1974 Carrera Coupe - RHD, UK car

[Ferry Man]

The seats that came with my car were the correct 'tombstone' style with the 'new for '74' built-in headrests.
They were black leather with lovely perforated centres.
Although dusty, dirty and creased in places I felt that with little effort they could be transformed.
They were not ripped, nor badly cracked, the seams were all good.

[Ferry Man]

[Ferry Man]

So I cleaned them and fed them with leather conditioner.
Every few months I'd feed and polish them some more.
And slowly they got better.
Any marks disappeared, the leather softened and the foam regained its shape.
After much care I was rewarded with some great seats.
A welcome bonus and a large expenditure saved through patient refurbishing.

[Ferry Man]

[Ferry Man]

And yet there remained another nagging doubt, a little niggle that wouldn't go away.

A question I was afraid to ask for fear of hearing the wrong answer.
But you must confront such hurdles head on.
Deal with it and move forward.
So - very bravely I’m sure you’ll agree - I sent Guy (he who knows all) a single picture and asked him to verify if the seats were correct for 1974.

And the answer came back very promptly: No.
Marvellous.

[Ferry Man]

I asked Guy to verify if the seats were correct for 1974.
And the answer came back very promptly: No.

So why are they not correct?
Well the 74 seats (perhaps understandably) are very similar to the sports Recaros we're used to on the early cars.
They have a distinctive external hinge and the seat back angle is adjusted by a metal lever topped with a Recaro button.
The seat tipping knob (positioned half way up the side of the seat back) is round.
This type of seat was only used for a few years in the mid-seventies making it quite rare.
And very much rarer in the 'sports' version.

Here's a photo of one from the 1974 brochure.
Note the hinge on the side.

[Ferry Man]

Whereas the seats I had looked like this....

[Ferry Man]

Here's a great shot of a 1974 Carrera which - remarkably - is optioned with both types of seats.
The passenger makes do with the standard seat (with a plain cushion and simple squab) and the driver gets the better and more supportive 'sports' version with bulkier bolsters and a seat base much like the Recaro's of the early 911's.

[964RS]

Bummer.

[Ferry Man]

So then I found myself needing the correct year seats with the correct hinges.
Yet they were only made for a couple of years and so are rare these days.
And very much rarer in the 'sports' version.

I really wanted to try and get the sports version if at all possible.
And that proved very difficult.
Forget gold, forget fine art, put your money into sports seats.
There are spectacular gains to be had.
Provided you ignore the difficulties in shipping and storage, etc, etc.

This is a very fine pair of the correct sports seats.
The hunt was on for a similar pair.

[Bootsy]

Aren't they the ones people cut the top off to 'back date' them?

[Ferry Man]

Aren't they the ones people cut the top off to 'back date' them?

Not only have we been losing good cars to the 'backdaters', now we're losing rare seats too?

[Edomatic]

interesting about the external hinges, I thought the standard seats from my 1974 911S were the original frames with an unfortunate coloured retrim... it has the round tilt knob but the wheel adjust mechanism. what year are they then? BTW, they now reside in my attic and the red mats are in the bin! Eddie

[KS]

Hmmm, me no understand. My unmolested (until I got my hands on it, but let's not go there...) '74 Carrera had seats which were no different to any other of the same year. Yours were, I presume, optional 'sports seats', not the standard Carrera fare. But then my car was Italian-spec.

[Ferry Man]

interesting about the external hinges. I thought the standard seats from my 1974 911S were the original frames.

My unmolested '74 Carrera had seats which were no different to any other of the same year.

Those hinges are correct for the standard seats (which those pictured in your cars above are). But they are not the correct hinges for '74 sports seats.

I presume, optional 'sports seats', not the standard Carrera fare.

Exactly, you've got it.
But your standard seats pictured above should have the round seat back 'tilt' knobs, Eddie's are correct.