Getting ready to re-do the interior, and now would be the time to add a reclining passenger seat. Been looking for a while, and yeah they are definitel;y rare, but I was just hoping maybe somebody for some unknown reason had an assembly they'd like to sell. Wife has always said she'd really like it if the seat reclined, anmd hey, what would be a more considerate present than that? :grin: -- Steve
Some '69 Rivieras and Toronado's were equipped with passenger reclining buckets. Seat track is different,though. I have seen Rivs and Toros with Strato bench seat and passenger side recliner.
isnt the big car wider than a-body,thus you have problems like...wont bolt in & doors not closing? :laugh: seriously
Bucket seat tops will be the same. Lower seat cushion should be wider. Just compare bare lwr springs. Spring asms can always be swapped. Most old buckets usually need new foam anyway. Seat tracks will have to be changed. Have made Eldo & Riv strato buckets into Impalla & A body buckets before. Hardest part is often coming up with correct seat tracks. Have parted too many A-body's with really bad condition buckets, it's some of the bigcar bucket seat tracks that take some hunting. Got Posi? :3gears: Roger
I HAVE A SET OUT OF A 68 SKYLARK CONV THAT I PARTED SOME YEARS AGOTHE 68 HAS THE BUTTON ON THE SIDE OF THE SEAT,IF THESES WILL HELP CALL ME.520=648=0322 JOE. ALSO HAVE A SET OUT OF A 66, THAT WAS THE FIRST YEAR FOR THE FOLD BACK PASS BUCKET,
On a previous thread Duane ans ome others chimed in that they thought I needed a 69-72 seat. They said the entire framework is different in a 68 vice a 69 & later. What do you have that you are looking to sell -- just the set up, or the whole seat? Got a picture? -- Steve
two answers. . Steve and 65twodoorsportwagn. . start with Steve FIRST: A few years ago, I bought a 69 GS recliner bucket from Dan Gerber? I think. . anyway, when the time comes, I am installing it into my SunCoupe. . the interesting thing is this. . on the recliner, the release button, is on the side, much like the factory 67 & 68 bucket seats. I DO, just happen to have another set of 68 buckets. SO in order for me to use this 69 "RECLINER" passenger seat in my 72 Sun Coupe, I "MAY" have to re-work the driver side "68" bucket seat" and add headrests, and of course, use the correct seat pattern to match the original 1972 pattern. Otherwise, the original driver seat in my Sun Coupe, will have the "release button" in the center back, while the passenger "release button" would be on the side. . .euuuck. I have pix if you'd like a few Steve. Send me your direct email address! :beer Now, as for 65twodoorsportwagon. . . I WANT your 66 recliner seats for my 65 GS Convertible...lets talk. :TU: PenWheelz@ij.net ThanX! Wheelz, Tampa Bay
Okay, here's a pic of one from a 1969 Pontiac Gran Prix. a) Same lower recliner lever etc as a 69 GS seat? Is the operator set up probably the same? b) Wrong size seat, I imagine. Side button is incorrect, but could I pull everything apart and convert everything? Maybe not this seat, but one in worse shape if I find it? -- Steve
more re: recliner Steve. . it appears to be pretty simular as far as mechanics. NOTE: because of the recliner mechanism the side button release for the seat back will be on the side, NOT like our normal back center of the seatback. . as in 69-72 buckets. THAT my friend, is where I am stuck as well. :rant: If I reupholster the 69 recliner with the '72 vinyl pattern and use it in my 72 passenger side, the driver side will not match the passenger seat, as far as release buttons, cause the release button will be on the back center of the driver seat while the recliner will be on the side. uzzled: UNLESS. . you can find the matching gran prix driver seat. .I "BELIEVE" the driver seat will match the recliner seat with the button on the side. .? DUNNO if that fact is 100 percent accurate. . not too many Buicks out there with recliner seat ya know! . . .one can only assume o No: . . . Wheelz
The '69 Grand Prix seat will bolt directly into a '69 GS. With the release button on the side,yours must be a '68 bucket seat. All of the '69-72 bucket seats have the release button on the back panel. The '68 Grand Prix bucket seat is the same size,but the seat track mounting brackets are different. You would have to use your A-body seat tracks on that seat,but then you would still have the problem of the release button.
The pass side seat appears to be from a '69 GP. Own a '69 428HO GP. '69-70 GP's used same bucket seat as '69-70 GTO's, same tracks, same foam. Believe Buick Skylark-GS foam is different... might ask Duane. All the A-body & GrandPrix reclining pass bucket seats from the '69-70 era used the button on the side & the '68 plastic seat backs. Would be interesting to find out when the reclining pass side seat option was cancelled. In GTO's & GP's I've only ran across them in cars built up into the late Fall of '69. Got Posi? :3gears: Roger
Yup.. Sure do. Uh, thats a roger, Roger. :grin: I concur to your statement. SO, for any of us to use a 68 or 69 recliner seat in our 70-72 buicks, one must assume, that to have correct matching seats, one MUST find a 68 driver bucket seat, and add/convert the headrest assy from another year, to make the pair of seats matching uzzled: . . AM I right to make this assumption? sheeesh. Who wooda thought this simple subject could be so non simple huh. :TU: :laugh: wheelz, tampa bay
The Strato-bucket seat design was made from 1966-1972. They are all the same size,wether in a Riviera or a Skylark. The seat tracks are the mojor difference between the big car(B,C,E)body and the intermediate (A,G)body.The '66 design has painted metal panels and no seatback release button.Also had headrest and passenger recliner option. The '67 design incorporated a locking seatback mechanism with the release button on the upper side seat back . Again,offered with headrest and recliner option.The panel covers were painted metal. The '68 design was the same as the '67 ,but the panels were changed to plastic instead of painted metal. The '69 design saw the most changes,being the headrest was shaped different and made standard. The recliner passenger seatback was optional and it appears that '69 was the last year for the reclining seatback option.Also, the seatback release button location was changed to the upper center of the seatback panel and remained so to 1972. Big car and intermediate seat tracks interchange, so you can use a big car seat in an A-body by changing the seat track.And vice-versa.
The seat I pictured is definitely a 69 GP seat, and no, I don't own it -- just something that was offered for sale. So it sounds like the 69 recliner definitely was et up like the GP seat pictured, even though the driver's seat release is in the back. Wheelz doesn't like it because it won't match from seat to seat, but that was how they came from the factory? Definitely? cause if it is factory correct but incongruos, I don't care -- I'll do it. -- Steve
I just recently had a '69 Grand prix and the pattern on the seat you have pictured looks the same. Some one must have adopted a '68 rear panel onto that '69 GP seat. You can change over the seatback lockbutton assembly and use that GP seat.
Junkman-- Oh, so you're saying that I could probably fit the center release assembly from my car and a new seatback to that seat and have it all work out? I'm planning on totally re-doing the entire seat anyway -- gonna ship everything off to legendary and have it done right -- so having to strip it isn't an issue. Did you say you have a suitable seat for sale? I guess color or pattern doesn't matter, as long as the seat size is indeed the same. My tracks are fine. And I could just pick it up. -- Steve
I don't have any recliner seats for sale . I wish I had some to be able to use in my cars. I have a couple sets of regular bucket seats(without the recliner option). What I was getting at, is that '69 Grand Prix seat in the pic you posted earlier , came with the release button in the center, originally. And that someone has used the seat back cover and latch from a '68,on that '69 seat.In my opinion, the seatback panel has been changed. You can change it back to the way it is supposed to be. Not the whole seatback,but just the panel and latch . I would use that '69 Grand Prix seat for your "69 Skylark. Change the latch release mechanism over before you send it out for recovering.
