Australia 504 Seats

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Fellow Frogger
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Hi

I've seen that 504 have different seats. There are the early seats where the headrest rises up out of the seat and there are later tombstone types with "see Through" headrest.

Can anyone give me a run down of which seats were fitted and which ones are the most comfortable or original peugeot design?

Regards

Alan
 
Hi,

My 1977 504 GL Automatic has the "tombstone" style seats in brown vinyl. I have a suspicion from doing a bit of reading that these were introduced due to safety requirements?

They are very comfortable because they are so wide - but then I'm only comparing these to modern car seats as I've not sat in the lower backed ones.

Anyway, I hope that helps.

Cheers, Sam
 
From memory-
- The really early cars (pre-71) had the "French" seats with the disappearing headrests
- '72-'74 had Australian made seats with a separate headrest. In my opinion these were the most comfortable
- '74-'76 had "Tombstone" seats with no hole
- '76-'78ish had Tombstone seats with a hole
- Beyond '78 went back to a seat with a separate headrest. I've never sat in one of these though, so I can't comment what they're like.

The tombstones also seem to sag a lot more/earlier than the others designs
 
in 73 headrestraints became compulsory so the French seats were replaced by different seats to comply with ADR,s . They were mounted very high and not good for tall people like me. The french seats were allowed on private imports after this
 
The "French" seats were in 1970 plus 1971. I've owned 504s of pretty much every year, although memory is fading. I found the "French" seats uncomfortable due to having no shoulder support. I'm over 6' tall. All of the tombstone seats were very much the same, and being almost identical they ought to be. 1977 (78?) had velour upholstery and I think this added to the comfort. 1980 seats were very similar to 604 and I found these the most comfortable of all. They also, or at least the ones in my1980 504, had vinyl upholstery of a much higher quality.


Opinions will vary regarding the "best" 504 seats.
 
Yes, the 1980 ones were pretty good.

And the '72 ones were very wide and had the "camping body" feature, but had a structural fault.....though it could be fixed up. The metal arms in the back were weak and the ratchet only operated on the right-hand side (in the drivers seat, anyway....I assume the passenger side was mirror-image).
So in the drivers seat, the left side of the seat back pivoted freely, whereas the right side had the ratchet. So all the backwards strain went on the right-hand arm.....which eventually broke. It could be welded back together though, but needed a metal piece inserted to strengthen it.
My favourite seat though, as it enabled the camping body. The later ones were comfy but didn't go back far enough that you could lay them flat.

Some of the deepest and most comfortable sleeps of my life were in my 1972 504, with a bit of padding in various places and the car parked facing very slightly downhill.....
All up, I think I lived in it for about a year...traveling up and down the East coast of Oz.
 
I bought a 504 new in 1980 and only took it off the road a few yaers ago. Originally it had vinyl seats but later we cahnged these to same style velour. I thought these provided an armchair ride and were very comfortable.
Recently I purchased a 1978 504 with tombstone seats with a hole in the headrest. I was dubious abot these but in a couple of 3 hour trips my wife and I cmmented that they were very comfortable and supported us well. Neither of us are big people though. Plesantly surprised.
 
I had the 1972 syle, which broke as outlined. Also 76 tombstone sans hole, 78 tombstone with hole. The latter were replaced with some velour ones out of a 1980 model. Best of the lot.
 
I think the tombstone seats in corduroy were the best by far, around 1977. The early French style seats were the worst, as Peter says no shoulder support and too soggy. The actual French seats were better, firmer than the local versions.
 
Tom_95 said:
From memory-
- The really early cars (pre-71) had the "French" seats with the disappearing headrests
- '72-'74 had Australian made seats with a separate headrest. In my opinion these were the most comfortable
- '74-'76 had "Tombstone" seats with no hole
- '76-'78ish had Tombstone seats with a hole
- Beyond '78 went back to a seat with a separate headrest. I've never sat in one of these though, so I can't comment what they're like.

The tombstones also seem to sag a lot more/earlier than the others designs
Click to expand...
I've had them all, except the very early French ones. The 78-80 French seats I found the best and these are the only ones which don't get broken frames. The 72 - 74 were second best. At one time I was regularly driving two cars long distances, one with '73 seats, the other the '80. They all have different base frames and mounting systems, some with the seat belt mounts on the base frame, so not a simple swap. The late 78-80 French seats have the seat belt mounted on the seat and can't be fitted to earlier cars because the seat track mounts are different.
 
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