I didn’t fit the ashtray back as it was black for the Targa seats and should be white.   At some point I may find a white one, or paint mine, but in the meantime it is kind of funny to own a French car sans ashtray.

I took the car for a drive to ‘test drive’ the seats – the additional foam makes them slightly firmer than before, but still very comfortable and the velours are so much nicer so sit in than the Targa.   I’m really glad I did this upgrade and it is well worth it.

The covers from Citro Toon fit extremely well and were easy to install using the old ones as a template.   There are only a few small places where you can tell that a novice did the install but the money saved and satisfaction of doing the job yourself make it worth it.

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I found that it was easier to remove the drivers seat before I tried to re-install the passengers seat, not only to get a good clean, but also in terms of access to the four bolts that hold the seats down.

In part 6, the passengers seat was completed, and so I installed it today.   It is easier to remove the headrest to install the seat, and then it can be added later.   I’m really happy with the look and the comfort of the new seat covers.   The fabric had a great feel and the extra foam makes them like an overstuffed couch.   Will look great with the matching door cards.

The next task was to start on the drivers seat.  I had left that until last, as given it has the most use,  I wanted to have the most experience in working with the seat covers before I attempted it.

As with the passengers seat, the foam was in fairly good condition, although the drivers seat looked like an old lady’s couch with a stunning floral pattern.  So tempting to leave the bottom cover off so I can admire it daily.

Similar to the passengers seat, I added the extra foam.

The extra foam makes it a bit hard to stretch the covers on, but bulldog clips make attaching it fairly easy.  I have used bulldog clips extensively during this project.

From there, I was able to attach both the top and bottom cover to the frame, and start gluing the backing to the seat back cover.   The ashtray I removed from this seat was black to match the Targa seat.   I need to check in some of my books what colour it should be – for now I may leave it out as nobody will be smoking in this car – even if it is French.

In much shorter time than the passengers side, the covers were on and the seat is ready for the glue to dry on the backing plate to allow me to fit that, then the headrest before it goes back into the car.

I anticipate the next part to be the final installment for the seat cover upgrade project, with only door cards left!

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I started with the seat back.   The foam I had purchased I also got to curl around the top, to make sure the top of the seat was well padded.   The top of the seat was easier to fit than the bottom – It needed a bit of pulling with the additional foam. Once done, hog rings attached the cover to the frame in the same way as used on the rear seat.   This is shown in the picture above.    The hardest part was probably pulling the bottom around the back enough for a good fit, and making sure that the cover was straight.

For the seat bottom, I trimmed the foam a bit to fit the base, as it tapers a bit at the front and rear.   The bottom mostly uses captive spurs to attach it.  These are both at the front and the sides, and then hog rings for the rear. The seat cover has some wire running through the edge that you make sure is on the right side of the spurs so the cover cannot come off when somebody is sitting on it.   There are also guides for the wire as it goes around the corners, although the wire kept coming out of those for me.

Once the covers were on, I could also re-attach the slider mechanism, after a quick clean.    Next was to attach the backing and the headrest.   The backing I glued on to the metal backing plate.  I also used some tape to make sure it stayed on.    You then screw the plate to the back of the seat with two screws on each side.   With the seat cover on, it can be quite time consuming to locate the holes in the seat frame – and a lot of work to push this cover down enough so the holes line up.   There are four holes in the seat – two for the backing, and two for the headrest.   As this car is not a pallas, there is only one ashtray, which is on the other seat.

The headrests are easy to assemble. There is a metal frame which goes inside the headrest cushion and is held on through velcro.  There is then a neck rest that is held on to the main headrest with studs.   The completed headrest then attaches to the seat through two sockets that screw into the side of the seat.

Like screwing in the backing plate, it took a bit of fiddling to get the mounting point attached to the seat. Once done, the headrests just slide in.   This is done so the headrests are easily removed. This is required if you want to fold the seats down into a bed, a feature of the DS.

All that is left to do is fit this seat to the car, and repeat the process for the drivers seat.   A quick test of the seat in the garage proves that it lives up to DS seat comfort! The Velour seats are far more comfortable than the Targa.

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The front seat foam was in good condition and had been replaced by foam from a company in Sydney, at least after 8 digit numbers came in.   Interestingly, even though this was clearly not factory original foam, I found factory tags in the seats that mentioned the targa – different from the back seats so I wonder if my front seats are originally from a different car.

The front seats are quite straightforward.  There is a backing piece that is screwed onto the seats and has blacking in seat covered targa for targa seats, but white for cloth.  In the DS Comfort, there is only one Ashtray, which is on the drivers side.   The white backing comes with the kit and I will re-cover the backing piece as part of this process.

After the removal of the backing, the bottom and top seat covers can be easily removed, through a combination of wire, hog rings and captive ‘barbs’ like the rear seats. Some of my foam was attached to the seat covers, but the foam was still in good condition after removal.

On test fitting, the new covers seem a big baggy, so I might add a bit more foam before I finish the job.   I also ahve to add in the inserts for the head rests too.

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To finish the job, I had to insert the final hog rings on the upper part of the seat.   The foam and springs were quite delicate from age, so I had to be quite careful.   In an ideal world I would have replaced them, but that isn’t possible at the moment.

I also had to fit the rear arm rest.   My rear arm rest had been modified a bit with a small piece of wood used, and a staple gum fixing the cover to it.   I borrowed a staple gun to make sure it all fitted back.   I also noticed that the tounge the rear of the arm rest to the seat back so you can’t see through to the boot was a little shorter – hopefully it will stretch a bit over time.

One of the hooks was also broken to affix the ‘tongue’, so I used a little of the 3M adhesive that was used for the steering wheel tape.

Now to the front seats!

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I was helped by a website created by an owner of a DS20 Comfort who has documented the same process using the same covers from Citro Toon. The website is in French, but pictures are universal and Google translate helps with the rest.

Despite the website, this part of the seat has been the most difficult so far.   To start, the folding rear arm rest must be removed.    The arm rest comprises three parts – the actual arm rest, which is mostly soft foam, the folding mechanism and a fabric ‘tongue’ that hides the gap in the seat when the armrest is folded down.     My armrest had been modified in the past, adding new piece of wood to the base of the armrest and using staples to hold the tongue and cover to the wood.   So far I have fitted the cover to the foam, but need to get hold of a staple gun to attach the cover properly.

Once the armrest has been removed, the set is two parts, and there are two separate covers for each of those parts.    At the top of the seat, instead of hog rings, there are a series of barbs that must be prized out with a screwdriver and then hooked into the seat cover.   Hog rings are used for the bottom and sides of the seat.    I ended up cutting the cover a bit to fit over one of the bracing beams that join the two sections, and also cut holes for the rear ‘tabs’ that are used to attach the seat back to the car.    It took quite a bit more fiddling around to get them to fit ok.   I still have a bit of fiddling around to get the properly fitted, and then need to finish the arm rest too.

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I found that using lots of small bulldog clips to get the cover in the right spot was a big help – I could position it and check it before I used the hog rings to actually secure the cover.   I had purchased a set of hog ring pliers for the install and having the right tool made the job much easier.    I also decided to purchase a bag of new hog rings, so I didn’t have to worry about having to re-use all the old ones.   The previous seat covers had holes cut (by the installer) to allow the mounting tabs to come out of the cover, and the new covers did not come pre-cut.   I could not see how to install the coves without cutting similar holes, so I did, although I was rather nervous with a Stanley knife cutting into my seat cover!  Luckily it all seemed to work out.

Next step was to start on the upper part of the rear seat. This is a bit more complex, as it includes the folding rear arm-rest.   The arm rest assembly can be removed with four screws, and then then an additional fabric piece is held on to the seat frame so you can’t see through into the boot of the car.

The upper part of the seat is different using springs and foam instead of just foam.  I found the foam etc to be in worse condition than the bottom of the seat.   Hog rings are used along the sides, but at the top of the seat, there are some metal teeth that you hook the seat cover into rather than using hog rings.

In the end I was able to get half way through the back part, and start on the disassembly of the arm rest.

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I started with the bottom of the back seat, as I figured this would be the easiest (it is just a big rectangle and one piece), and easy to still use the car when the seat is out.

The seat cover is held on to a metal frame by hog rings, and then the metal frame is screwed into the foam.   I found it easy to use two sets of needle nose pliers to remove the old hog rings, one slightly larger set in my left hand for leverage, and a smaller set with a curved end in my right hand.  (I’m right handed).

During the removal of the old Targa seat cover, I also found a damaged tag that said ‘Serie 109’.   I have found reference to these tags on the Internet before, but at this stage I am not sure how to decode it.   These are most likely the original seats for the car, but I don’t have any proof of that.  My current theory is that this number refers to the original colour of the seats, and in a catalogue I have for aftermarket seat covers, 109 is a gold colour, which corresponds to the original white exterior colour of this car.  (In 1970 you could have white with a red or gold interior)

I have purchased new hog rings and a set of hog ring pliers to mount the new seat covers to the frame.   The frame is slightly bent, but the seat still sits fine, so I will re-use it and my foam.

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