# 1968 Lemans/GTO Bucket Seat Re-Upholstered



## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

*1968 Lemans Bucket Seats*

The original green/gold bucket seats were worn out. I am changing over the interior from the green/gold to parchment (white). I purchased the covers, ACI foam, installation kit, seat backs, and lower seat surrounds directly from Legendary Interiors at a cost of $1,100. Not inexpensive, but I wanted to retain my factory buckets even tho I could have substituted them with an aftermarket ready-to-bolt in white set of bucket seats since I am not restoring the car, but going rest-mod.

I wanted to install headrests and purchased a beat up set of 1969 Olds Cutlass S buckets for $40.00 at my local Pull-A-Part that had headrests of the same style as the 1968 type. However, this did not work out as the bolt-in that I thought it might be and the 2 seats were different when the headrest posts were attached. I could have fabricated something to work as I had something close that would have, but I decided to skip it.

Pic #01 is the top crossmember on the '68 seat back with the factory holes already in place to install the headrests if so ordered/optioned.

Pic #02 is the top crossmember on the '69 Olds with the factory holes in place where the seat rest posts go down into. Note the hole size & shape difference.


Pic #03 is a side-by-side comparison of 2 different guides that fit down into the seat back holes and the headrest posts slide up and down within. The guide on the right, is the factory Olds piece. The black guide on the left is sold as fitting a Pontiac - 1968 and up. WRONG. You can clearly see the differences in the two and the replacement guide does not even look like the '69 Olds piece and would not fit into the '69 Olds seat back - so I think it may be a Chevrolet piece, but it is not a Pontiac or Olds.

Pic #04 & #05 So I played around with it for a while and decided I did not want to install them and thought the cleaner look of no headrests actually looked better. So I then cleaned up the seat frames as best I could without pulling off the covers. I wanted to keep the seats together so the upholsterer had a guide in reassembly if it was needed. I unbolted the seat tracks, and used my sand blaster to get most of the frame by pulling the seat material away from the frames. Generally, the rustier areas were those closer to the floor pan. About 10" up the frames were in solid & clean shape. Once blasted, I primed and painted to protect the frames.

I took a photo of one of my seats prior to taking it to the upholsterer. Apparrently the picture did not take as I don't have any. But, if you look in the upper right of photo #05 you can see one of the buckets on its side on the ground. You can see the color of the originals.

Pic #06 - #09 is what I got back from my upholsterer (my camera is a bit sensitive to the sunlight and has a tendency to take pics in a "blue tint". These look good, but may be a slight shade off in the photos). I supplied him with all the parts ad labor to recover/rebuild both buckets was $680.00, $730.00 with tax. The passenger seat would not lock into position and he got that fixed for me. They look pretty good to my eye, but I am no expert on recovering seats so some may see a few flaws somewhere that I don't see. I am real happy with them as they are seeing I am not going concours restoration and parchment is what I wanted. The Legendary covers are not a bright white, but appear to be an off-white, almost having a slight tint of yellowing - just like factory seats I have seen that were no longer new and sat in to be enjoyed. If I look real close, I can see the metallic flecs in the material. The seat backs & bottom surrounds are more white and brighter in comparison to the seat covers, but nothing that really sticks out. Both pieces do have the metallic flecs in them as well.

Pic #10 is a close up of the grain and heat pressed lines in the seat material for anyone who wants to see this. Again, not looking for factory concours perfect even if these covers are. If the covers had been a smooth finish I would have been OK with it.

So the cost of *2 bucket seats* to be re-upholstered/rebuild with me blasting the frames and painting was $1,780. So depending on which brand covers you purchase, cost to re-upholster, and if the re-upholsterer preps/blasts the seat frames, prices could be less or a lot more. This is just what it cost me to give someone and idea of what to expect. Aftermarket buckets, or high back buckets, would definitely be less costly if you did not need to go factory original on the front buckets and then had an upholsterer match the rear seats with a similar pattern/look. I am not using the back seat, so I only needed the buckets redone. Rear seats would of course increase prices.


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## Noangelbuddy (Dec 6, 2017)

As long as you are happy with them nothing else matters. They look good to me.


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## McManusGTO (Dec 18, 2020)

Beautiful work of art.


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## 1969GPSJ (Feb 26, 2020)

Love the Parchment Interior looks Awesome


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## Must_1 (Jun 5, 2015)

Looks good Jim. Love that color.😎


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## BLK69JUDGE (Jun 10, 2010)

x2 ☑


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## pontrc (Mar 18, 2020)

Nice buddy!


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## msulei (Feb 17, 2021)

Great work, can't wait to get to mine


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## 1968gto421 (Mar 28, 2014)

Thanks for a great write up JIm. I've been thinking about re-doing my two fronts as the foam is horrid and lumpyalthough the upholstery isn't bad. Thanks for giving prices as it seems I'll have to put this off for awhile. Prices have certainly gone up since I last did this 20 years ago on another car.


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## 1967pontiac400 (Dec 10, 2020)

That looks great!


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

Thanks for all the positive votes.  I had a 1968 GTO that had a white interior and it always stuck in my mind.

I continue to add to my pile of parts when I can get back to working on the car again. Still moving forward on my brother's 1948 International KB5 Box truck. Got brakes on the drivers side rear, riveted the brake linings on to the steel brake shoes, prepped & painted. Blasted & painted all the small parts. Made my own bearing race tool to knock in the new races into the rear drums (Seems I have to make certain tools first in order to get the job done). Then packed the new bearings & installed all bearings and the felt seals on one of the drums, went to install it on the axle and................I now have to shave about .012" off the new brake linings to allow the brake drum to fit. This was a common thing back "in the day", so now I'll have to take a little material off to make things fit, and then I'll do the passenger side. Then I think I can actually put the tires and rims back on it, set it down, and have a truck that will run and stop! So the end is getting closer mechanically, then I have some body repairs to do.


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## z man (Jun 20, 2010)

PontiacJim said:


> Thanks for all the positive votes.  I had a 1968 GTO that had a white interior and it always stuck in my mind.
> 
> I continue to add to my pile of parts when I can get back to working on the car again. Still moving forward on my brother's 1948 International KB5 Box truck. Got brakes on the drivers side rear, riveted the brake linings on to the steel brake shoes, prepped & painted. Blasted & painted all the small parts. Made my own bearing race tool to knock in the new races into the rear drums (Seems I have to make certain tools first in order to get the job done). Then packed the new bearings & installed all bearings and the felt seals on one of the drums, went to install it on the axle and................I now have to shave about .012" off the new brake linings to allow the brake drum to fit. This was a common thing back "in the day", so now I'll have to take a little material off to make things fit, and then I'll do the passenger side. Then I think I can actually put the tires and rims back on it, set it down, and have a truck that will run and stop! So the end is getting closer mechanically, then I have some body repairs to do.
> 
> ...


Installed headrest on my 68 GTO. Confuses a lot of people but I’ve to have. Did you paint or replace the rear covers on the seats? Sorry I missed that


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## z man (Jun 20, 2010)

z man said:


> Installed headrest on my 68 GTO. Confuses a lot of people but I’ve to have. Did you paint or replace the rear covers on the seats? Sorry I missed that


Nice to have


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

z man said:


> Installed headrest on my 68 GTO. Confuses a lot of people but I’ve to have. Did you paint or replace the rear covers on the seats? Sorry I missed that


Yep, if I had more time to fiddle with the headrests, I would have at least gotten them to the point of installing and be able to see if I actually wanted them. For the amount of work/time I was getting into, I hit a point where it just wasn't worth any more effort. I was trying to do this on a budget and not get into big money or buy a set of donor '68 buckets and then not like the look.

All parts on the seats are new - backs and bottoms. Mine were dry rotted/deteriorated and not even considered for paint. My '68 Lemans has had a rough life and was a typical used and abused car that happened to survive the years - and it needs work in all areas of the car.


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