We’re pleased to announce that the Auto Style Type Classic Vinyl Bucket Seats have now arrived at our showroom and are available to view and test in person. We currently have a pair on display in the black vinyl finish, allowing customers to get a hands-on look at the design, sizing, and overall quality before ordering.
These seats bring a completely different style to our showroom compared to modern motorsport bucket seats. Inspired by classic sports car interiors from the 1970s and 1980s, they feature a low-back design, traditional horizontal stitching, and piping around the outer edges to create an authentic retro appearance.
Not every project requires an FIA-approved motorsport bucket seat. Many classic car owners are looking for a seat that complements the age and style of their vehicle while still providing a more supportive driving position than worn factory seats.
The Auto Style Type Classic has been designed specifically for this purpose. It combines traditional styling with modern manufacturing to create a seat that looks at home in everything from classic British sports cars and vintage hot hatches through to retro Japanese and European builds.
Unlike modern racing seats, these seats prioritise appearance, comfort, and period-correct styling. Their lower profile design, slim dimensions, and classic shape make them particularly well suited to older vehicles where modern bucket seats can often look out of place.
These seats are ideal for:
Because they are designed for road use, they are not FIA approved and are not intended for competitive motorsport applications.
The Auto Style Type Classic is a fixed-back bucket seat that takes direct inspiration from the sports seats found in performance cars throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
One of the first things that stands out is the traditional low-back design. Unlike modern bucket seats with large shoulder supports and integrated headrests, the Type Classic keeps a much simpler profile that looks right at home in older vehicles.
The seat is upholstered in durable vinyl trim, giving it a clean and authentic appearance while also making it easy to maintain. Vinyl is particularly popular in classic car applications because it mirrors the materials commonly found in original factory interiors from the period.
Beneath the trim is a steel tubular frame construction, providing a strong and durable foundation while helping maintain the traditional seat shape.
The seats are available in both black and beige colour options, although the version we currently have on display in our showroom is the black model.
The overall finish is impressive, with neat stitching, quality piping details, and a design that successfully captures the look of classic sports seats without appearing overly modern.
Key features
One of the biggest advantages of the Auto Style Type Classic is its compact overall size.
Many classic cars have much smaller interiors than modern vehicles, which can make fitting contemporary sports seats difficult. Large shoulder supports, tall backrests, and aggressive bolsters often create clearance issues around door cards, centre tunnels, and roof lines.
The Type Classic avoids these problems by keeping its dimensions compact and simple.
At just 500 mm wide at its widest point and only 575 mm tall overall, it is significantly smaller than most modern bucket seats. This makes it suitable for many older vehicles where interior space is limited.
The seat’s open-sided design around the hips and thighs also helps accommodate a wider range of drivers than the dimensions might initially suggest.
We generally recommend these seats for drivers with a:
28 to 34-inch waist.
Main dimensions
Its compact shape makes it a particularly attractive option for classic cars with restricted cockpit space.
One of the biggest reasons customers choose the Auto Style Type Classic is because it looks like it genuinely belongs inside a classic vehicle. Finding a replacement seat that improves comfort without ruining the character of an older interior can be surprisingly difficult, especially when so many modern sports seats are designed around aggressive motorsport styling.
The Type Classic takes inspiration directly from the sports seats commonly found in performance cars throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The low-back profile, simple shape, horizontal stitching pattern, and piping around the edges all help recreate the appearance of period sports seats without trying to overcomplicate the design.
This makes the seat particularly well suited to classic restorations where maintaining an authentic look is important. Many owners want their interiors to feel refreshed and comfortable, but still look as though they could have left the factory that way. The Auto Style Type Classic achieves exactly that balance.
The vinyl trim also plays a major role in the seat’s classic appearance. Vinyl was widely used throughout the era that inspired these seats, making it a natural fit for older vehicles. It not only looks period-correct, but is also durable and easy to clean, making it practical for regular use.
These seats work especially well in:
Unlike many modern bucket seats, the Type Classic doesn’t immediately draw attention to itself. Instead, it blends naturally into the interior and complements the existing dashboard, door cards, and trim. For many classic car owners, this subtle approach is exactly what makes the seat so appealing.
Whether you’re restoring a vehicle back to its original appearance or building a retro-inspired project with modern reliability, the Auto Style Type Classic offers an authentic look that helps preserve the character and charm that made these older cars special in the first place.
The Auto Style Type Classic uses a different mounting arrangement compared to most modern sports seats and motorsport bucket seats.
Unlike many aftermarket seats that use the common 345 mm bolt pattern, the Type Classic uses its own mounting pattern and comes supplied with its own matching sliding runners.
Because of this, the seat will not normally bolt directly onto many vehicle-specific seat subframes without some form of adaptation.
This can create challenges when installing the seats into vehicles that already use aftermarket mounting equipment.
Brands such as Planted Technology often offer the greatest variety of mounting hole positions on their vehicle-specific subframes, giving the best chance of matching the Auto Style bolt pattern directly.
Where a direct fit is not possible, common solutions include:
For many older classic vehicles, fabrication is often the preferred route anyway, as vehicle-specific aftermarket subframes may not exist due to the age of the car.
The good news is that the compact size and lightweight design of the Type Classic make it relatively straightforward to work with during custom installations.
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