Are there any good options for seat covers, my front seats especially could use them.


Comments appreciated, Bill

Dear B.B.,

Hope you're well and stay so. Seats for a 940 can be shipped via UPS or FedEx Ground, if: (a) the seats are fully lowered; (b) the headrest is removed; (c) a carton is bought from U-Haul and the flaps "re-cut", to raise the height of the carton to 33".

Note: if you do not know how to "re-cut" box flaps, read on. Be careful: (a) to measure from the edge of the flap closest to the box body towards the outer edge of the flap (the distance is the amount you need to increase the box's height to 33"); (b) to draw a line from each side of the flap edge, across the flap, side-to-side; (c) to use a knife to score the cardboard, so it will fold straight along the scored line. Do not cut all the way through the flap!

Do not exceed 33" in height from the outer bottom of the box to the top of the re-cut flap, after it has been folded.

UPS has a 130" height + girth (circumference) limit. So, 33" + (4 x 24" = 96") = 129 inches. Note: there are huge surcharges for boxes that exceed 130" (length + girth).

A 940 seat will fit in a U-Haul large wardrobe box, if the flaps are re-cut as above described. The weight of a powered (driver's) seat will be under 70 pound, including the head-rest.

Tape all flaps securely (along all edges) and/or use a carton-stapler, if you have such.

In this way, 940 seats can be shipped without having to go to a freight hauler.

I've done this, albeit not recently.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Hi,

Have you tried Auto Dismantlers as they usually get the cream of the crop of salvageable vehicles.
Their cars are saved long before you see those found in self pull yards.
The price of a seat will be comparable to half the cost of a OEM seat when still in dealer accessible stock to about equal to what a seat that can be redone by a good restoration upholstery.

Getting it reupholstered for less will depend on your acceptability of what will suffice as functional!

I have had good luck going that way once on my 1978 GT many years ago and that was $220 for each front seat.
He was a local person but able to match the center stripe and the seat material was very close to the original that's still in the back seat.
A cloth weave may never be quite the same nor would the tanning process be for "true leather" as no two cows are the same.
This is why vinyl or other synthetic products evolved for mass production cars.

Since then I have collected a few seat sections or whole seats for my 240's in only decent condition.
I never got enchanted with the 900 bodies!
Probably an old man syndrome, of which covers, a multitude of "quirks," to why we collect certain things!

If you see a car come in partially stripped, it either left some dismantlers or other self pull yards to get more exposure to being recycled.
If you find good stuff, in a self pull, its because in that areas dismantlers had become saturated with lots of owners giving up cars.
We are rapidly passing the point where many yards don't get them or don't want to have them on their yard.
I was told once, after asking, " If I have Volvos that old I'm doing or have done something wrong!"
He went on to say that they were not all that a high demand vehicle for restoration but their resale always helped keep them around for a certain sector.

Some of them clean them up nicely and vacuum pack them in a plastic bage to keep dust off of them while sitting on a warehouse shelf.
Shop the Internet on the west coast like Sacarmento or Portland or in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
i have seen recommendations of East coast sites as well!
http://www.voluparts.com is one that comes to mind from others on the BB. I have not dealt with them but others have.

Good luck with this thread and I hope it eventually sits well with you! (:-)

Phil

Hi Phil,

I don't expect to find any cherry 940 seats in a salvage yard.
I had my old 740 driver seat re-done at a pro with their fake leather, it was
OK but just barely. I found a new seat for the 850 that bought me several years
and I got the chance to blow up the SIPS bag in the old seat as a test. 20 year old Volvo stuff is often better than new Asian stuff!

No one mentioned the cheap seat covers available? Are they outright junk?

Bill

Hi,

You wrote "No one mentioned the cheap seat covers available? Are they outright junk?"

That's is always a hard question to answer considering the variables from so many directions.
You mentioned Asia and right there its problematic.
Box stores are only going to sell what moves out with a reasonable profit margins.

With boxed seat covers they will fit closely and do exactly what you expect them to do, Cover things up! Loose in a place or so or will stretch enough to cover an average seat. If you can define average?

The question is for you is how are the seat supporting you and passengers underneath you. Covers do not change that.
When I did my seats with an upholsterer the material was my first concern.
I knew Hyperlon was the best wearing back in the day and my man agreed and had rolls of the stuff.
He liked a material that was like spandex but had some wear index too!

So in picking a good cover, of any kind, consider the material and then what blends into the rest of the car's interior.
You don't want to be reminded every time you get in that they are covers and what their doing.
As a suggestion,
I have even seen where Home Depot offers seat covers, on-line. They are black and I'm curious but picture are so deceiving. I haven't looked for them in a store or read any reviews, so, it just recent hiccup in my search engine while looking for black plastic.

If you are not expecting Cherry, then it's an adjustment between your mind and your wallet to deal in those variables? (:-)

Search well and post what you come up with, as readers aways like nice answers or recommend options.

I tried?

Phil

Dear B.B.,

Hope you're well and stay so.

What color / material?

Power or manual?

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Hi Spook,

The seats are a dark blue and tired leather- The back looks fine.
the drivers seat is electric and there's seat heaters.

BB

..

Dear B.B.,

Hope you're well and stay so. Few blue-upholstered 940s likely were sold in North America. So, it will be hard to find one in a salvage yard, with good seat upholstery.

An auto upholstery shop,should be able to replace the worn leather, duplicating exactly the "pattern" of the factory-original items.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Spook hit it right on the money. I have never seen a 940 with blue upholstry. There must be so few, that you are probably stuck with going to an upholstry shop.
John

If your driver seat cover is shot, one of the best options is to pull one from the passinger side at the junk yard. The bottom cushion is interchangable, and you can cut the hog rings on the top cover, and peal it off. It is pretty easy to make it fit on the driver side.
John

I haven't found a donor car near me, I wish!
My two go-to salvage yards closed down recently.

Thanks, Bill