Posting additional photographs of the car. It's a daily driver. Took these photographs on a roadtrip up along the CA coast near Paso Robles.

 

Beautiful write up!

Classic seats for a classic ride! Nicely matched

 

Nice write-up. The seats look great.

-Shannon

 

Thanks! There are a few great bolt in aftermarket seats out there now made by companies like Corbeau and Distinctive Industries. However, nothing seems to offer the sleekness and form factor of a vintage Recaro.

 

I agree they look great- everyone who uses their car regularly should at least consider a seat upgrade. Seats are one of the less-frequent mods I see on this board and yet they’re used on every ride. Not that every aftermarket seat is an “upgrade”. But a well fitting Recaro is.

 

Nice looking seats, hard to beat Recaros. I find it interesting that they still use those support straps underneath. Seems to me that MGs used a support system like that.



Heh, its hard to find a worse seat than the stock ones, whether its bolstering or features(though really stock seats aren't actually uncomfortable). That being said, I am sure the reason most don't upgrade their seats is so few of the available seats actually look like they belong in the car.

 

Those look awesome. Did you order/ buy direct from Recaro? When I click their dealer link I only see Summit. Also, it looks like you can request the 'Recaro' stitch delete on the backrests?

I want my seat pattern to match front to back like yours, my '67 has the same horizontal stitch pattern but red interior. I've got '90? Foxbody cloth seats in red to match my interior closer than black and I'm debating on spending $$ to have TMI make '67 red covers for them or just buying complete seats like the Recaro LSD in matching red....

 

Thanks. I found mine used on Ebay, which came out of a 83 BMW. A decent pair pops up now and then on Craigslist and places like OfferUp. I have not seen the official RECARO reproductions in person, but if you want custom upholstery to match your interior I would recommend finding an authentic set to recondition. It would certainly make financial sense. Ebay also has a plentiful amount of bootleg repos, but I have no idea what the quality is like.

 

I found these on Craigslist for $150 after only 5 years of looking. $600 to recover, but that was way back in 2016.

 

I found these on Craigslist for $150 after only 5 years of looking. $600 to recover, but that was way back in 2016.

You stole those for that price! Those days are long gone. Looks great.

 

I'm just amazed that I keep seeing your write-ups/reviews and I need to save them for future projects. A few questions for you:
1. How do the shoulder straps feel when using these seats?
2. How much higher is the seat base than the factory seat?
3. How much deeper is the seat? I don't want to take up much more of the back legroom

 

Shoulder straps work great. I have since added seat belt extension holders from a 2015-2022 Mustang that bolt to the headrest posts. In a coupe, fastback, or car equipped with a roll bar, there is the option to mount higher.

When the seats are set at mid tab on the seat tracks, I'd say the Recaros are equal in height to the stock seats. I have since set the back of the Recaros to the lowest setting and mid on the front to give the seat base more of a performance angle. Thus, the back of the seat feels a little lower than the stock seat.

The seat track slider has more range than the stock seats. So all the way back, yeah there is lesser rear leg room for the rear seat (more for the front).

 

Seats look great! Thanks for sharing the detailed write up.

 

Made some other upgrades to the car, including some red lighting to enhance the mood.

 

Those Audi TT seats look pretty good. I can see some simulates in their design to the classic Recaros. Do thy tilt forward? On some two seater cars, I found that some seats do not tilt forward. Important detail for a 4 seater Mustang.

 

The tt seats are made by recaro so I’m not surprised about the similarities to yours. They do tilt forward for back seat access.

 

The Model C or Orthopedics as I’ve heard them called are a fantastic seat as well.
I had these restitched with orange thread to match the Tangelo Orange color of my exterior.

 

The Model C or Orthopedics as I’ve heard them called are a fantastic seat as well.
I had these restitched with orange thread to match the Tangelo Orange color of my exterior.

Those look great in your Mustang. Powered too? I always liked how the controls were mounted on those seats, makes them very versatile for these type of applications. I was considering, but went for the LS or LX, which I think are better sized for the smaller 65-66 Mustang. More options, the better.

 

Those do look comfy, with all those buttons it would cause me to say 'Engage' every time I put it in drive. 😁

 

Attaching photographs of the heated and reupholstered rear seat to match the Recaros. Went a little overkill on the foam, but the convertible back seats had less and thinner foam padding than a coupe. Stock convertible frame. Both Recaros are pushed all the way back on their tracks in the photograph.

 

From what I saw when I stripped the original '66 seat bottom...they don't have ANY foam...just a bunch of batting. Obviously the rear seat isn't meant for humans.

 

I have acquired a few more sets of these vintage Recaros for a couple of other projects. I really like the LSC form factor. I plan to completely disassemble and powder coat these other sets prior to new upholstry.


Based on research, these Racers came from a 1987-1990 Lancia Delis Integrale with leather interior. LS back, C base, with low bolsters.

Gen 1 LSC with high bolsters and optional upper shoulder support. These will be perfect for a 65 Fastback restomod. Based on research these came from a 79-83 Porsche. LS back, C base, with high bolsters.

 

I have '90-'91 Foxbody seats that are very similar, the only thing I don't like I'll probably change is the adjustable knee bolster, I don't like the gap and it makes them more obvious they're not stockish. I plan to recover them and pull that in to make it all 1 piece. Otherwise they have lumbar support bladder, tilt, recline, etc. I may add seat heaters I already have too.

 

Did you have a local shop reupholster the Recaro’s? I can’t find replacement covers as nice as what your picture shows. A local seller has a set of LXC seats that I’m thinking of picking up.

 

My first set of Recaro upholstery was made by zoomzoomzoom-ing on Ebay. I had my upholstery customized to better match the stock 65 pattern.

BMW RECARO E21 320IS UPHOLSTERY SEAT KIT (2) OEM GERMAN VINYL BEAUTIFUL NEW

 

That seemed to work really well. I’m told the seats I’m looking at are from an E30. They sure look like LXC, but now I’m second guessing myself.

 

That seemed to work really well. I’m told the seats I’m looking at are from an E30. They sure look like LXC, but now I’m second guessing myself.
View attachment 898858

Those look to be the standard BMW seats. I don't think they are Recaros. E21, and E24, generation BMW cars had the factory option to be ordered with Recaro seats. There are subtle differences in the BMW Recaros through the years. Same with Porsche, Ferrari, and few other car manufacturers. 79-83 Mustang Pace car edition vehicles came with Recaro LXC seats with the fishnet headrests. Recaro seats were available for purchase through the aftermarket back in the day. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Recaro did a very good job of documenting all of the subtle differences in their products throughout the years as information is scarce. There were a number of different knob and tilt mechanisms, so it can be tricky tracking down parts if a pair of seats is missing items.

 

Restored my second pair of Recaro LSC seats for a Restomod 65 Fastback. This pair came from a 79-83 Porsche and were in mint condition. The foam was in really good shape. I completely disassembled, media blasted, welded some of the nuts that had come loose, primed, painted, and reupholstered in black leather from LSseat.com. The brand new upholstry was only $349 (at the time of this posting), which is a really good deal. I still need to massage some wrinkles with a heat gun and apply leather conditioner, but I'm very pleased with the results.

This particular pair has the adjustable shoulder feature and adjustable thigh base (C base).

Apparently the seat back frame left the factory in bare metal. However, the bottom frame is painted.

I had to tap and thread in a set screw to repair the should tilt mechanism.

New leather upholstery

Recaro IS LS Sport Custom Real Leather Seat Covers (Front)

 

Frames media blasted

Por-15 applied to seat back. I primed and painted the base frames with Eastwood Chassis black.

New support straps

Added seat heating elements to base and seat back.

 

Restored a third pair of 79-83 Recaro LSC seats and what will probably be my final set for awhile. There were the yellow pair shown in the prior posting. I media blasted, spot welded to reinforce the factory rivnuts, primed, painted with black chassis paint. I revitalized the seat foam with steam, new bottom support straps, and upholstered with German vinyl. I went with a detailed diamond pleat insert. This will be for my 65 Fastback Voodoo build and restored a matching rear seat. This pair turned out mint. Thanks for following.

Brand new tilt knobs, still available through Porsche. I have 3D printed plastic side covers, but I was able to reuse the OEM coverings on this particular chair.

New support straps. I also added bottom and seat back seat heaters pads.

This particular pair has the adjustable shoulder option.

Matching rear 65-66 fastback seat with seat belt cutouts

 

Loving the vintage Recaros in my Mustangs. I have since dived into 3D printing and have replaced the BMW tilt knobs with my own designs. I have a small run of printed seat knobs available on Etsy and Ebay for those whom may be interested.

Etsy
Recaro E23, E24, E28 style Seat Adjustment Knobs (2x) 3D Printed PC-CF

Ebay

BMW Style E23, E24, E28 style Seat Adjustment Knobs (2x) 3D Printed PC-CF