Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

What type of material, or blend, was used for the seats and carpet on my 53 Cavalier?

Thought I saw this somewhere at some point, but can't find it now.

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Possibly this document?

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/PackardMaterialCards.pdf

Looks like trim code 83 or 84, listed on pages XVIII and XIX of the index for the 1951-54 parts list. It just shows as blue or dark gray nylon combined with light gray nylon.
The code should be stamped on the serial number plate.

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My Fabrics are in there, but it doesn't indicate what they are made of.

Have you talked with SMS Auto Fabrics in Oregon? They should be able to help identify the material and can probably even supply an exact match. If nothing else, they will gladly send samples.

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My car is trim code 84, dark gray/light gray combination. I was pretty sure it was nylon and that's the piece of information I wanted to know! Thank you BDeB!

I'm trying to rescue as much of the original interior as possible. Front seat is disassembled, made a couple of repairs to the frame and gave it a coat of paint. Next is to get some new materials and start rebuilding.

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What is the reason that the back two rows of springs are encased in burlap?

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I appreciate that you are sharing your seat rebuild project and the photos. Without doing a quick web search, I suspect that the burlap covering the springs acts as protective barrier, so the metal springs don't wear through the padding and seat upholstery. My driver side front seat has a compression issue compared to the passenger side. After looking at the spring configuration on your seat I was wondering if cutting some high-density foam to fit down inside the coils would provide addition support. And cover the bottom of the frame with a sheet of plywood. FYI, the Kanter.com catalog has seat rebuilding kits.

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When I look online there seems to be a variety of reasons/opinions for the burlap. "Pre-loading" the springs, keeps them quiet, prevent wear, etc. I'm not sure what the exact reason is, but I'm going to duplicate what Packard did, because I'll be dammed if I'm going to leave it off as some people suggest and discover after why I should have put it on! Each spring is completely encased in this long burlap tube and the burlap is completely worn out in some places so I think it's doing something.

With regards to your seat, it's not surprising the the driver's side would be softer, and I found on mine that part of the frame was broken, see pics. I created these little splints that would allow things to still flex.

What I would do, which I sometimes get accused of making things more complicated than they need to be, is pull the seat, cut the hog rings and peel off back the layers of fabric, cotton, foam and jute to see what's going on. Maybe there are some broken springs, or frame. When everything is as it should be your seat should be as comfy as a couch.

You could replace the foam at the same time as it's old and probably broken down.

If you do pull things apart note that there are different gauge springs (3) in your seat that go in different places! I realized this in the middle of taking things apart and had to stop and review pictures carefully to figure out where the different springs came from.

Here's a link to Kevin's video where he replaces the foam in his front seat.youtu.be/_-8EqjyDEeQ?si=KgFClNQF670NQUvu

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