1967 1500, Front seats · International Vintage Volkswagen Forums

Dubster
Regular Topic Starter

17 years ago

Are the front seats in my '67 (well December 1966) 1500 Beetle unique to the model year?

The original seats are virtually perfect, but the drivers seat has a split in the vinyl, and I'd rather keep the original and get a replacement to restore and recover.

many thanks

Rich
'66 ('67 model year) 1500 Beetle

December 1966 UK 1500 Beetle

Etzhold1
pre67vw Junkie

17 years ago

#2

yes They are unique , for 66/67 only !

Guido

English Eyes

Dubster
Regular Topic Starter

17 years ago

#3

Typical!

I really don't want to swap or recover the seat as the car is 99.9% correct, but I'm concerned that the split in the vinyl will get worse as I drive the car.

If anyone has a correct seat for sale please contact me, condition unimportant as I will restore and recover the seat and then keep the orginal safe in the loft.

thanks

Richard

December 1966 UK 1500 Beetle

1958 Harry
Regular

17 years ago

#4

Couldn't you get an Auto upholsterer to either repair it or patch it with the same type of vinyl?

Also as a temporary measure to protect the seat until you find a solution why not buy some cheap seat covers to protect it and prevent the damage getting worse. 🙂

Multi show winning magazine featured '58 Bug - Harry
2007 2.0 New Beetle - Mijj

Dubster
Regular Topic Starter

17 years ago

#5

The thing is the the car is very, very original and I'd like to keep the seat and refurbish another to fit the car.

I'm sure that even a decent repro cover won't match the original 40 year old vinyl so well.

December 1966 UK 1500 Beetle

Dubster
Regular Topic Starter

17 years ago

#6

I know that it is bad form to reply to my own post, but does anyone know what it is that makes a '67 model front seat unique?

thanks

Rich

December 1966 UK 1500 Beetle

Batton
Regular

17 years ago

#7

I'll stand to be corrected here, but I too have a 67 1500 (and believe it or not also built December 1966) and I think the seat is the same as the 68 model (and later). The 66 and 67 1200 and possibly 1300 were unique and had the back release at the bottom of the seat, whereas the 1500 saw the first introduction of the release lever half way up the side of the seat back. Mine certainly has this design and I recently purchased a front seat advertised as an original from a 67 1500 model which is exactly the same.
My original 67 manual shows pictures of both styles (with and without release lever) so there was clearly a difference between the different models at that time.
Now whether the 68 year model had further revisions I am not 100% sure but I have found no evidence of it to-date. Anyone else out there with a view on this?
Batton

Dubster
Regular Topic Starter

16 years ago

#8

Odd, my car has definately got it's orginal seats fitted, and the back-rest release is at the base of the seat.

I'll try and take some decent pictures at the weekend.

December 1966 UK 1500 Beetle

Batton
Regular

16 years ago

#9

Interesting! I checked my original instruction manual last night. It is dated August 1966 and is the book for both the 1300 and 1500, 1967 model year. In there it most definitely states on page 6: 'The (backrest safety) catches can be released by pulling the knob in the side of the backrest up'. Below this statement is a picture of the backrest showing the lever. Furthermore in the book 'Original VW Beetle' by Laurence Meredith it lists the key changes for the August 1966-on year and it includes the following: 'Inside the car, the sides of the backrests of the front seats were fitted with levers to make it easier to tilt them forward - no more bending down to operate the locking mechanism.'
Just to confuse matters more the photos in this book show a beautiful '67 1500 with clearly no side levers. And just to compound things still further on page 13 of my instruction manual there is alo a picture showing the seat back without the lever!!
My only conclusion is that as this was a changeover year VW were probably using up old stock seats from the 66 model year well into the 67 year and then made the switch mid-year meaning that either can be correct.
Does anyone else have a definitive answer to this?
A confused Batton :? :?

aircooled
Regular

16 years ago

#10

The 67 model year is very interesting to say the least. There are versions of a 67 type 1. Early is for car made from Aug-Sept 66, Oct, Nov, Dec are mid year and January-July 67 are considered late 67's. There are changes which took place during the model run which drives the Early, Mid and later version. I'm not exactly sure when the seat release was moved up to the side of the seat. However, I do have a couple of references which I will check to see if there is any information available. My 67 converible was made in August of 66, and the Sun Roof was made in early Sept of 66.

In the states the difference between a 67 seat with the release on the side and a 68 seat is the 68 seat is taller and has a build in head rest. Which was one of the changes VW made for 68 to improve safety. :wink:

aircooled
Regular

16 years ago

#11

I checked in JT Garwoods book "Volkswagen Beetle The Car of the Century" Volume two which is very detailed on production changes. On page 683 it states that starting with Chassis number 117425908 the front seat back release was moved up to the side of the seat. Dec production numbers stated with Chassis number 117422503. So 67's producted prior to this would have the seat back release down on the side by the floor.

This also makes this a mid year production change. So based on this information you can look at your Vin number and tell which type of seat back release it should have. Hope this helps as there are a host of changes made to the 67 type 1 model year. This is just is one reasons 67's are so interesting. The more complete and original your car is the easier it is to figure out the proper configuration. 😃 :wink:

Batton
Regular

16 years ago

#12

Thank you very much - this is really interesting and many thanks for taking the time to research all this information. I was a month out with my car's production date. My chassis number is 117410310 which makes it a November 1966 car. That of course suggests that my seats have been changed at some point because I have the release lever on the side of the seat back and your research would suggest it should be at the bottom.
My registration document states that it was first registered in June 1967 so it must have sat in a showroom for several months. I wonder if they would have replaced the seats during this time to bring it up to mid/late production specification?
The car was completely restored in 1992 and the photos I have of the car just pre-restoration also show the side lever release.
Fascinating stuff and all part of the fun of owning these great little cars! 🙂
Cheers
Batton

aircooled
Regular

16 years ago

#13

Batton,

Glad I was able to help with the information. My 67 convertible was made in Aug of 66, shipped to the states 1 Sept and didn't get told until Nov of 67. At the time convertibles were a little expense, mine was just under $2,600 dollars. How things have changed. :roll:

Cheers,

Richard

Batton
Regular

16 years ago

#14

Hi Richard,
You are very lucky! A 67 1500 convertible is my ultimate objective. Its the lovely fusion of the old and the new that I like - with the great lines of the old coupled to the added refinement of the new plus the power to cope in modern traffic. I let one slip by me last year and haven't seen another for sale since :cry:
As you say if I do find one I think I'll be parting with considerably more than $2600!!!
Still I mustn't grumble, I really enjoy my 67 1500 Sedan as well. I am slowly returning it to as close to original specification as possible (much to my 13 year old son's disgust - he loves the car but would have it slammed, tuned etc).
Thanks again for your help.
Batton

mrsherbie
pre67vw Junkie

16 years ago

#15

Couldn't you get an Auto upholsterer to either repair it or patch it with the same type of vinyl?

"1958 Harry" wrote:

Yes, thats what I would probably do too.
If you carefully remove the cover you could drop it in to a trimmer and ask him to glue some strengthening/reinforcing vinyl underneath the central seat area and maybe even overstitch the top surface to tidy. You cant do it yourself unless you have an industrial machine.
I have'nt done this exact repair myself but it should work.
A brand new cover definitely wont match.
I am sure you will find a good untorn one with some time.
I am not familiar with '67's, are your seats off white?grey? post a pic when you can so we can all keep an eye out for one!

Car sounds lovely! :D

"it'll wreck the patina you haven't worked so hard to create" - 50Karmann

Dubster
Regular Topic Starter

16 years ago

#16

Interesting! I checked my original instruction manual last night. It is dated August 1966 and is the book for both the 1300 and 1500, 1967 model year. In there it most definitely states on page 6: 'The (backrest safety) catches can be released by pulling the knob in the side of the backrest up'. Below this statement is a picture of the backrest showing the lever. Furthermore in the book 'Original VW Beetle' by Laurence Meredith it lists the key changes for the August 1966-on year and it includes the following: 'Inside the car, the sides of the backrests of the front seats were fitted with levers to make it easier to tilt them forward - no more bending down to operate the locking mechanism.'
Just to confuse matters more the photos in this book show a beautiful '67 1500 with clearly no side levers. And just to compound things still further on page 13 of my instruction manual there is alo a picture showing the seat back without the lever!!
My only conclusion is that as this was a changeover year VW were probably using up old stock seats from the 66 model year well into the 67 year and then made the switch mid-year meaning that either can be correct.
Does anyone else have a definitive answer to this?
A confused Batton :? :?

"Batton" wrote:

Hi Batton,

I've managed to take some pictures of my interior today, showing the front seats without side lever, and the small split which in annoying me so much.

Also, I've now seen the 1500 1967 that you refer to in Laurence Merdith's book, and it's my car! Obviously used before I owned it 🙂

December 1966 UK 1500 Beetle

Dubster
Regular Topic Starter

16 years ago

#17

Sorry, this was a duplicate post, my Macintosh broswer seems to struggle with the pre67vw site.

Edited by user 16 years ago | Reason: Not specified

December 1966 UK 1500 Beetle

Batton
Regular

16 years ago

#18

[Also, I've now seen the 1500 1967 that you refer to in Laurence Merdith's book, and it's my car! ]
Wow, you are very lucky. It was seeing those photos some years ago that made me go for a '67 Beetle in the first place. It's a beautiful car and I can understand your annoyance at that split in the seat. It's well worth trying some of the suggestions earlier in this thread to effect a repair.

However, just as a word of warning when my seats first showed signs of splitting it wasn't long before other splits began to appear. The Vinyl just seemed to be at an age where it became brittle and in the end I have bitten the bullet and just ordered a new set of TMI covers. Hopefully you'll be lucky and the rest of your seat coverings will still be pliable.

As regards the side lever on the seats presumably your chassis number falls before the cut off number mentioned elsewhere in this thread. It would appear that my seats must have been changed at some stage as my chassis number should have the same release as yours.

I did consider trying to find the correct seats rather than re-covering the ones I have but parts like this for the one year only cars are so few and far between I figure I might wear out the new covers before I find some original seats!! :lol:

Good luck with your repair!
Batton

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