Getting ready to put the original seat back into my truck. Does anyone have photos of a two-tone seat or know what the two tone colors were for a black truck?


Thinking it would be black and gray? This photo is from a brochure and it looks like there might be a herringbone pattern?


Would appreciate any details on materials, patterns, colors. welting and possible sources for covers.

 

You are correct, the seat material for 1954 was herringbone with red vinyl sides. The vinyl went the whole way around the front of the seat, 55 and 56 seat vinyl does not. The Deluxe Cabs had a vinyl bolster across the top of the seat back. For the 1955 Custom Cabs the color of the seat, red or green, depended on truck's body color.
54 seat pics
Deluxe Cab seat from a 54 dealer catalog


54 Deluxe Cab seat


My 54 Standard Cab seat


I ordered NOS seat material to cover my seat. I got it from a place in Oregon or Washington. I am not home now to give you the info if interested. I am real pleased with it, except I wish I hadn't put foam in the seat since my seat is a standard cab seat. The Deluxe Cab seats were built different to accommodate the seat foam they came with.
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More details.... the bead is black as you see in the pictures above. Having said that the picture below has a red bead. But the majority of vintage pics or of still stock trucks have black bead. The seat runners that bolt to the floor are that argent silver Ford used for interior trim. The brackets under the seat and the arm of the seat back is a brownish color like some of the metal folding chairs you might find in churches or schools. I tried to find that color but the spray paint I found had a little too much metallic in it.

Here is a picture of a low mileage 54 firetruck I used as reference.


I think 55 and 56 trucks used a grey paint, different from the argent, for the seat hardware, not the brown I just described.

 

Thanks Abe, very helpful details. Would appreciate the seat material source if you can locate it.

 

The NOS fabric place is
SMS Auto Fabrics
350 Redwood St.
Canby, OR 97013

503.263.3535
info@smsautofabrics.com
www.smsautofabrics.com

They will send you a small sample of the material upon request. Make sure you tell them it is for a truck. Also ask for the red vinyl.

I got my red vinyl from MidFifty as it was cheaper but now I notice it does not have that grain pattern like the original.

 

For those FTE members looking to restore a 1955 Custom Cab seat here are the details. Ford had two seat colors Ford Custom Cab seats, red and green dependant on the trucks body colors. Notice the Custom Cab seats had white vinyl accents or bolsters, the standard cabs used the red vinyl.

Pic from a 1955 dealer catalog showing the green seat.

The fine print above the picture of the interior lists the 1955 body colors and talks about the two tone option, then it says, "Seat upholstery is color keyed -- a warm red for Vermillion, blue, and black exteriors; harmonizing green for green and yellow."

A picture of the red Custom Cab seat and a standard cab interior.


And here is a pic of my standard cab 55 F350 interior.

 

FYI... I contacted SMS about a month ago. The Herringbone material is $99 a yard and the red Vinyl is $65 a yard.


They stated the material is about 60" wide. I figured I would need just under 3 yards to cover the seat back and bottom.

 

Does anyone know how the vertical dimension of the red vinyl top stripe in a '54 Deluxe Cab seat back? I saw a thread with 8", another with 6.5" and a good suggestion to match the door section as shown in the dealer brochure.
Looking if someone knows in inches because I am dropping off a seat frame out of the truck to be upholstered. Thanks