My wife and I just learned how important that lumbar support switch in a modern car is. After cruising in my 1968 Firebird 400 for 6 hours. Our lumbars were in pain. I mean we can not get off the couch without rolling over "in pain!!!".
According to my PHS documents. My Firebird has the optional head restraints (head rests) in what looks to be the original steel frame bucket seats.
The current incorrect vinyl upholstery seems to have been installed, without upgrading the foam cushion or steel frame.
I want to install the correct standard style upholstery but in leather.
Can my original steel wire buckets seat frames be restored and is it cheaper than buying new ones?
I want to keep my originals since they came with the rare head restraint options.

Ceaser, if you want to please your boss, you best get modern seats in your 68 !

the factory tractor seat are not great !

12 hours ago, 1968BLACKBIRD said:

The current incorrect vinyl upholstery seems to have been installed, without upgrading the foam cushion or steel frame.
I want to install the correct standard style upholstery but in leather.
Can my original steel wire buckets seat frames be restored and is it cheaper than buying new ones?
I want to keep my originals since they came with the rare head restraint options.

Yes your frames can be restored. They will need to be stripped down to bare metal. Any broken springs will have to be replaced. It should be sandblasted and re-painted. Once the frames are restored to like new, you can then order the correct foam kits from the online catalogd. If you are going with leather, then you will need to work with your upholsterer to get the leather hides and rebuild the seats.

After giving it some thought I. I don't think it makes much sense for me to restore the original seats. I figured by the time and money spent on them on top of wanting leather upholstery, which is not original to the car anyways and it will not remedy the lack of lumbar support issue.... Im looking at the Procar Rally XL bucket seats in leather.
Anyone have any experience with these?

No. New seats are great and it's your car and your wallet. Leather seats are great for sure.

Might I suggest you look around your local salvage yards? 3rd and 4th gen Camaros and Firebirds have several styles of lumbar support seats. Also 2004-2006 GTO seats have become popular. Other sports cars, including imports, are potential seat donors too. Look around, you might find something you like.

Take a few measurements of the distances between the floor pan bolt holes of your Firebird. Measure front to back of the car for the bolt holes and left to right, driver's side to passenger side, between the bolt holes. Take a few notes of these numbers and bring your tape measure to the junk yard for a little "imagineering" of what could work in your car.

Power seats from a modern car are certainly a possibility here if your electrical system can handle it. A typical 37 amp alternator that came in these cars would probably be too small and you would need to beef up your alternator and wiring to support power seats. Bring a small twelve volt battery with you to test the actuators before you haul a set of these home. Make note of the width of the passenger compartment in your Firebird to tell if these candidate seats will clear the doors or leave a big gap between the driver and passenger.

The 60-40 split bench seats with an arm rest and storage that are presently in my El Camino came out of a junk yard 1995 Pontiac Grand Prix SE for forty bucks USD for the pair. The link below is the write up (with pictures) I did on these donor Pontiac seats on the El Camino Central web site way back when that truck was still a rust bucket heap of iron oxide.

https://www.elcaminocentral.com/threads/thoughts-on-donor-car-upgrade-seats.217898/?post_id=2226226#post-2226226

Rick