By Steve Martin. Republished with permission from the Summer 2016 issue of Fourteener Motoring Magazine.

When I perused the tables of 914 goodies being raffled off at last year’s Okteenerfest there was no doubt what I wanted to focus my raffle tickets on. I always liked the factory plaid seats, and even though they were not original to our 1972 car, it was a modificaiton I wanted to make.

The project car was about 9 months into what was going to be a 2 month “clean up” restoration, and it was time to think about getting the seats recovered. Although there were thousands of dollars of much-needed parts being raffled off at Okteenerfest, none stood out to me like the seat material from 914rubber. Red plaid was exactly the color I wanted, and by chance it was what they had sent for display at the raffle.

I quickly started to compute the odds of winning. My wife and I each had a set of raffle tickets to “invest.” I tried to get a gauge for how many tickets were in the container in front of the seats, but, couldn’t tell. We decided to put almost all of our eggs in the seat material basket and deposited nearly every ticket we had in the ticket bowl.

Two hours later when they called out the winners, I anxiously awaited the results. “And the 914rubber plaid seat upholstry set goes to . . . ,” the speaker announced. I had won. Thank you to all of the sponsors to the 914 events each year. But, a special call-out to 914rubber. You are much too generous.

The 914rubber set is a presewn kit, and includes the base and center section. The set that I won also included the complete bolsters, headrest, and back, all in black. When they arrived, I was particularly impressed with the care that was taken in precutting the material to fit the seats, and presewing it to the cloth. The fit and finish is excellent, and makes the job much easier for the local upholsterer to install.

We had a pair of how-to articles related to recovering your 914 seats in the July 2015 and October 2015 issues of Fourteener Motoring. The articles were written by Mark at 914rubber, and we have had positive feedback from owners that have recovered their own seats. Given the fit and finish of the materials from 914rubber, I think it is something that owners can do themselves.

Despite the fact that the material kits make recovering your own seats much easier, I don’t have the patience to do it properly myself. Bill Dunster, who’s 914-6 was on the cover of Fourteener Motoring in January 2016, recommended Peterson’s Auto Upholstery, in Matthews, North Carolina to complete our seats. Based on the quality of his seats there was no doubt that I would have them do ours. I have seen a number of sets of recovered seats that were not done properly, and the material ended up too loose. It takes a lot of experience and patience to get them right.

We purchased the presized seat base foam from 914rubber, which worked great in conjunction with the plastic seat bases Harry made.

The initial quote to install the material on our seat frames was $400, but came with the caveat that the quote assumed that they could reuse the seat base cards, which were not in great shape. In the end, Harry made new, plastic seat cards for the bases, complete with venting circles like the factory units. And I am glad he did. We also used new seat base foam purchased from 914rubber. Finally, Peterson’s replaced the foam on the sides of the seats as well.

The cost of installing the seat materials ended up being $475. We couldn’t be happier with the finished seats. The quality of the fit and finish of the materials in the 914rubber kit, coupled with Harry’s workmanship, all exceeded our expectations.

THE CRAFTSMAN

Harry at Peterson’s Auto Upholstery, in Matthews, North Carolina, came highly recommended. Bill Dunster, had his seats recovered by these masters while restoring his 914-6.

When we did the photos shoot of his car, we noticed how nice the seats were, complete with yellow piping, and asked where he had them done. Bill introduced us to Harry, and we hired him to install the material.

Even though the 914rubber upholstery is excellently fitted and sewn, it still takes some work to get them installed properly. We recommend you find a good shop to work with. Or send them to Harry:

Peterson’s Auto Upholstery

Matthews, North Carolina

The seats will be the highlight of the interior for the project 914. I am excited to see them with the other red accents on the car. Stay tuned to see them installed in the car in the next issue.

The next step for the project car is a lot of assembly. And then, more assembly. We still need to finish building the 2056cc engine for the car, and install the powerplant. Then we will move on to the interior, installing DynaPad sound deadening, and new carpet from 914rubber. Lastly we will tackle the finishing touches. The schedule for the car keeps getting pushed back. But, I am confident that we are on the home stretch.