MTFCA Forum

Doing some restoration work on my 23T. I don't want her to appear new. I considered buying one of the seat kits from langs. I thought also about maybe using some burlap feed sacks for seat covers, somthing maybe like a farmer would have done in the 30s. Anyone else done this? Thanks

I have brown canvas seats from a old restoration which makes mine look rustic.

Scroll back to May 8, 2020 (page 21) to “Upholstety Suggestions” and you will find some good ideas regarding your question. Jim Patrick

Sound itchy to me. They do look good on cars that are really unrestored and rusty.

I am working on an unrestored 1922 buckboard for a customer at the moment. My task is to get the body timberwork into sound condition so the doors can be shut, the windscreen properly fitted and rigid and the rest of it sound enough to leave alone.
This will include leaving the seat cushion as is. The spring assembly is affixed to the usual wooden base as is the custom on our colonial bodies. It has a layer of burlap over the springs to hold them in position. Over that is a loose cushion fashioned from a 100lb hessian feed sack, stuffed with a layer of coconut fibre and hand stitched just as a bag of wheat would have been. You can still red the brand and details on the sack.
Sorry. No photos until I can get some help to post same.

Allan from down under.

I cut up an old leather couch for my seats. It turned out really nice and the couch was free.

I wanted Tinker T lo look like someone might fix it in the 1940s and lived in the backwoods. I used a piece of rusty tin for the top and burlap for the seat. When the seat started wearing, I used cowhide print for the lower seat.

Phillip

And people call me a “Hillbilly”, “Redneck”, “Country Bumpkin” , “Rough on the Edge”...., oh no! I have standards! LOL

Rough but period correct. Found on a well used depot hack stored since 1940.

Tom: I have always associated these 'Bemis' heavy canvas feed sacks for projects like yours. The material is more durable and less itchy than burlap, although burlap may be a fine choice, it's your car after all.

There are a lot of these sacks shown on e-bay, some less expensive and more rustic than this example. I have no connection with this seller, just a random example I found. Drive careful, jb https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-UNUSED-Vin ... Sw1a5fasWF

Thomas- you should get in touch with Phillip Lee, since both of you are from Tennessee. His rusty old yellow pickup truck is an inspiration to look at. Your profile does not show where in TN you are located but for all you know, he may be close. Be prepared for some chuckles!

I use Sunbrella fabrics. They last a long time and are breathable. One can go crazy looking at all the swatches. I will try to post a picture of my car. I just put a new top on- the last Sunbrella top lasted 22 years. Another plus is that you can do sew it yourself on a good machine or use a furniture reupolsterer and avoid a very expensive car person expert.

This is what I did for seat covers in my Model TT farm truck. Those feed sacks were the reusable type and are like a lite weight canvas

I LOVE the leather seat idea and it was free...looks great...

Back in the 50's when i was in high school, I used an old army blanket for seat covers and a canvas tarp to cover the top insert of of a sedan. I melted parafine to seal the top around the edges.
Norm

Hessian (burlap) is also comfortable and nice and soft to sit on too And you don't tend to sweat on your rear on a hot humid day either !

We used "Tow" sacks all the time for seat covers, cushions,and etc. all the time. Tow sacks were in plentiful supply, they were everywhere underfoot, and free. We stuffed them with Spanish Moss,free, corn shucks, free, and sometimes just a big hand full of sacks. The farm implements we used all had a cast iron seat that just got harder as the day went along, and anything felt good to one's rear end after awhile. The wagons we used for the most part did not have a seat, one just stood up and bent your legs a little to take some of the shock. We had a removable seat that we used in our wagon when my Grandmother would go with us to town for feed and such, it too had the burlap Tow sacks for a cushion. I think the word "Tow" for these sacks was a kind of slur from "Tote" sack,since they were used to haul everything, hence the word "Tote". I have not seen a genuine Tow sack in a very long time,everyone uses paper now, and about all one can do with them is burn them. I say go with Burlap, and I wish I could be there to see it and sit on it.

What about those white sacks that they sell for construction trash clean up or premeasured gravel and sand at the material yards? It is advertised to hold a lot of weight, tear resistant, but some sort of plastic. Would it depend on what is under it? I am right now trying to decide for myself on exactly this matter. I was thinking moving blankets but they deteriorate so fast. Great topic. Frank

Consider canvas drop cloths from Harbor Freight.

halftracknut wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 03, 2020 9:02 pm

I LOVE the leather seat idea and it was free...looks great...

Thank you.

I searched Facebook Marketplace for a suitable couch...a plain one that had vast expanses of flat leather. It took a few weeks but I finally found a couch and loveseat pair that a lady was asking $400 for.

I know that people don't like buying used furniture (of the overstuffed variety) and there was a decent chance that she wouldn't sell it, so I messaged her and said that I hoped she sold her pretty couches for her asking price, BUT on the outside chance that she didn't and simply needed them hauled off, please contact me and I'd do so. I told her what I was planning on doing with them and sent her a photo of my Model T.

A few weeks later, she called me and said the couches were in her driveway because she was moving out of her rented house that same day.

I zipped over there and had them in my possession in a few hours. FREE!!!!