Sticky #3: Pantera Seats

When I decide to change my seats, my car already had Scheel seats and I couldn't imagine putting factory seats in my car. I've checked out the diffent options - C4/C5, Recaro, Flofit, et cetara and decided on the Fiero seats with a rebuild kit I bought from MrMikes.



This exterior shot shows how high the seats sit in the car using the Pantera seat tracks. The stock fiero seat tracks make them sit too high.


Additional pictures of my car can be found on MrMikes website (www.mrmikes.com)as well as a couple of other Panteras with the same seats.

Good luck in your quest.

Nice seats. What kind of seat belts do you have? I'm tired of digging around on the floor looking for the damn female belt! Hate when that happens!

quote:

What kind of seat belts do you have? I'm tired of digging around on the floor looking for the damn female belt! Hate when that happens!

I made small extentions for the female sides of my belts. Cheap and easy (like me)
Will

quote:

Originally posted by Cuvee:
Nice seats. What kind of seat belts do you have? I'm tired of digging around on the floor looking for the damn female belt! Hate when that happens!

The seat belts are for a Grp5 but I've seen the same stalks for the locks on an early MBZ and some other cars. I'd have to check as I forget the manufacturer. I gave up on the 4pt harness I used to have after I converted to the Fiero seats (not practical on a street car).

4n, I built a pair of seatbelt end "holders" from late '80s Ford pickup belt holders, cut down to perfectly fit a Pantera. Practically speaking, you only need holders on the inboard ends for both driver & passenger. There was an illustrated article on what to do and how to do it in the POCA News of May 2008.

After I converted to Corvette C-4 seats http://www.panteraplace.com/page127.htm my next upgrade was installing a pair of Toyota FJ-4 Land Cruiser seat belts. http://coolfj40.stores.yahoo.net/seatbelfj19t.html

I mounted the single inertial retract mechanism to the rear bulkhead in the stock location. I had to cut a 'window' in the stock fairing cover for the larger mechanism. I removed the rocker area retract mechanism and mounted the end of the new belt to the stock steel plate. The female receptor is on a semi rigid cable like the factory GT5S. It's mounted in the stock location with an 'L' angle. What a difference over the stock Pantera set-up.

Floor mount

Rear bulkhead mount

Rear bulkhead mount with modified cover

Female receptor. No fumbling trying to find it.

Upper mount.

LIV1S your seats look great. I actually have access to an old junk Fiero that that I could pull the seats out of.

Do you remember how much the seat kits were from Mr. Mikes. I just looked at his site, however, there are not any prices listed.

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Garvino:
LIV1S your seats look great. I actually have access to an old junk Fiero that that I could pull the seats out of.

Do you remember how much the seat kits were from Mr. Mikes. I just looked at his site, however, there are not any prices listed.

Thanks.

I did the upgrade a couple years ago and I believe the cost was around $700 which included your choice of style and the embroidered Isis logo in your choice of color. The kit was very detailed and included a DVD, hog ring pliers and rings. If you do decide to go with the kit, I can look up the actual price I paid.

Good luck in your quest.

Garvino, I went the Mr. Mikes Fiero seat route as well, but I ended up having to bolt them to the floor with no tracks. Even had to cut the carpet out around to bolt holes to get just a smidgen more headroom. I'm 6' tall with a long torso and as it is, I barely fit in the car. Depending on your height, this could be a problem. You could substitute thinner foam on the seat bottoms for more headroom.
I think I paid $550 for the kit and another $50 for the seats. Mine have the speakers in the headrests and this helped the stereo immensely. I put new speakers in the headrests before recovering them, so that is an additional expense.
I'm not sure where you are in Wyoming, but I'm in Greeley CO so I might be just down the road from you. You're welcome to come over for a test fit before you buy. Might save you some dissapointment and expense!
Later, Mooso.

When even considering buying a Pantera, the primary question should be 'How tall are your?' Are they trying to say that all italians are 5'9" or shorter?

When I installed the Fiero seats, I had to use a Pantera bracket as the Fiero brackets would cause the seats to sit too high for me.

FWIW, there are three different 'stock' seats (and maybe more!) that come in various years of Panteras. IMHO the earliest examples from '71-72 can be made to comfortably fit nearly any human being. The seats I like are the ones in which the backs completely remove with 4 bolts; the rear fastener system can be easily modified to change the seatback 'rake' which will accomodate most comfortably. Reupholstered examples allow my aged 6'2" body to drive 6-8 hours at a stretch and change with my 5'4" wife who also has no back or seat problems. Most aftermarket seats often simply do not fit well in the Pantera which has rather narrow seat areas. Rule of Thumb: if you are 6' or over, avoid ALL seats that have thick backs or bases; both limit the adjustability of whatever seat you choose, and carefully measure the overall width of the donor seat before buying. What fits the drivers side may not fit the passenger side- or your co-driver.

I just had the conversation about seat fitment and according to Steve Wilkinson, the seat base width is limited to around 19" on the passenger side and 20" on the driver side. That limit is for the very bottom of the seat. I have Gary Herrings Corvette seats and love them. However, I have a set of cut down in height Ford GT seats I am going to go with. Only reason is the weight savings since they are real carbon fiber based.

David,

Where did you find those GT seats? Do you know what model they are; and if there are any around?

Are you going to install tracks on them as well, or just bolt them to the floor? If you are going to use tracks, where does one find these?

Thanks,

Mark

The seats are from the Shelby Cobra roadster concept vehicle used in a movie. Ford provided the movie makers with the details of the concept car and the seats are custom made by Sparco using the original design. The seats actually say Ford GT on the Sparco production labels since they are modified Ford GT buckets. The difference is in the movie the seats have the Sparco company name on them where the original concept car does not. Steve likes them and he has a call into Sparco to find out if he can order any. My expectation would be Ford owns the rights. Ford GT seats themselves are priced too high in my opinion. There is a set of Ford GT seats used on Ebay for $5000. I have heard that new ones are about twice that. I haven't decided on the mounting but Sparco makes universal tracks.