Kookie’s Killer Koupe Gets a New Interior

Have you ever had something offered to you that was too good to resist? You know, an all steel ‘34 3w coupe that was found in a barn or maybe a Willys pickup that has been used to haul hay for the past 50 years in the dry desert of Arizona? (Is there hay in the dry desert?). Hasn’t happened to me yet. How about a set of brand new Cadillac CTS black leather bucket seats? These are the babies that have more positions than a hooker who is also a contortionist - heated, lumbar supports, integrated 3-point shoulder harness. The works!

Bill Tibbles of the Roadmates car club is building an out-of-this-world Coast to Coast ‘37 convertible and had the intention of using these seats. What better seat to install than a brand new pair of CTS buckets? He got a great deal from John Druar in Western New York. John has some special arrangement with the Big 3 to buy seats from damaged new cars. I have John’s phone number if you need it.

One small problem for Bill with these seats - they were too wide for Bill’s new ride. The C2C cars are smaller than you think. Bill offered them up to me for the same price he paid. I couldn’t walk away from this deal of a lifetime. Well, maybe not a lifetime but definitely the deal of the day on February 17th, 2003. A quick try-out while the coupe was being rebuilt showed that not only did these seats fit, they looked right at home in the coupe. Money was exchanged and the seats now belonged to me.

As you may recall, I spent last summer working the bugs out of the Koupe. Thank God there were just minor pests that were attributed to my own doing. I spent most of the summer with my butt seated in the original benchseat. It was pretty comfortable around town but I knew on extended trips it would cause this old body to get weary. Besides, it also felt like I was sitting in a church pew. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Last fall, I reserved a ‘clean’ spot in the car club for winter clean up projects on the coupe. Those included new VDO gauges (Merry Christmas from my always understanding wife), new rims and tires, new intake bolts and various other things that have always bugged me. Out came the old seat and in go the new CTS buckets. Sounds easy right? Put them in, bolt them down, hook up the juice and off we go. As usual, nothing works that way when you are dealing with old cars.

The first order of business was to get the new seats positioned right so they had full movement and the driving position was accurate. As usual, the seats needed modification in order to fit flat on the floor of the Koupe. This required some input from fellow Roadmate members, and as normal, I got 12 opinions from 10 guys. In the end, I ended up doing it my way.

Okay, so now that I have the mounts built the next job was to figure out the electrical puzzle-----not my strong suit. This requires the input from the electrical wizard Rick Norton.
Remember the new CTS have side impact airbags built into the seat. Legally, these airbags must be removed before the seats can be sold aftermarket and, luckily, mine were removed.
As mentioned earlier, these seats have multiple motors for multiple functions. Also, the wiring for the drivers seat is different than the passenger seat. I assumed it was for the driver’s memory positions. The passenger seat was a breeze---hook up a power and a ground and you’re good to go. Or so I thought.

For some reason the seat would work occasionally and when it wanted to or not work at all. Rick and I tried various combinations of wires until I put power to a white wire and a yellow wire.
KABOOOM! Sure the airbag is removed but the wiring is not. In the event of a rollover, the seat buckle has a CO2 cartridge that explodes so the passenger stays put in the seat. Both Rick and I needed to change our underwear after this little incident. I had to search around my bay for the missing projectile plastic pieces that were just mere seconds ago attached to the seat.

To make a long story short, we eventually got the wiring for both seats figured out and we were back in business. Much wiser and now weighing a few pounds less.

Thanks to Frank and the canadianrodder.com notices, I attended the Fall Open House at Horton’s Street Rods. While talking to the various vendors in attendance I had a chance to talk to Peter Giampa from Tack Upholstery (905 565-1106). His computerized slide show of various interior projects he has completed was very impressive. I like guys who aren’t afraid of technology!

A couple of the most notable cars Peter has applied his skills to is a ’39 Ford at Performance World and what is known around here as the “Mother’s” roadster. A gorgeous roadster that was formerly owned by Cliff Waller (Texas), a VP at Mother’s Wax and Polish. (As an FYI, the roadster is now back in Canada and owned by someone in the Hamilton area. Its nice to see some cars coming back across the border!).

Being frugal by nature (a.k.a. cheap sumbitch), I installed the new black carpet prior to taking my car to Peter’s shop. I delivered the car one Saturday morning with the help of Greg Robertson and his enclosed trailer. (try not to spread it around that my car was actually on a trailer).
I’ve learned over the years to not interfere with the creative types. Peter and I discussed what I was looking for and told him to go at it. He gave me a very reasonable price, a reasonable delivery date and the deal was done. I could tell the Koupe was not going to languish in his shop for months.