I've been searching for a set of factory third gen Recaros for years. I'm sure my reasons are common to many on TGO. The Recaros are adjustable, but still manual. They're rare. They look slim and streamlined, but still have support. And they're just 80s cool and fit our cars so well aesthetically.

A few days ago (after thousands of Facebook and Ebay searches), I came across an '84 T/A, being sold for parts. As luck would have it, it's local, so I went to see the car.

The top-of-the-line early third gens are visually awesome and this one was no exception. But the structural parts and undercarriage were rusted beyond recognition, too far gone to restore. What a shame.

But it had the seats. I felt better at least knowing some of it could be saved.

The donor car:





After TWO failed (40 mile) trips to get the seats, beaten by unassailable rust on the seat tracks both times, I managed to rescue them. As I was loading them up that night, the tow truck showed up to haul the car off to it's scrap yard grave.

RIP.

I got home that night and looked them over. They need some major work, but even in their current state, I feel vindicated for years of searching. I used to think it was stupid that Pontiac marketed a Trans Am named after the seats. Now I kind of get it. Back in '84, these had to be amazing.





40 years, and many owners later, and there's some wear, abuse, and missing pieces. Clearly they need bolsters, covers, trim, and paint. Maybe more...but there's potential.

I wasn't able to find any comprehensive resources for Recaros on TGO or really anywhere on the net, just sporadic threads and comments. Parts were never that common to begin with, and all of them have been long-ago discontinued.

I'm confident that I won't be finding another set to exploit for parts, and won't just be able to go down to Walmart to pick this stuff up. But some baseline research tells me that other brands have used the LX base as a seat (Fox Mustangs, VWs, etc.), so I'm banking on some parts interchangeability between those and the T/A versions. That expands the pool of options. Everything else will have to be improvised.

So I'm going to document the restoration in this thread. Lots of pictures, lots of details...should be fun (except for the bank account). And hopefully it can be a resource for others.

 

My first call was to Hawk's. I knew the answer before I asked, but had to be sure or I'd feel pretty stupid if I was wrong.

Confirmed. No covers, no bolsters, no trim available. Every seat they've had, they've sold intact (and immediately).

Lethal Interiors (Princess) doesn't do the covers. Ron at JJ Custom is out of the biz. No replacement foam for the T/A seats specifically, but some searching (thanks TGO) turned up that the '79-'82 Mustang Recaro may have had identical foam.

That's a start.

​​​​​​​

 

Great story - best of luck, I will be following along! The Recaro's definitely have "the look". Perfect for these cars

 

There is a place in Cali called Griffen Motorwerke that is a Recaro dealer and sells Recaro parts. They have been a source for seat parts that I buy for the Recaro seats that come in the snow cats, at work.

Anyway, Give 'em a call....see if they can maybe help you out. (510) 524-7447

 

This is definitely a worthy project, and I hope you can restore them to factory new. Recaro seats are very cool, and I'm surprised that seat cushions and seat cover kits aren't readily available. There are some recaro covers on ebay, but the '84 seats are an LX hybrid. This is what I was able to find:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...ml#post6540934

I was also considering this shop in California:
https://www.2002parts.com/restoredvintagerecaroseats

 

Nice score!
You should’ve taken the whole car. Looks like it had lots of good parts. The 82-84 birds have a lot of unique pieces that aren’t easy to find anymore.

 

Thanks for the comments and the different resources guys. Will look into those, and include what I hear back for posterity.

battmann,
Totally agree, and if I had a place to keep the car, I 100% would have. Was a damn shame to see it go.

 

if youre on social media the recaro seat groups have been helpful. I ended taking 2 rough pairs to make this one good pair. Cost me 1400 for front and rear at my local shop.