After researching this topic quit a bit it seam that the bucket seat trim for the metal skirts was color matched to the seat color ; but the metal seat back trim had a chrome finish. Also seems that the olds, buick, and pontiac used chrome trim around both the metal bucket seat skirt and the metal back.

As a result I have only found the chrome trim to be available unless someone else has found differently. Has anyone found a good way to change this to match the color of the seat vinyl?

Eastwood has a product 11438Z and some primer,plastic adhesion promoter and plastic/leather prep that they say can be used on vinyl seats. I would think this should be flexible enough for the metal skit trim if it is used for the seat materail. Has anyone used this. And if so, what are the results?

I've attached a photo of a 66 blue interior showing the trim with blue on the skits and chrome on the back. I have also seen other photos like this and a few original cars like this. So am pretty confident that that's the way they came in the Chevys.

My original black '67 headrest buckets had black piping trim on both the lower and back metal trim. No chrome and no doubt this was original.
I've since removed all of it (faded/worn) and had Hinshaw's convert the seats to blue. They now have chrome trim.
I wish I had thought to take a "before" pic...:(

Bill, I've only seen 66 chevelles in person and 66 Impalas, no 67's, that were original and just in MN and WI. They all had the chrome piping on the backs and color matched piping on the lower metal trim. Maybe in was a 66 vs 67 thing.

Any thoughts of trying to change back to black?

Any thoughts of trying to change back to black?

:noway: At some point, these buckets are heading to my '67 Sedan which has med blue interior. I've had the floor brackets but want to redo the carpet...someday...
I'm wondering if the chrome/color seat trim was tied into the interior trim level somehow...maybe the standard vs deluxe seat belt option OR console vs none???
Just a guess...

James,
Your post got me to thinking, so I just went out to my 66 and I have a book with pictures that walks through 44 years of my cars life. The first picture in my book was taken in May 1966 at my mothers home in South Alabama while we were home on leave.
I had never looked before but I can 100% say my buckets came from the factory with chrome trim around the seat backs and color seat matching trim around the seat skirts. At 68 I still seem to learn something everyday, I guess that is not all bad. What about trying vinyl dye on the chrome trim from a Automotive Paint Store, that is what I used on my console, seat backs and skirts ten years ago and they all still look like new. May be worth a try. It really did a great job on my items.

Jesse

Maybe it was a Malibu SS vs std thing. was your elcamino a Malibu? Did it have a console or delux belts. The cars I've seen had a console. I thought you always got a console with buckets in 66.

:noway: At some point, these buckets are heading to my '67 Sedan which has med blue interior. I've had the floor brackets but want to redo the carpet...someday...
I'm wondering if the chrome/color seat trim was tied into the interior trim level somehow...maybe the standard vs deluxe seat belt option OR console vs none???
Just a guess...

On the original cars I have seen the trim on the bottom looks a little different than the backs. The backs appear to have some sort of film on the top of the chrome, and is quite yellow from age. On the bottom the material seem to be more of the same type of material as the windlace except much smaller. I will have to look closer when I get the chance.

Good to here from you again.

James,
Your post got me to thinking, so I just went out to my 66 and I have a book with pictures that walks through 44 years of my cars life. The first picture in my book was taken in May 1966 at my mothers home in South Alabama while we were home on leave.
I had never looked before but I can 100% say my buckets came from the factory with chrome trim around the seat backs and color seat matching trim around the seat skirts. At 68 I still seem to learn something everyday, I guess that is not all bad. What about trying vinyl dye on the chrome trim from a Automotive Paint Store, that is what I used on my console, seat backs and skirts ten years ago and they all still look like new. May be worth a try. It really did a great job on my items.

Jesse

My seats still have the black lower trim and chrome upper trim - what's left of it, anyway. Also came with deluxe belts.

I bought it in '79 and I've never changed the trim, so I'm fairly sure it came that way.

Dave, does it look like the material on the bottoms is the same as for the chome back except for the color? Thanks.

My seats still have the black lower trim and chrome upper trim - what's left of it, anyway. Also came with deluxe belts.

I bought it in '79 and I've never changed the trim, so I'm fairly sure it came that way.

Dave, does it look like the material on the bottoms is the same as for the chome back except for the color? Thanks.

Jim - looks very similar, but not quite identical. The chrome part has a metal insert - aluminum, I guess.

Thanks, great photo's. Am I right in the assumption that the metal insert is on the inside or is it kind of sandwiched between two vinyl layers?

:thumbsup:

I'll have to look again when I get home tonight, but I think it is sandwiched between 2 layers.

just went out the the garage to look a little more closely at how the reproduction is made.

It basically looks like a molded rubber piece, then a real thin layer of a chrome like material on top of that, then a real thin layer of a clear plastic material. Maybe if you wanted black you could peal the two top layers off; but for white or another color you would have to dye or paint.

Eastwood has suggest I sand with 400 grit or scuff with scotch brite, then clean using their pre 10041Z & rag, apply their adhesion promoter, and then pain using their SEM interior plastic/vinyl paint. What do you guys think?

:thumbsup:

I'll have to look again when I get home tonight, but I think it is sandwiched between 2 layers.


I uncurled the end of the trim and it is what looks to be thick shiny aluminum foil curled up inside some clear plastic. It's not embedded in the plastic/vinyl - whatever it is.

Here is another car to verify that the bottom trim should match the seat color.http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/227554/page/8/fpart/1/vc/1

All 66-67 Chevelles with bucket seats came from the factory with chrome trim on the seat backs and interior-color trim on the lower skirts. There was no differentiation based on SS vs. Malibu, Deluxe belts vs. Std. belts, 66 vs 67, or anything else. Same holds true for all other Chevrolets with the chevelle style Stratobucket seats (excludes Camaro and Corvair which had different bucket seat designs).

If Bill's 67 headrest seats had all black trim, either someone dyed the seat back trim (due to the chrome looking bad), or it was a production glitch of some sort (such as if the chrome pieces were not available at that particular moment, and the bottom trim was used in a pinch to keep the line moving along).