Champ seats

I'd remove the Champ seat....I'd then strip off the ratty cover and understuffing (carefully), then inspect the springs. What I've done in the past is pulled the springs from the center section of the seat/ back and shift them to the driver's area. The springs spin right out and then back in with little effort. Now you essentially have new springs to start your recovering effort. If you want to stay stock, the covers are around, but if not some vendors can sell you a nice pair of vinyl/cloth covers that will make your day. You can flip your stuffing around if you're real frugal, but an upolstery shop has fresh batting/foam if need be....Personally, I think Studebaker original seats were very comfortable, especially the bench type....But its your call. I've had Stude seats restuffed with foam and strapping and it makes for a crappy long ride. My opinion.....Good luck....

That's good advice, and in fact I'd prefer it to be something like stock, however that seat is just too big in that cab. I did some measurements and if I could put seats like my Jeep has I'd gain something like 6" of headroom and 6" between the steering wheel and my chest. Of course Cherokee seats would look REALLY weird in there... and wouldn't really mount to the floor anyway.

Jeff DeWitt

Jeff, a friend of mine has a '62 Champ and put the front seats and console of a Taurus in it. Comfy seats all done up in leather, cupholders and oh yeah, he delights in driving down the boulevard in front of my house, stopping and then laying a 200' patch of rubber just to remind me what a Stude should look like when it's on the road and not up on jackstands. Grrrrr.

Brooksie

Bring it back to me when yer done with it.......

Ray

Jeff DeWitt wrote:

You might want to look at the second or third seat from a minivan or Suburban or similar vehicle. Many of these things go to the scrappers with next to NO wear on the rear seats.

Any non-stock seats will require that you fabricate suitable adaptor brackets. Just resign yourself to that necessity. But you can pick seats that may make the job a little easier.

Gord Richmond

rear seats.

Just resign

little easier.

That's exactly what I had to do when I put buckets from some Nissan sports car in the T-Cab. The back seat brackets are bolted to the floor but I had to install a cross angle in the front to accommodate the front seat mounts. They are not bad but I would actually prefer a Stude split bench from a Lark which should fit right in.

Probably some of the wood bracket could be trimmed off to gain another

JT

(Who wishes Studebaker used a two door rather than four door section for T-Cabs)

I'm thinking, look at some older vans.

nate

use the stock frame base for floor fit and low profile seating like the SUV/minivan 3rd seat mentioned

No problem, I wouldn't junk a Studebaker seat if someone could use it.

Jeff DeWitt

Studeman wrote:

If you could find a bench seat out of a later "Lark type", you could remove the little screws from the sides and the seat back will fold forward allowing access to the area behind the seat. That cures the "big" seat issue. I used a bench seat out of a '65. Very comfortable and handy.