UK / European seat swappage / sourcing scheme

[John F]

(Thread inspired by a discussion in DaveNumbers's 'French scrapyard pics' thread)

 

Do you like the sound of replacing that tired old driver's seat in your chod with one that's in much better condition?

 

Basically, our driver's seat is a continental passenger seat, and vice-versa. And passenger seats don't tend to get the same amount of wear as the driver's seat.

 

So, if some of our Continental contributors (stormee, pshome, Lukas, DaveNumbers, etc.?) are prepared to get involved we could set up a cross-channel swappage scheme. Quite a few autoshiters are over in Europe from time to time so, using a cross-channel variant of the Shitely service, it's got a chance of working.

 

Anyone up for it? If so, just post your requirements in this thread & see if anyone on the respective other side of the channel can help.

 

 

 

 

[forddeliveryboy]

Excellent idea.

[dollywobbler]

The only issues here are that sometimes driver's seats get more adjustment - ie height control. On some cars, it's quite easy to swap cushions though (BXs are a piece of cake for instance).

[John F]

True, Ian. Although sometimes the adjustments are on the seat frame, which could potentially be swapped.

[warren t claim]

I think this was the first topic on AS that I posted all those years ago.

[AlabamaShrimp]

All the cars I own don't have any fancy adjustments so I'd be up for this

[lisbon_road]

Awesome idea.  Mk3 Astras can have passenger seats in use for the drivers seat, with a few bits swapped about.  Mine has two five door passenger seats with the 3 door mechanisms fitted.  That took a while!

[Junkman]

I need a complete velours seat group for a post facelift 405 estate.

Preferably a green one from an SR, but will settle for light grey.

[Largactil]

I'm game, but I can see the logistics being a frigging 'mare - I think it was more wishful thinking when I commented on davenumbers thread.

 

I need front & rear seats for a Citroen LNA - Blue / grey (the orangey ones would look a bit mental with a blue carpet, door cards & dash) - Same seats (albeit without the split folding rear) are fitted to the Peugeot 104 3 door (Shortcut), which are much more common than the LNA

 

Car's worth £600ish, and the best re-trim quote I've seen is £370 + P&P, which doesn't make much economic sense, even to my Autoshite brain.

[406V6]

Good idea. Same thinking applies to door cards, handles, etc as the LHD passenger side will usually be in much better condition than the RHD driver's side although I appreciate that some models will have differences between the sides due to switches etc.

[Pillock]

Can't you slide the covers off the seats? I'm sure the leather in my scirocco was just slid over the cushions. Much easier to post.

[steveo3002]

could use a right hand seat belt for the mk2 polo if any overseas guys know of a minter than retracts nice   

[chaseracer]

Postage?  Pffft!  Do it the AS way, viz.

 

Aggregate requirements.  Send folding to Dave_numbers, who purchases in bulk from M. du Casse.  Buy LDV Convoy luton.  Collect ourselves.

 

Sorted.

 

[John F]

The logistics could be problematic but they're not insurmountable. For example, continental collections could be loaded up with one or two additional seats.

 

But the most difficult & time-consuming job for a UK resident is finding the right passenger seat in Europe without local knowledge, so it'll only work if some Euro residents get involved.

[John F]

If anyone can find a suitable seat for themselves near Innsbruck (Austria) I'll be heading over later today & can bring it back pallet-wrapped on the roofrack.

[dave21478]

I am always happy to help out other shiters. 

However....

-Postage for seats is pretty much out of the question. Last time I looked into sending something large to UK it involved me having to drive 45 minutes to the nearest depot and pay something like 130 euros. 

-This scrapyard doesnt give stuff away. When I asked yesterday he said seats were likely to be 60 to 80 euros each depending on "things" ie if he thought they were rare and modern seats with pretensioners or airbags would be more.

-I would guess over half of the cars there had either doors or window missing and rotted, moss covered interiors.

-A lot of fabrics get badly faded by the sunshine. The Astra seats I liked had turned almost completely pink.

-Trim levels, colours and patterns might not be the same between EU and UK.

[forddeliveryboy]

Are many Euroscrappies online? Another option would be a twinning operation with a French, Dutch, Belgiana or whoever autoshite forum.

[John F]

I did suggest that on a German Calibra forum a while ago but didn't get much of a response.

[AlabamaShrimp]

With what the postage costs look like it might be better if we just did some sort of mass trip there.

 

Not only would it work out cheaper but we can get exactly what we want

[oldcars]

Great idea, i need a Reliant Rialto seat in grey fluffy stuff please.

[Eric]

Tell me what you are looking for...in this region there are about 50+ scapyards around..

I can always take a look when I'm searching for something for myself, I go those places nearly every week or...weekend

[sutty2006]

Opel Manta GSi grey recaro seat with red piping............... yes please.

[Lacquer Peel]

Postage from Germany is surprisingly cheap via DHL, I buy big bags of dog food and it's only £3-4.

[andy18s]

Sounds like a great idea

I have a friend who sends bottles of "Husky" vodka over from Germany....

Was the 3dr Rover 214 sold in Europe in '93....?