True Connections

This month we are going to talk about everyone’s favorite option for Chevelles and El Caminos, bucket seats. The bucket seats were the same for 1964-1965, except of course the upholstery had a different pattern. Another source for early buckets is other A-body cars under the Buick, Olds, & Pontiac name plates. Again each of those had their own specific upholstery pattern and the adjuster handle was different but the seat framing itself was basically the same. The 1964-1965 buckets were almost entirely surrounded in upholstery. The only trim on them was a chrome strip on the side that covered the hinge and extended three quarters of the way up the side of the back. In 1966 GM changed the design to include a steel cover on the back and both sides of the bottom of the seat which were painted the same color as the rest of the interior. The covers were trimmed with a flexible chrome strip that had a stainless bullet crimped on each end. GM stayed with this same basic design through 1972 with minor differences. In 1967 the buckets seats began to incorporate a seat back latch, which was a rectangle button mounted on the side of the seat back which would have to be pressed in order to fold the back down and allow access to the rear. GM used the same setup in 1968 except that the seat back and side covers were changed to plastic panels instead of steel. On the 1969-1972 bucket seats, the location of the seat back latch button was moved to the middle of the seat back. The bucket seat tracks for 1966-1972 were all the same and fortunately are now available reproduction. For the high rollers, a 4way power seat was available for the drivers side in all years, although the 1964-1965 power bucket seat is seldom seen in a Chevelle or El Camino and was mainly offered in Buick, Olds, Pontiac models. Another very rare option available only in 1966 and 1967 was a passenger side reclining bucket. 1966 and 1967 were also the first years that headrests were introduced and they are also a very rare option. In 1968, headrests were still not very common, but on the 1969 to 1972 buckets, the headrests were a standard item. Recently, many new reproductions have become available for bucket seats. Most notable are the entire seat frames for 1966-1972. The interesting thing is that now you can build a set of bucket seats entirely from scratch. The seat springs have been available for a while now along with the seat foams for each year. Together with the tracks, side and back panels, the upholstery, and all the little knobs and buttons, you’ve got yourself a brand new set of buckets. The only thing you’ll need is the mounting brackets. There has been a reproduction out for years that is inexpensive but they are not really correct. They use one strap that has a stud on each end and welds to the floorboard to mount the inner track of the bucket. From the factory the inner bracket was very similar but they also had an outer bracket that was much smaller and was welded to the floor board to mount the front of the outer track and level the seat at the correct angle. Fortunately, the factory style brackets are now available reproduction to cure the crooked seat blues. Next month we will continue on newly available interior parts.