Seats: series 1 vs. series 2

[Fred]

For those who have driving experience on both styles of seat, which do you prefer for comfort?  

I'm curious because I have a full set of series 2 seats with the car and also a spare 2-passenger series 1 seat but no series 1 driver's seat.  I may try to obtain the series 1 drivers seat so I have two sets for the car.

[Spyros]

Fred,

Serie 1 seats are much better than the second model (I presume you mean the ones startinsµg as of 1979).

But, even on the second models, late seats have been modified to provide a bit more confort.

Also, you may consider the seat covering. Standard one, I mean

Regards

[Fred]

Thanks for the reply Spyros. 

By series 1,  I mean this shape of seat:





By series 2, these:



My car is a 1979 Series 2 'S' and the seats are are like the ones in the second picture but trimmed in brown tweed as in the first picture. 

So these later seats (tartan trim in the photo) only appeared in 1979?  I didn't realise this.   I assumed they were fitted to all Series 2 Bagheeras from 1977 onwards.  I will try to find the early shape driver's seat (LHD) as I have a spare 2-passenger unit and two sets of door cards.

This shouldn't be too easy as there are probably zero Bagheera spares in Ireland and they are not the easiest items to post.       

When i get a new camera I shall try to get some photos of the car onto the forum. 

[andyowl]

I have a 1977/8 driver's seat (your "series 1") lefthand drive going begging. I'd be glad of the space. It will need recovering though as we were going to use it in Baggy Joe and it is grey/blue check.

We are near J9/J10 on the Surrey M25 when you are passing.

Andy Owler

[Fred]

I have a 1977/8 driver's seat (your "series 1") lefthand drive going begging. I'd be glad of the space. It will need recovering though as we were going to use it in Baggy Joe and it is grey/blue check.

We are near J9/J10 on the Surrey M25 when you are passing.

Andy Owler

Andy, that's absolutely great news.  Many thanks for letting me know.  I'm not sure when I'll get over to England again but give me a couple of months or so ... pretty please.  

I took a few photos today.  My seats are all quite grotty, with some splits so a retrim will probably be inevitable at some point.  

The 'early style' passenger seat unit - of which I want the matching driver's seat to complete the set:





The 'late style' passenger seat unit as fitted in the factory (driver's seat is in the car):


Rather unhelpful shot of the Bagheera squeezed into the garage   ...


The car was red from the factory and has been repainted gold at some point (more like bronze in a few areas  ).  I believe this is likely to be a Series 2 factory colour as I've seen one on The Simca Talbot Club's website:



Unfortunately mine has four steel wheels and no spare.  I think the steels came with a trim but I don't have them.  It doesn't matter, as they will be changed anyway!  

[lewisman]

I may have a set of murena alloys going spare if you were interested.  I was thinking about puting them on ebay sometime.

[Fred]

I may have a set of murena alloys going spare if you were interested.  I was thinking about puting them on ebay sometime.

Thanks, Lewisman.  I'm hoping to track down something a bit wider than the standard Bagheera alloys (5.5''x13'').   What I have in mind would be somewhere around  7'' on the front and 8'' on the rear, maybe in 14'' diameter.  I'm not sure how 15'' wheels would look and I definitely want to fit something that looks period, no modern designs.  I'm sure my quest will be a long one. 

Having said that I *might* be interested in a set of 6''x14'' alloys from the Murena 2.2 as a spare set, so I won't rule them out.