At 11:30 AM 1/1/99 -0800, Jay and Mike Hartwig wrote:
>....
>A few months ago my brother and I were recovering his seats for his '78
MGB with new seat cushions and covers from Vicky Brit. The covers fit
horribly. The seams didn't even come close to lining up to the edges of
the foam cushions. Sure, the covers might be cheap ( I think they were
about $300), but at what cost. ....
Seat cushions? Well, let me tell you that quality and retail pricing
policies are not always closely related. In spring of '97 I replaced the
MGA driver side seat cushion foam with a new one bought from Moss (about
$40 at the time). It was molded in one piece, exactly the correct shape
for the left side (different part number for the other side), slipped right
in and stapled the cover back on (kind of sorry I farmed that job out).
Now as it made such a huge improvement in comfort, and since I didn't
cherrish the thought of becoming navigator for the entire Alaska trip, I
figured I ought to replace the right side seat bun as well.
By that time Moss was out of stock on this part, so I bought one from V.B.
(about the same price, maybe a tad more). This one was hot wire cut from
foam blocks, with two pieces glued together to get the approximate shape.
And it was left (intentionally I think) a little oversize so it could be
trimmed to fit either the left or right seat (only one part number). And
let me tell you that it took a lot of trimming to make it fit. Whatever
V.B. saved on the cost they would put in their own pocket, while I had to
dig deeper into mine to pay for the extra labor of the shop doing the fitting.
Of course there is nothing in either of the catalogs to indicate that there
would be any difference in these parts. IMHO, the one from Moss was very
near original equipment spec, so no such comment was necessary. While the
one from V.B. was very nearly a piece of crap, but of course they won't
tell you that before you buy it. Not the first time I've found similar
comparison.
$.02,
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
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