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Reply to "Seats"

@Erik A Hopperton

First, decide how long you intend to sit in your car seats when driving.  Speedster seats are notorious for getting "achy" after a couple of hours.  The alternative is to go with a cabriolet seat - softer, more supportive and your back will thank you after a few hours.  Speedster seats were also exclusive to Speedster cars and meant for racing.  If your Kitman is a coupe, you should/might consider a coupe/cabriolet seat to look "right" (whatever that is).

You'll have to measure the width of where the seat sits in the car to see how much room you have.  VW pans only allow seats that are 16-3/4" wide at the mounting point, while Beck and potentially Kitman, with a tube frame, allow wider seat bottoms, like 18"+.

Of course, you can always get what you have re-upholstered and can probably find someone easier to get along with in your area - Ohio.  Shipping a pair of seats across country one-way is probably looking at $500+ before you even consider upholstery.  

Beck and Vintage Motorcars Inc. use similar seat shells and the upholstery they use/offer simply pulls on like a couch slip cover.  No tabs, no glue, no rivets, no BS.  The Speedster seat cushion is very much like a Porsche 914 but thinner.  Get the thicker seat cushion for a much more comfortable seat.  

I have no idea what the heck the guy in Maine was talking about with supposedly not having "tabs" to attach the upholstery to, nor have I ever seen "canvass racing seat covers", but if you want to avoid the available upholstery kits and want to spring for high-end upholstery done on your seats that looks fabulous, then look up Fred Carello in Warwick, RI on Facebook (that's a click-able link).  He is literally the best, East of the Mississippi, does a LOT of classic cars of all types (He did a lot of the Ralph Lauren collection, among many others) and is super-easy to work with.  Just be aware that these days, he is booked completely up 2+ years in advance.

Lastly, on the seat glides, start searching on Speedwaymotors.com

https://www.speedwaymotors.com...der-Tracks,7103.html

and then widen the search by googling "Street Rod Seats" or something like that.  You want a seat that looks kinda-sorta like a Porsche seat, but in a Kitman coupe you have a lot of latitude in what looks good.  Just remember than anything Porsche related will cost you 10X more.

Good hunting

Last edited by Gordon Nichols
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