Restoring stadium seats

[sschauer]

Now to throw a kink in thing I picked up a row of seats removed from crosley in the 30s but then used in a fairgrounds and painted over by the fair. Would you restore back to crosley green? http://www.forsythesauctions.com/

[steve B]

You might not have to repaint.

There;s a technique where you use paint remover on small sections and don't let it sit. When it's wiped off it only takes a bit of the top layer.

I saw it on a show about restoring a frescoe, and tried it on a couple things I have,(Bikes, not seats) and it works pretty well. Slow, but the results are nice if the original underneath was decent when it got painted over.

I've got 3 seats, Fenway - original, atlanta fulton county - restored and with paperwork, texas stadium - original, but it's plastic anyway.

Steve B

[mr2686]

I'd leave the seat as is, slab it and have it graded

[sschauer]

Originally Posted by mr2686

I'd leave the seat as is, slab it and have it graded

That was plan 2 but the shipping costs are crazy

[mr2686]

Yep...gotta watch those shipping costs! But seriously, If you can get away without restoring your stadium seats (they're in good enough shape and look nice enough) that's the way I would go. If, however, you have rust issues and broken slats and someone has painted them the wrong color, I don't think it hurts at all to restore them...as long as you take your time, do your homework, and do a professional job. I like the idea of trying to strip away the top layer of paint. Worst case scenario is that you'd have to repaint it anyway

[mcgwirecom]

I had bought a Yankee Stadium seat years ago that was just chipping and peeling. It was a mess. I really wanted to use it so I took off all the loose paint and painted it the original green color. Looked great and got to use it. Lets face it, most seats don't have their original color, they were all repainted at the stadiums. I just bought a Cleveland Stadium double seat I got Bob Feller to sign the top slat. I'm gonna repaint the whole thing and use it!

[Fuddjcal]

Would anyone have any opinions on what to do with Original Dodger Stadium seats? There is no wood or seat with them, but are just the original brackets finished with very little rust. They were "borrowed" from Dodger Stadium during the original constuction and have been stored for 50 years in a crawlspace. I have about 20 seats worth of these originals and would love to do something with them. Thanks

[batsballsbases]

This is a great topic,and yes I would say its a 50/50 split. But I would restore them. Here is a great story why. This is on The 73 restoration of yankee stadium. In my town a company called United house wrecking bought up about 20,000 yes 20,000 of the yankee seats and were selling them for between 5-10 dollars each. 10 if you wanted a double pair. Many people bought them and they were sold to people all over the area. Fast forward to about 1985. Im in the landscape tree business and we are on alot of properties, I was giving an estimate for a rather large job for one of my clients who had just bought a house and wanted to re landscape. as we were clearing out an area by an old pool I came upon a set of 2 decent yankee stadium box seat chairs. I was excited! I asked my client what she wanted to do with them and she said they are yours if you want them I couldnt get my men fast enough to load them into the truck. They were decent but a little rough. Well after the excitement wore off they sat in my shop for 20+ years. Problem was they were peeling ,one of the slats was broken and they were just not something you would want to sit in. One day my oldest son asked me about the seats and it got me to thinking about finally fixing them. Biggest problem was that slat,it was curved. I called every one of the seat restorers on line and no one would sell me a curved slat. (I dont think they had one) I finally was able to get a local wood shop to make me some of the slats and the project began! I called one person who does restore these seats and what he told me was to leave as much of the old paint as possible( The original paint was called sea foam green) and to get the original paint match color. (Yankee stadium blue) A sherwin williams paint #. (Still in use). We took them all apart and cleaned them.I used all the original bolts, was lucky enough that they were still good. Well it turned out to be a great project and I do have some pics. I will put them in to 2 posts as they all dont fit. The seats came out great and I have asked many who have sat in them to tell me which is the replaced slat and not one has got it right. I guess in my case I would restore them and if I had to do it again I would probably do it again!

[sschauer]

Thanks for the replies I've decided to split them up into 2 double seats and restore them. Now any great site that lists the exact paint color per seat? I've heard the red seats were Chinese red but what about the green?

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by Fuddjcal

Would anyone have any opinions on what to do with Original Dodger Stadium seats? There is no wood or seat with them, but are just the original brackets finished with very little rust. They were "borrowed" from Dodger Stadium during the original construction and have been stored for 50 years in a crawlspace. I have about 20 seats worth of these originals and would love to do something with them. Thanks

Being that I chimed in a couple of years ago on this, a friend picked everything up a few months back and put these together for me...Thanks Mike! Mine are used for guests in my office. We still have a couple pairs left that are not accounted for, If anyone is interested you can PM me.

Great job by everyone with the restores!!!