Nothing can drag down a cool Camaro faster than a shoddy interior. Ripped seats, sagging foam, and a vibe more reminiscent of a badger's den than a muscle car's interior can completely kill the fun of cruising a classic F-body. The interiors of our vintage Camaros are simply victims of time and use. This is especially true of seats where decades of literally "hauling ass" has taken its toll.
The good news is that the aftermarket now makes it easy to restore your interior back to better-than-new status. While just about every interior widget for a first-gen can already be found in some catalog, many companies are also increasing their line of second-gen parts. One of those is TMI Classic Automotive Interiors. They've been churning out high-quality first-gen interior parts for years and are now delving into the much-needed second-gen realm.
These seats are from a '71...
These seats are from a '71 Camaro and have obviously seen better days. Besides the thrashed vinyl, they also suffer from collapsed foam.
Rather than make exact replicas of the parts that originally came in our Camaros, TMI focuses more on making the parts better than stock, but with the same OEM look. TMI's Dean Satterfield says, "This required buying and setting up extra equipment to replicate obsolete stitch lines. The average person may not notice, but the purist will." Also, in a time where it seems that more and more replacement parts are coming in from overseas, all of TMI's products are produced at their factory in Corona, California. TMI has been manufacturing interior bits since 1982 and they make quite a few pieces for first-gens, including a cool front seat they call the Sport Seat. This updated kit features a slightly taller backrest along with larger side and thigh bolsters. They've also started giving some love to the second-gen crowd with a new line of seat covers and foam.
Paying close attention to proper grain in their vinyl and pattern weaves in their cloth helps TMI achieve a factory-correct look. They have reproduced over 20 original materials in the correct grains for the Camaro. They also offer many colors, including metallics that, up until now, weren't available.
It turned out that the seats...
It turned out that the seats had been recovered at some point. Pulling off the puke-brown covers reviled the original vinyl. Not that it looked much better. We then stripped the front and back seats of their covers and ditched the worn out front foam.
Here's the resulting frame...
Here's the resulting frame for the front seat. Overall they were in great shape, but it's common to have one or more broken springs in the bottom section. The frames are not available as reproductions, but there are plenty out there in the used market if you need one.
After painting all the frames...
After painting all the frames black, we were ready to start rebuilding the seats. The first step was to glue the new foam from TMI to the painted seat frame. This makes installing the covers much easier. The replacement foam is made in-house at TMI.
The front seat can be pretty...
The front seat can be pretty tricky to recover, so we recommend having a skilled upholstery shop do the deed. Nonetheless, one trick TMI showed us to help get the new covers over the foam was to use a thin plastic trash bag in between the two. This helped the new covers slide in place over the backs.
Metal rods were then slid...
Metal rods were then slid into the seat covers at all the points where the covers would be tucked into the foam. The ends of the rods needed to be bent in to a loop to prevent tearing the new covers.
The three areas where the...
The three areas where the rods needed to be inserted are shown in red. The covers themselves are patterned from GM original samples. TMI uses the same methods of stitching, heat seams, and assembly as GM.