Sofa by Rover

[forddeliveryboy]

 

This is the Rover Chair by Ron Arad, they were on sale for £99 in the early 80s. Here is a recent auction result:

 

 

 

Irrespective of profit potential - though this should be considered when surfing DFS or Ikea - I've long wondered why more people don't use the decent marques' old car seats in the house. Saab 99 and 900 seats were superbly comfy, I think the dealers used them in their offices, Mercedes ones are generally superb as are older Citroen (CX, GS and before) seats - choose you style and softness to suit.

 

We're all surely well-placed to put together the successor to Arad's chair - sofas shouldn't be much more work, kitchen stools could use moped seats!

[inconsistant]

I had an idea once for gear knobs...

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

CHA-CHING (x2)

[beko1987]

I've always wanted to make a squishy suite set from a leather Scorpio interior, sounds well comfy!

[Felly Magic]

There is one born every minute as they say. All you shiters who can weld, go down to your breakers, buy a few leather pews from scrap luxobarges for peanuts, and some steel tubing, and bingo, kerching, moolah....

[cort16]

I've sold about 15 car seat office chairs. I've got 2 Bentley continental gt seats in my lockup waiting for me to do something exciting with. .

[rml2345]

I've often thought about this too but can't weld. A pair of Rover 75 lounge chairs would be fabulous too...

[forddeliveryboy]

I've often thought about this too but can't weld. A pair of Rover 75 lounge chairs would be fabulous too...

 

I agree. If you can't weld, just bolt. I'm sure something here http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?_odkw=&item=121294176571&pt=UK_BOI_Metalworking_Milling_Welding_Metalworking_Supplies_ET&_osacat=0&hash=item1c3db2413b&_ssn=asgstainlesscomponents&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xhandrail&_nkw=handrail&_sacat=0&_from=R40 would form a good starting point.

[anonymous user]

I don't think the originals were welded either they look very much like Key Clamp handrail fixings.

http://www.keyclamphandrails.co.uk/

 

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

My first flat had a Rover 3 litre 3 piece suite , admittedly they were just leaning against the wall, but I did make a bit of a frame out of pallets for the sofa. I also had deep dish Camaro steel wheel with a fat General Grabber as a coffee table base complete with round glass top.

This was in 1983, the P5 had only done 30,000 miles and I drove it onto the weighbridge, the seats ended up in a skip when I moved,it seems they were the most valuable bit.

[Lord Sterling]

There is some geezer on eBay trying to flog a Mk1 Rover Sterling rear seat set up made into a sofa for about £900. The seats look utterly worn despite them having been "never fitted to a car" and what have you.

 

I could buy a Mk1 Sterling, some wood, tools, glues ect.... for much less than that.

[Inspector Morose]

Got two double deck buses worth of seats like this in a fetching tartan trim:

 

If anybody wants some?

[rml2345]

^ Ex Lothian Trident by any chance? That's one of their trainers.

if you could fabricate a couple of legs they'd probably sell well to studenty types as funky kitchen/desk chairs.

[Stixy]

The main reason car seats  cant be sold as house furniture is fire regulations  , car seats burn very well with lots of toxic fumes   house furniture is supposed to slowly smolder without gassing the house out 

[Stixy]

Making them for yourself  is one thing , but selling them can lead to Prison 

[Pillock]

Regulations smegulations. Look how cool they are!

 

Does this apply to one-off pieces as art or just your DFSs and IKEAs knocking out millions of pieces?

[Stixy]

    http://www.firesafe.org.uk/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations-19881989-and-1993/

 

 

Trading standards are the ones that prosecute  

 

A couple of years ago i had a lot of Scorpio's and Granada's with leather seats and i was seriously looking into this as a profitable way of shifting the seats  but after i reading all the regs i decided not to bother 

 

Also some seats had Air Bags  , which is another big no no in a house  for some reason 

 

[mercrocker]

We used to have a Mk3 Zodiac front bench as a conservatory sofa....Not in a "retro" "studio" "loft living" trendy kind of OMG-looks-like-it-fell-off-a-trike sense, just because it was spare (didn't need to unbolt it - that's how rotten the Zody was!) and I didn't have anything else.   I always thought the chocolate block Mk IV Executive interior would make a great 3 pc suite. and some mates did have a complete Zody interior in a communal Transit van a very long time ago (the V6 from it went under the bonnet with a pig-nose diesel front) as additional seating* and bed* in the back.  Should have bolted them down really!   Oh, and screw the fire regs - they are only there so that DFS can keep selling their bendy shite every Boxing Day....

[cort16]

There's different fire regulations for office furniture v house hold furniture. The big problem with modern seats is airbags. Sure they can only be triggered when the correct voltage is applied but they give me the heebiejeebies.

[Stixy]

Trouble is when an airbag goes off it destroys the seat  

[AlabamaShrimp]

Got two double deck buses worth of seats like this in a fetching tartan trim: image.jpg

 

If anybody wants some?

That's a weird seat layout. Was it like that when in service?

[Semi-C]

Pardon the piss poor Nokia Pinhole © picture, here's a Mk3 Cortina seat I "fabricated" (Ruby GXL trim should you care)

 

 

Got another 3 to finish off but y'know the story...nay thyme...yawn yawn zzzzz

[forddeliveryboy]

I don't think the originals were welded either they look very much like Key Clamp handrail fixings.

http://www.keyclamphandrails.co.uk/

 

I wonder if they had straight rails bent up or if there's a supply of tubular circles or semicircles somewhere?

 

Got two double deck buses worth of seats like this in a fetching tartan trim:image.jpg

 

If anybody wants some?

 

They're great - where are you?

 

Making them for yourself  is one thing , but selling them can lead to Prison 

 

Only if you say they're intended for use in a domestic situation, surely. Did Trading Standards go after Bonhams or any other auction house which has been selling the Arad stuff? Of course they didn't. And where will those seats now be - in someone's posh house.

[forddeliveryboy]

Oh, and screw the fire regs - they are only there so that DFS can keep selling their bendy shite every Boxing Day....

 

 

Completely agree. When govt catches up with reality, they'll acknowledge there may have been as many deaths caused by the cumulative effects of the chemical treatments given to fire-retardant seating. Thing is, as always today, if you're out to prove the law of evolution and drink to the point of passing out with fag in hand, the state is trying to protect you but endangering the rest through exposure to poisinous gases.

 

The more cancer-causing pollution (and inside our homes is where concentrations can build up to their highest, epsecially with new hermetically-sealed houses) there is, the smaller the possibilities of anyone pinning the blame (=payouts) on any one source, least of all on the agri-chemcial-pharma industry or the nuclear lot. The pharma-industry rakes in even more billions, politicians are exempt from responsibility while trousering more stuffed envelopes and it's the average family who suffers.

 

Unless you use your brain and aesthetic senses and don't buy modern shite.

 

Same for car interiors - gawd knows how much cancer is promoted by what's in a new or newish car interior. Volvo researched this a few years ago and I think they concluded nothing much could be done. Another reason not to have cars less than 10 years old.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/flames/ct-met-flames-barriers-20120506,0,5658067.story

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/11/couch-flame-retardants-cancer-toxic

http://greensciencepolicy.org/topics/furniture/

[mercrocker]

^^^Well said!   And don't even start me on fluoride....

[trigger]

[Inspector Morose]

Interior shot is just something I've got off the net but the ones in the barn are the same as in the lower right of the pic. They're in a barn just outside Birmingham and would suit someone needing to reseat a bus on the cheap. I'll get a photo of the pile when I'm next over there on Thursday.

[alf892]

Just after I sold my E39 (for £2000) me and Mrs Alf went looking for sofas......a DFS type operation had what looked like the rear seat from a E39 on a chrome frame for £3500............