I sure appreciate this advice. It is all very insightful and very helpful. I look forward to taking some photos of the final solution.

Newer seats are cheaper and probably more comfortable and safer and some but not many fit in the PV, none of them look right though, I have a set of mid 60's Alfa Romeo Sprint 68-71 Gt Junior seats mounted in my PV these fit beautifully, have good side support, lock and look right, recovering kits are available too.

I put 850 seats in my 544, and although I removed the side airbags, in the end I could have saved them.

I made a plate out of plywood and attached it to the original mountings. Then I ground off the seat mounts and had aluminum slats welded to the seat rails. Then I mounted the seat to the plate and removed much of the plate that was not needed. Lastly, I copied the plate on 1/2" aluminum.

Lessons -

Leather stinks - all the leather seats in the junkyard were dried out. (This yard had almost 600 Volvos) Cloth seats are great in a car that does not have AC!

Find a wreck that is closed up - no broken glass or doors missing.

NEWER SEATS are cheaper than older ones in good condition - supply and demand. Check the prices on newer models - those seats are smaller also.

Get the back seat also - you can either narrow it, or use the skin on your back seat.

You can lower many seats - The 850 seat has almost 3' of vertical adjustment that you cannot see until you remove the sides of the seat.

You do not have to wire an electric seat in - I connect the control panel to the battery with jumper wires (fused) that I made. I keep the control panel in the trunk.
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'96 855R,'64 PV544 driver, '67 P1800 basket case, '95 855, '95 854, the first three are mine, heh, heh, 485,000 miles put on 9 bricks

Maybe this will help:

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1438100/444-544/hello_seattle.html

Note that the seats I have in the PV are of the older, simpler type and don't have the heavy back frame of the ones in the 142. I prefer the older type because they are lighter and, therefore, easier to manipulate. They are just as comfortable as the later versions.

Bob S.

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‘62 PV544 (B20, M41), '71 142E (Ex-automatic, now carbed), '93 240 Classic Wagon.

I'm in the same position as you. My interior is red, and there aren't that many cars with red interiors any more. They also need to be fairly narrow too.
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'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic #1141 245 (now w/16V turbo)