Replacement seat covers - rear backrest

The rear seat backrest in trimmed in 3 sections on a common frame - left, right and center armrest. This is very convenient with the Jersey rayé material as it allows for any deviation in the striped pattern to be adjusted to match the rear cushion, it also allows you to strip down and retrim one side at a time using the other side as a reference. The center armrest is secured on a folding assembly secured to the main framework by 2 countersunk screws and 2 plain screws with washers. The plain screws were found loose on disassembly - more on this later. After removing the screws a flap of material is secured by barbed tangs folded over a rod which is fed through a sleeve in the material. Folding back the tangs allows you to release the trim and remove the armrest.

Center armrest assembly secured to main framework

Deterioration of the hessian can be seen here

Damaged trim on the right hand side

Damaged trim on the left hand side

Close-up of the center armrest securing screws

The next 3 images show some labels which have been left in place for originality, I've not done any research on these but must have been used at the factory for production purposes.

Center armrest removed

Material removed from around top of backrest and the foam padding has vanished

The center armrest is basically a foam topped wooden frame which is secured to the metal assembly by 4 screws and nuts, removing these allows removal of the trim material which was secured by staples.

Removal of the armrest wooden frame

Unpicking staples out of the wood

More staples

Started working on the right hand side for no reason. More barbed tangs secure the top of the seat cover, bending the tangs back allow you to release the top of the cover. The rest of the cover is secured by hog rings onto the metal framework, remove the hog rings and the cover slips off. As with the seat cushion previously, the foam on the backrest had shrunk down in size and needed additional foam padding glueing in place to pad it out more, I used 1 inch on the backrests and ½ inch on the sides. Fitting the new cover I started at the top as the position of the material is 'fixed'. A dry fit in the car then allows you to align the bottom of the new backrest cover to the new cushion cover, once the pattern meets up it can be secured by hog rings. Repeat for the left hand side and the center armrest can be refitted.

Extra foam padding for the right hand side

Top of seat cover secured by tangs on the framework

Extra foam padding for the left hand side

Inevitably there was a crease on the left hand side seat cover which did not disappear as I hoped it would when fitted. Fortunately I watch far too much daytime TV on car restoration. The solution is steam, applying steam to nylon allows it to be shrunk and smoothed by hand back to the normal shape. Using a steam iron allows you to direct a blast of steam onto the crease and it really does vanish before your eyes.

Caveat: Please consider the risks of using a hot Iron near nylon material you could soon end up with an expensive melted mess, I held the iron about 2-3 inches away from the material.

Visible crease in seat cover from being folded in a cardboard box

The power of steam - there is no app for this!
Looks even better now after a few days in the car

Back to those loose screws on the center armrest. On the back of the backrest there is a thin board to hide the frame and springs etc from being visible when opening the boot lid. Mine was completely missing, probably suffered from damp and fell off. It was originally secured just by those two loose screws in the middle and the rest of it was just sandwiched between the outer part of the seat frame and the bulkhead. Woolies trim supply millboard for such use and can be cut with a knife or tin snips, trial and error determined the size of the finished board, I secured the corners with some tie wraps just to stop the millboard from flapping around when trying to put it back in the car - these won't be visible from inside the boot.

Millboard backing finishing the the backrest framework

Next...the front drivers seat

Replacement seat covers - rear cushion

The rear seat cushion was the obvious starting point to me for two reasons, the cushion is easily removed by lifting up from the front corners and releasing two nylon inserts which locate into a recess in the sill, and secondly the replacement cover is one piece that fits over the base padding and clips onto a wire frame with hog rings.

Here you can see the nylon inserts that secure the base

The simplicity of this eases me into something a little more complicated later on, having not done any re-upholstering on older vehicles with the use of hog rings.

The cover folds over the frame and secured with hog rings

First of all the rear cushion was removed as described above and worked on outside as there was a lot of mess with deteriorated sponge and rotten nylon. Once removed the seat base padding was in quite good condition. The base just sits in a wire frame that had a little surface rust I wire brushed the frame a gave a couple of coats of black paint.

Originally there was evidence of the base being secured temporarily in place with tape before the cover was fitted, so I did the same.

Working inside now with the wire frame painted and seat base in place

Easing the seat cover over the padding and framework then tucking in the edges under the frame gives you a good indication of the final fit. I found that there was a small area in the front corners that was left a little bit baggy no matter how much I pulled the cover tight. I presumed that the base had shrunk or deformed slightly over the years.

To overcome this I purchased a piece of ½ inch upholstery foam and cut out two pieces to shape and glued them into place to pad out the original foam. Now with the cover fitting nicely it was secured permanently with hog rings about every 2 inches along the frame. And that was it finished ready to back in the car.

Rear seat cushion finished stored in the spare bedroom for now

A reminder what the original looked like

Next...the rear seat backrest.

Replacement seat covers - preamble

In France this year was "Rassemblement du Siècle" or the Rally of the Century. Between July 19th and 21st at La Ferté Vidame, Perche saw 60,000 visitors and 10,000 vehicles including 4,200 Citroën models and numerous trade stands.

Amongst these trade stands was the ever helpful and talented Toon and Richard Langelaar from Citro-Classique  If you are going to buy any carpets or seat covers for your DS, these are the people to go to, the quality and attention to detail is flawless and at a reasonable price.

I sent Richard an email to save me a full set of seat covers in Caramel Jersey Velours rayé for the 1973 model year Pallas, he duly obliged then relieved me of €550 - worth every penny!

The "Jersey rayé" or striped Jersey trim was only available between 1970 and 1973 models after that it was superseded by "Jersey carré" or square Jersey trim on the 1974 & 1975 models years.

Nylon and foam after 46 years of sunlight and damp takes its toll, the nylon disintegrates and the foam turns to dust, the only solution is to remove the seats, strip them down and replace the seat upholstery and the foam padding/wadding.

The only special tools required for this job are hog ring pliers. Hog rings are like big staples, used to attach the upholstery to the foam and frame, the pliers are readily available and I bought mine through Amazon for £30.00 with 1,000 hog rings.

I started with the rear seat cushion as this was easily removed and looked more of a straight forward job, some of the deterioration can be seen below.

The foam padding can be seen here which has turned to dust

Hessian fabric was also used on the upholstery but was very fragile and threadbare

The nylon on the seat cover has deteriorated and vanished

Next... the rear seat cushion.