Looking for expressions of interest for manufacture of new seat bases
 

It has been said by those in the know that the seat base in a CMP forms an essential part of the suspension which cannot be replicated by a solid foam base.

With this in mind, Matt Strickland and I have been looking into manufacturing authentic new seat bases - all the springs and assembly, but not including the padding or the canvas seat covers. So we are looking for expressions of interest to see whether this is a viable thing to do. The cost will be $185 Australian dollars. The padding is an additional $15, and a set of new canvas covers (not springs) (which includes the seat back covers and base canvas for two seats) is $600.00.

The sprung bases are very labour intensive to assemble as you can imagine. So if you were to order two bases, padding for the lower part and a set of covers it would cost $1,000. All Australian made. Feel free to send me a pm, or respond here so we can get an idea of viability. Matt is a motor trimmer by trade and has built a very solid reputation for his canvas work on military vehicles as many of you can attest.

I've published this to the Chev and Ford Fb group as well as my own CMP Fb group. If we get enough expressions of interest to justify having the springs made we will go to the next stage which is to take firm orders with a deposit.

Sounds like a great project Keith.

I have moved your posting from this thread to give it a bit of a bump.

For comparaison from Mac Auto
 

Spring seats are expensive.....Mac Auto has them for early Ford pickups

Remember this is in USA dollars shipping not included....

Seat bottom at $479 and back rest at $469..... obviously made offshore and retailed by them and a few others....

I have seen original CMP seats rebuilt with square tubes of stiff foam inserted in each coil spring to give the old saggins feeling a boost....

New car seats are a combination of stiff serpentine flat springs supporting a molded foam overlay...... would making a simple bottom section be easier and cheaper with modern techniques as long as they are comfortable and look authentic with the canvass cover.

Mac's has them from 62 to a whopping 910 bucks... none of which fit the CMP seat AFAIK (though the *typical* pictures do not help a great deal to ID them).

But let's not threadjack Keith's project :) AUS$185 for a bespoke CMP spring seat sounds like a good price to me!