Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi All can anybody suggest/describe any modern alternative seats that I can fit into my wifes 1966 Morris Minor that I have rescued and fully restored for her. She has returned to Minoring after 30 years having owned a Minor as her first car. Unforunately the lack of a reclining adjustment of the original seats is giving her an uncomfortable driving position. I am a qualified Engineer and have a well equipped workshop so can undertake most work.

Hope someone can help,
Thanks Rich

Apparently the most comfortable are Saab 900 seats. Metro seats used to be popular but are a bit wide. Early Rover 200 seats are also a good choice. With any non standard seat you will probably have to make subframes to mount into the car. Newton Commercial sell fully converted Rover seats but a pair are around £500 + vat. I'm looking at fitting some Citroen Saxo seats to mine at the moment. Dimensionally they seem about right and they are a nice sporty suportive style....

Metro seats used to be popular but are a bit wide

Not strictly true.
The Metro had several generations of seat over the years.
These were from one and were also found in the Rover 200 of the time.


With these and some other Rover seats you need to remove the riveted-on mounting plates from below the runners and set up a frame about 70mm high at the front and 110mm at the back. The frame can use the existing seat boltholes and additional ones in the rear footwell
When you chose seats (scrapyards give you a good idea whats out there) you need to make sure the runners are no wider than 18" otherwise a standard height seat is likely to foul the transmition tunnel by the handbrake. also consider the space needed for seatbelts, rear access (tipping forward seats for 2-door cars) and rear passenger's feet room for the rear support of the seats.

Welcome aboard Rich - best Motoring Forum around, of any make - dunno about seats, I just use the standard ones that came with the car. Some driver's seats were/are adjustable - mine is!

PSL184 wrote:Apparently the most comfortable are Saab 900 seats.

I think they should actually be saab 9000, the 900 ones apparently dont fit as well.

[quote="Sidney I think they should actually be saab 9000

Yes... didn't hit the 0 enough times....
Those seats Peetee shows are the early R200 ones I was thinking about - They look nice.

Those seats Peetee shows are the early R200 ones I was thinking about - They look nice

Get up close and they do have a modern fabric in the inserts but it's subtle enough to be fairly unobtrusive. I certainly found them comfortable.

Hi Guys, thanks for all in info. I will have to go to my local scrap yard and see what seats are about. Sidney, what are the alloy wheels on your car, they look great. Have you lowered the suspension? Thanks Rich

bmcecosse wrote:Welcome aboard Rich - best Motoring Forum around, of any make

What about the other Minor one you use then

rvwp wrote:Sidney, what are the alloy wheels on your car, they look great. Have you lowered the suspension? Thanks Rich

He's had it less than a fortnight! But it is a VERY VERY nice car!



And on topic metro seats are OK, but a bit too wide - got some in at the mo but will be ditching in favour of Ford Fiesta SI seats (which imho are some of the comfiest around) they do restrict rear leg room quite badly but since theres hardly ever anyone in the back it doesn't make a great deal of difference.

I've got a pair of early MX 5 seats in mine.
Nice and supportive and have speakers built into the headrest. Also don't eat into the rear passenger foot space too much.

But if you are Tall or of bigger build they can be a bit thin at your shoulder blade height.
I like them but am looking at other options due to being 6' tall and slightly bigger than I should be

i've looked at this a few times ,but I have an aversion to seeing odd seats in any car,you can change the front but can't then match the rear seats. Personally I just find it looks like a bodge up.When I got my scimitar gtc it had odd fronts I could't wait to take them out and put back matching fronts.I know you could fit seat covers and match the colour etc but here we go again I don't like the look of seat covers either Just my opinion, a bit of a fad.Probably too old for all this now. Cheers

I have an aversion to seeing odd seats in any car

I'm with you on that Kennatt. The exception is the Newton Commercial recliners which don't look too badly matched when they've been covered the same as the original interior. I know there's the comfort angle but I like the fact that my Minor is uncomfortable over long journeys. It's part of the charm. I wouldnn't like driving it as much if it was as comfy as a 'modern' car

There are possibilities to get matching rears. Some rears can be trimmed down to size fairly easily. And I know of two cars where the rear seat covers were removed and fitted to the existing Minor seats.

Yes, but they never seem to look right or match the character of the car. Each to his own though

LouiseM wrote:Yes, but they never seem to look right or match the character of the car. Each to his own though

Yes I know what you mean. I have an MGA and a TR6 fully restored and original and would'nt even think of non original seats. But if Wifey is to drive the Moggy comfortably then I will compromise my ideals and fit modern seats for her. i will always keep the originals seats though so that they can be refitted in the future. Cheers Rich

rvwp wrote:Sidney, what are the alloy wheels on your car, they look great. Have you lowered the suspension? Thanks Rich

Hi there, those wheels are 14" minilites, a common conversion for minors, I think they look quite snazzy but also still suit it and don't stand out too much.
As for the suspension it's standard height, I think it was lowered at one point in history but Carlo (previous owner) swiftly removed the kit, and I can understand why!

kennatt wrote:i've looked at this a few times ,but I have an aversion to seeing odd seats in any car,you can change the front but can't then match the rear seats. Personally I just find it looks like a bodge up.When I got my scimitar gtc it had odd fronts I could't wait to take them out and put back matching fronts.I know you could fit seat covers and match the colour etc but here we go again I don't like the look of seat covers either Just my opinion, a bit of a fad.Probably too old for all this now. Cheers

I agree with you that non matching front and rear seats do tend to annoy me aswell but my emily has the full rover 100 interior and I think although its not 'original' (and not much of the car is!) it still looks quite nice.<br><br>

I have Mazda 121 front & rear seats in my 4 door. I still used the Minor rear seat base but covered it in the Mazda material.
Result= comfy front seats & a split fold rear seat .

Pics here in this old thread:
http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.ph ... c&start=15

Hi Andy. The Minilites do look snazzy. Using the Minilite Alloys, how do you find the ride and steering, What size tyres do you use, Do your chosen tyres effect the speedo reading? Thanks Rich