I had to bite the bullet and shell out 180 bucks for these.
van Seats And Camaro Seat Covers seat   |   van Seats And Camaro Seat Covers seat The Final Word
Here are the seats once they were finished. To the untrained eye, people may think this is a stock Camaro seat, and they would be wrong. This seat is smaller, missing the headrest, and is a little more square, which will better fit my interior space. Hopefully, this story has started your wheels a turning and opened up a new route to making your truck custom. If you are sewing-challenged, don't worry-most professional upholstery shops can do this for you. Just bring your idea and your wallet.