One aesthetic item that had bothered me after purchasing my 280z was the seats: they were cloth instead of the factory vinyl. Since I'm a fan of the stock look, these seats were on my "punch list" of items to address. Last year, I was finally able to replace the seat foam and covers with factory reproductions (you can read about that here). While I was able to replace the covers and refinish the hinge mechanisms, I was unable to locate replacements for the missing mechanism covers. The lack of these covers was obvious (at least to me) every time I opened the doors...
I always keep an eye on eBay for certain parts, including these covers; recently a pair that looked to be in great shape popped up for a price that I was willing to pay. The covers were specifically for the 197 and 1978 years, but surely Datsun hadn't changed the seat mechanisms just for two model years, right? Silly me, I own a 1976 which had several parts (such as the bumpers) that were used for only 2 years, so I should have known better. I was disappointed to find out that these covers did not fit my car.
This disappointment led me to a focused search to find replacements for my car. I noticed that Motorsport Auto listed some reproduction covers specifically for the 1972 and 1973 240z. Having learned my lesson from the later model year covers, I needed to figure out if these would fit. Much searching yielded no results that would give me the answer I yearned: would these cover fit? I finally stumbled upon one site that sold used covers. While they were out of stock, the listing stated that their reconditioned covers would fit 1972-1976 model years. With that information I decided to take a risk and order the reproduction covers.
The covers looked great. More importantly, they fit perfectly, with no modification! Another bit of luck: all but two of those tiny screws that hold the covers in place were still attached to the hinge. While they were close to M3 x 6mm in size, the threads were a little more coarse than that. Digging through my box of recycled fasteners surfaced two screws that could be used in non-visible locations. Those unsightly hinge mechanisms are now no longer visible!
