I need a driver's seat for my '72 Dart. The old bench seat is in bad shape, looks like crap, and is extremely heavy.

Something a bit more comfortable than the plastic "racing seats", for street/strip use, but don't want to break the bank either.

Unfortunately I'm somewhat gravitationally challenged (6' tall but 46 waist, 54 or 56 chest). The sport seats I see at Summit and others look like they'd be awfully snug on the sides.

What are the bigger guys/gals sitting in?

You might want to check out the local junk yards to see if you find something comfortable and go from there. I'd suggest vans or trucks. What ever you find you will probably have to make mounts to fit.

i like those intrepid seats....find one and sit in it....

For my more street friendly cars, I like the Chrysler Sebring seats with the built in shoulder harness, I have a set of Caddy seats also with built shoulder harness and they are slightly larger, I'm a full size driver.

Too bad you can't slide in the seats from an Imperial. I really like the super cushy split bench in mine. It's more than roomy enough for a guy your size.

I put a complete interior out of a '69 Mercury Marquis into my '64 Polara. It was a hassle...the floor had to be cut out of the Mercury to handle the seat mounts (Electric split bench for driver & manually adjusted passenger), but when it was done it looked factory and I was comfortable. The rear seat looked great and the door panels looked great and almost stock. But of course it was not numbers matching...as if I cared!!

Look at Empi race seats. They have seats that are wider and look like race seats....

www.jeepswag.com

Call them as they are updating the website. These are suspension seats.

Dodge Shadow seats fit surprisingly easy in the 72 Duster I had. I drilled mounting holes for them and reinforced the holes with some homemade sheet metal washers. They reclined, and moved much farther back than the stock bench seat. I took that car on several road trips 3+hours and it was very comfortable. I'm pretty close to your size, a bit taller and a bit bigger up top lol....

Went to the local junkyard today and found a nice pair of non-power, cloth seats from an Intrepid (low miles car with supposedly one lady owner, and no visible wear). They fit me quite comfortably. Thanks for the suggestion!

Going to drill mounting holes tomorrow. Probably won't even need to make brackets.

I bought a set of Corbeau seats from Racing Seats USA. They are the wider version of their race seat. I absolutely love then. I opted for the leather version, and ordered the mounting brackets for my car. I did cut about an inch out of the brackets and re-welded them with a bit more reward tilt. They recline, slide forward and back significantly and are super comfortable with my 6'2", 260 lbs body, even on day long drives. Everyone who rides in the car wants them for their cars too.

I also ordered the shoulder/lap belts for the car, but they are not shown in this picture. They attach to the rear seatbelt mounting bolt with a single removable strap that splits into a double shoulder restraint before passing through the holes in the seatback. They connect to the lap belt. They do not have the anti-submarining strap that goes between your crotch, which is an option.

Looks nice! How much did the seats + brackets + shipping end up costing you?

The Intrepid seats aren't even close to fitting the Dart floor pan. Looks like I will have to get some 2x2 1/8" angle iron and make some brackets.

The front outer hole on each seat could possibly bolt to the existing bench seat hole, and more or less centers the seat in front of the steering wheel, but the height may still be a bit low. I've got some fabricating to do!

That is the name of the game... fabricate. I got a pair of 2002 Durango buckets from a yard for $60.00 and they are going into the Ramcharger. I already have the rack that is used when fitting factory buckets in the trucks and the adaptation will be easy.

Dodge Neon seats fit great also, all you have to do is bend the front mounting pads on the seat frames and drill new holes in the floor. They are comfortable too.

My Procar seats are very nice and fit the road runner perfectly! You might look into those. The pair was about $800 with brackets.

Thanks Stu... but this pair of also-nice seats only cost me $150 For that difference in price I'll make the brackets already

I put these Corbeaus in my GTX. They are not leather. I bought the wide version cause I'm 6' 3" 250 lbs. With brackets and submarine belt holes $1265 delivered.

http://corbeau.com/reclining-seats/cr1.html

OK. Finally got the driver's seat in, after fabricating a beefy pair of brackets from 2x2 1/8" angle. The front is as low as it can go (due to the original bench seat mounting location on the floor pan) and they still sit a bit high. But I've never liked the low-rider look anyway, and getting them lower would require cutting and rewelding part of the floor pan. Will repeat the process on the passenger side.

Now, what do I do for seat belts?

The Intrepid seat has the female end of the buckle attached to its frame and I didn't get the belts with it (although I could). I would prefer the belts to be fastened to the body, not the seat, so that my homemade brackets aren't part of the structure under load in the event of an accident.

I think I've got all the original Dart belts in the pile of boxes/bags, although 44-year-old webbing may not the safest choice!

So - do I:

Adapt the Intrepid belts to the Dart body?
Use the original Dart belts?
Buy new reproduction Dart belts?
Some other kind of restraint system?

Suggestions please?
thanks
Charles

Pop the buckle off the seat and use reproduction belts.

A belt that keeps you in the seat is the better design, rather then merely attached to the floor, IMO. The theory being, if the seat moves, and the belt does not, the belt then becomes loose.