Does anyone know if the Bellett GT seat foams (bucket seats with the "Bellett" imprinted headrests) match any MG or Triumph seats? The upholstery shop owner said "Those look like MG or Triumph..". This information would mean several hundred US dollars difference in the cost of doing an interior, because unlike Bellett foam cushions, MG and Triumph are still available. I know that equals about 2 UK pounds or 3 Australian dollars at the moment, but it is still a couple hundred dollars to us in America. Otherwise, it's paying for sheets of foam and hourly rate to form pieces into new foam inserts...

Have you got that one that was for sale in texas dude?

Not unless Texas is the new short name for Aichi Prefecture.

I didn't know Aichi Prefecture was in the US. My mistake.

Where the car came from and where it is are two different places, neither is Texas. You Australians are shipping cars back and forth between New Zealand and Oz, it doesn't sound like a new thing for you guys. Do Americans have a reputation for being afraid of water?


Anyone know if GT bucket seat foams match MG or Triumph?

I just wanted to know if you had a Bellett dude... and if so, was it the one in Texas. Relax and forget I asked about it.

OK, I'm missing your humor, and you are startled to find the only American with a sense of humor so dry that even the Brits look wet by comparison.

If I were cool enough to use smiley faces, the jokes would have been:
Texas is short for Aichi...
Americans are afraid of water... (Who won all those gold metals?)...

Any clue on the seat foams?

Hi, not sure about what seats you have but here is a link from the UK on Triumph seat foam sets. Not inexpensive...depends I suppose on what you have been quoted here. cheers, clyde

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SEAT-FOAM-KIT-SQU ... 240%3A1318

BrisBellett:

That is exactly what I am thinking of. The cost of those seat foams for Triumph is less than half the cost of cutting seat foams out of solid bricks of foam rubber. And at least the bottom cushion looks like it is one piece, whereas the custom cut would be three pieces glued together. Most of the labor cost is in making the front seat foams, the rest is minimal labor and the cost of the vinyl.

I am having a difficult time trying to determine if the dimensions are the same or close enough. I keep visualizing the Bellett seats as having vertical seat backs with almost right angle corners at the top of the seat back. There is a description of aftermarket seats specifically for Triumph that points out the seats must taper in with a narrowed seat back, due to the space required to stow the convertible top when it is down. I may be remembering VW Beetle seats from long ago, but the Bellett seats needing the rebuild are no longer very representative of the shape they started out as.

From the responses, maybe no one has ever replaced the seat foams, or if they did, they also had them custom made?

Yeah mine have the same look and consistency as a Violet Crumble (or Crunchie - or any international version of a processed honeycomb chocolate bar).

Strangely, they're still fairly sit-able at this stage. My bench seat needs re-packing and re-covering and I'll be getting that custom-made but that's a whole different kettle of fish and not much help here.

here in melbourne, us guys either have them re-done from scratch, or put seats in them out of something else.
we have found that the time taken to source something that might be close, and then still pay more to modify them, would add up pretty quickly anyway. added to this, if they are custom done from a block, then the fit is better as well as modifing something else might be a compromise.
FYI, my GT uses early gemini coupe seats, and are very similar to late GT/GT-R seats. they were very easy to fit up to the GT mounts.

Hi, just another suggestion...I work for BAE and manage the textile section for the Aust. Army. I do all the seat covers for Land Rovers, UniMogs and Macks. From time to time I have to do the foam repairs and some fabrications. I use an industrial foam cutter and shape the parts from the original. I use a simple kitchen electric carving knife (Sunbeam brand) at home and find it just as useful as the industrial one. You can get the foam - both low and high density - from Clark Rubber sometimes as offcuts which are cheaper. The higher the density the stiffer the foam is. Foam is expensive so finding offcuts will save you some $$. The sections do not have to be perfectly rounded as long as you are fairly accurate with copying the originals.

If you have decent original foam moulds you CAN fabricate your own and glue the parts together. I use 3M adhesive spray adhesive at about $25/can available from most larger hardware stores. I spray each section I plan to assemble - the surface of each side - and wait about 4 - 5 minutes until the glue is very tacky and then assemble the sections together.

If you look at your originals you will find different types of foam used in different sections - most of the outer parts - the sides of seat backs and bases - will be high density foam and the thinner foam - or low density foam will be used for covering the high density parts or for the centre of the seat bases/ backs.

When your seat covers are made - the upholsterer will use a foam backing on the seat bases/ backs to smoothe out any imperfections in the foam.

If I have confused you totally give me a ring...you can call me via Skype any evening from anywhere in Oz for the cost of a local call - untimed. Email me for the time you can call and we will sort out a convenient time. My Skype number is: 07 3103 2100.

Clyde

Sorry....error and did not proof read before posting......the glue only takes about 4 - 5 minutes to get tacky....NOT 45 minutes. My apologies.

just a quick comment...
here in australia, all of our GT's had only low back seats from standard, without headrests.
we never got the "Bellett" imprinted versions here.
only reason i'm stating this is because i know that the material design changed with each model, and changed significantly when the GT's got high back seats (some got a different colour insert as well), so the seats you are quoting could be different to ours to begin with.
cheers.

I read the comments that Australia seems to have gotten cars imported in bunches with gaps between the groups. But I assumed that the difference between the early low back seats without the headrest and the mid year range seats with the headrest, was just the addition of the headrest. Also, all your GTs were private imports and would have the head rests...

I expect the foam cushions will have to be made from scratch. Trial and error at $300 per sample (probably non-returnable) is not an option. Just hoped maybe somebody had happened across a match.

I'm dealing with orange powder (formerly foam, now dust), and kicking myself for not picking up another set of seats on auction.
I was looking at a classic style racing seat as a temporary solution, because I thought the upholstery cost would be several times more than it was. But the racing seat would be half the cost of redoing all seats and side panels. Still not cheap, but better to save and wait than throw money at a fixed back seat.

Hi, another option are Mitsubishi seats. The sedan I just got had a set of high back - one piece - seats that almost bolt straight in. I recovered them to match the rear seat covers (black). I should have them installed this weekend and I will put in some pics of the finished item. Good second hand Mits seats would not set you back much. clyde

Late 60's and early 70's seats from Japanese donor cars would be pretty scarce in the US, and probably also in very rough shape.

If I were to decide to use another seat, I would probably go with these:



But have them done with the solid leatherette headrest instead of the basket weave on the headrest, run cross stitches at inch and a half spacing on the basket weave from the lower edge of the lower cushion all the way through the headrest post position, and find some way to chrome the hinges so they look older. Then order spare basket weave and leatherette material to do the rear seat and door panels to match at the local shop.

WHAT!!!
mate, do some research...

while there may have been a few privatly imported GT's (less than 5 that i know of), by far the most of them were imported by Isuzu distributors, DIRECTLY from Isuzu as brand new cars.
this occured between mid 1966 and early 1969, and 290 GT's were imported here. 55 were PR90's, and the remaining 235 were PR91's.

as a result, NONE of the Australia imported GT ever had a factory headrest.
i have been in and around PR90's and 91's for years, ranging from an early PR90 that a very good friend owns, right through to a very late PR91 that i almost bought 4-5 years ago (still kicking myself that a didn't buy it...), and neither of these, or any other GT i've seen here have had headrests, or high back seats for that matter, fitted as standard.

and as for New Zealand... that's very simple.
NZ had NO GT's from new. as for any being there now... i honestly don't know, but i know the kiwi's only got sedans from new, both being fully assembled imports like ours in Australia, but the kiwi's also assembled sedan's themselves later on.

OK, is it that Australia did not get any GTRs?

And the changeover from the low back seat without the headrest to the low back seat with the headrest is early 1969? After all the GTs in Australia were already shipped?

yes, australia only ever got the 1600GT with the OHV engine.
we never got the 1500GT, the 1600 or 1800 OHC GT's, or the DOHC GT-R.

ohh, and all of our sedan's were the 1500 OHV 4 door version, so we never got any of other sedan's either.
our wasp's were all the 1500 version here too, not the 1300 as is usually seen in advertising material from the day.

i know of 1 genuine 1970 GT that's here, and was a private import.
i can't honestly remember what the seat are, but i'll ask the owner when i speak to them soon.