MTFCA Forum

After going to a couple of upholstery shops yesterday with my 26 Coupe bench seat to get recovered, I was shocked by the estimates they were giving me, so after unsuccessful internet searching this morning, I have come to the experts that hopefully can inform me of possibly where to buy a quality slip cover for my car? At this particular juncture, I am not willing to spend five to six hundred dollars as they were asking...

Much Thanks in advance !!!

Walt Wise

Hello.
Have you considered buying an upholstery kit for your car and doing it yourself?
I guess it would depend on how much you want to spend but it’s not that diffulcult to do. There are online videos on recovering seats, backrest, cushion and etc for Model T’s that are really helpful.
As far as a slip cover for Model T bench seats you might try Auto Zone, Wal Mart and etc to find a slip cover that’s close to the size for what you need. It won’t be made for a T but it might be close enough to work.

We bought material and made our own for the 1953 C**** sedan, cleaned/repaired the springs, covered with burlap, cotton, and foam. Replaced the sewing machine along the way. Before that we covered the protruding springs with a blanket.
Our 26-7 coupe will get upholstered one day. But until then we will continue to collect photos of T's on the Internet in order to make something within our budget. We found a remnant of the cloth from the car and will try to match it, a very royal dark green, probably the interior but not the seats themselves.

A working slip cover is not all that hard to do and can actually look acceptable.

When I bought the '25 some 40 years ago now it came with stringy seat upholstery with the stuffing peeking out all over the place. At that point in my life, if someone gave me a dime I'd still be 9 cents short of being able to spend it So I had a bright idea having nothing to lose.

I went to the local fabric shop and bought a few yards of something that had body, was a neutral color and was on the remnant pieces table. I forget what I paid, but in the end it was only lunch money as that would have been my only source of funds.

I then cut pieces and using straight pins every 2 -3 inches made an inside out slipcover. fit to size. I then trimmed the skirt and pinned a hem. Carefully removed from the seat, had the pin lines overstitched with a standard sewing machine. Trimmed up the waste side to be uniform distance from the stitch line, removed the pins, then turned it right side out and put it on. Fit like a glove and didn't look bad at all!

Over the years it got a wee bit saggy but not baggy, but then at a local show a real upholsterer stopped by and offered comments on seeing what I had done. He said to take off the slipcover, turn it inside out again, and where the stitch line was run a second stitch line maybe 3/8"-1/2" inboard of the original in the 'cushion' areas...turn it right side out...and stretch it on! I did as he suggested some time around 1985 and if it wasn't so cold out...I'd go over to deep storage and shoot a pic...those 'slipcovers' are STILL on the car and still don't look to shabby!

Okay guys and ladies too, don't want to discriminate, I am STILL searching for some kind of slip cover or something that isn't $500 plus to cover the bench seat in my 26 Coupe. I get it, most of the cars owners on here have multiple cars and deep bank accounts, but that isn't me. Just getting my car mostly mechanically sound has cost far over what I really had budget for and I still have a few things to go in that arena, so I still hope "someone" knows where I could buy some slip covers that could work on my small bench seat without to much "excess" material since the bench and back are so much shorter and smaller than a today's car bench slip cover. I have tried several auto stores(Pep Boys, NAPA, Autozone, and Advanced Auto) with no luck. I can't possibly be the only one that would like to "re-cover" their seats in their T fairly reasonably. I don't have a sewing machine and sewing on a button is about all the skill set I have with needle and thread, maybe a small rip, but that's about it. The "kits" from the vendors is far over my budget, plus I don't need to replace the entire interior of my car since except for the seats, the headliner and door panels are in fairly good shape, just a stain here or there which with more cleaning, I will be happy with. ANYBODY with HELP PLEASE??? Thanks for your reading time and hopeful help !!! Walt Wise

Try Classtique in MN, you may be surprised. Great quality and prices.

Get a twin size cotton bed sheet in black or gray from Walmart and a box of safety pins. Cost should be around $8. Any seat cover you get isn’t going to look or fit any better.

I bought two old US Army wool blankets on ebay and had a seamstress friend sew seat covers.
A coupe seat would be easier.
The blankets were not expensive and I only had to give the seamstress an old cast iron skillet.

Mr. Myers,

MUCH Thanks for your reply post!!! Although I am sure Classtique makes beautiful seat covers, here again $500 plus is NOT in my budget for a seat cover! Thanks to others that responded as well, but I have a plan that I think will work for me. My seat covering is still in good enough shape to remove for the "pattern" to make a new seat cover, so I now will search for the best inexpensive material(fabric, blanket, whatever I can find the right color for me) and have the seamstress that I use make a cover that I can then "attach" back to my bench seat. If it turns out good enough to post and not get laughed at, maybe I will post some pics in a couple of months. Thanks again to ALL !!! Walt Wise