It just became a lot easier than ever to support the car-cult that is The Autopian, because we have a new base tier — one that you, dear readers recommended — that sits just below the former-lowest membership level, Vinyl, which itself sits below Velour and Rich Corinthian Leather. The new tier is called “Cloth,” and it foregoes merch to focus on getting you access to Members-only posts, the private channel on our Discord, and you’ll get discounts to our events! If you buy the annual membership, it adds up to just $5.83 a month, which is a 30 percent savings over the previously-cheapest option! (Sign up here). I’m going to spend much of the rest of this blog talking about some very good cloth seats even though I’m supposed to be convincing you to become a member, since it’s a critical part of our roadmap towards sustainability as a website. Let’s talk cloth seats.
The cloth seat that gets the most love, I’d say, is the VW Golf GTI’s plaid seat, and you know what? Rightly so; it’s fantastic:
There are a few other examples of decent modern cloth seats, but these days cool-cloth is rare. We’re at a point where, in the U.S. at least, it seems cloth seats are blander than ever. If you buy a modern car with cloth, chances are you’ll get a plastic-y-single-color fabric of some sort. Maybe you’ll get black and another accent color, but this doesn’t mean cloth is somehow uncool. No, cloth is legitimately cool, even if you’ll be hard-pressed to find a modern vehicle with cloth seats that look as good as those on this old Chevy K5 Blazer:
I once bought one of these seats from a junkyard in Michigan. What a find!:
The thing is: This was hardly an isolated thing. Back before cloth became relegated to the cheaper trims, and leather/fake leather became the standard for higher trims, you’d find great cloth patterns in even the top models. Check out the 1990s-era Jeep Wrangler Sahara’s green and tan seats. Lovely!
And let’s not forget this fantastic seat available on Jeep TJ Wranglers:
Nowadays, if you want cloth seats in a Wrangler, this and a tan version of this are all you get. All the interesting stuff is leather/leatherette, these days.
(Note: Before the Wrangler, there was the CJ, which could be had with a Levis interior:
But, as a reader pointed out, and as written above, this was actually vinyl! -DT].
Oh boy, check out this Jeep Cherokee XJ cloth seat below. XJ seats were fantastic at launch in 1984, remained fantastic even after the headrests entered the game sometime in the late 1980s, and then in the mid 1990s they became awful. After the XJ’s refresh in 1997, cloth seats remained bad but became slightly better than 1995/1996 cloth seats. It’s really amazing how much the seats regressed, but this was a pattern in the industry.
Anyway, please post in the comments your favorite cloth seats of all time to commemorate the new, cheapest Autopian membership tier. Oh, but maybe click the link in this caption first:
If you’re unsure about supporting us, just know that we appreciate the fact that you read our website, no matter what. That said, we’ve amassed a few testimonials from members. Folks seem happy! (Though we’re always open for feedback on how to improve!).
Oh, and here are some grille badges that Velour+ members put on their vehicles. Amazing!:
Rich Corinthian Leather members, though, get the GOOD stuff. Rust (among other things, including private car-collection tours, which we’re working to orchestrate!):
You can sign up here. But expect some weird members-only content from your favorite car cultists.
[Ed Note: What David was supposed to say was: In a world where our competitors are looking to use AI instead of writers, platforms like Facebook are de-emphasizing news, and advertisers are turning more and more to influencers, we’re hoping to build a sustainable community that supports writers and treats its readers like customers instead of just a product to be sold to brands. He was going to add that we have over 750 members and they help cover about 10% of the operating costs of this site. Our goal with this summer membership drive is to get over 1,000 total members, which would help a lot. Additionally, we’ve added a Foreign Legion tier for people outside of the United States who still want merch/gear. If you’re an existing member outside of the USA you’re grandfathered in. – MH]
[Editor’s Editor’s note: Fair point, Matt. I got distracted by the cool old-school seats. -DT]
My favourite cloth interior is the mohair cloth of my 32 Chevrolet, not just the seats but the door cards, headliner, and little roller shade in the rear window. It’s an olive drab/dark brown colour and smells of 92 years of pipe smoke, dust, and peoples.
So what’s up next, “Milk crate and bare metal” level memberships?
You know, Torch, not all of us can be internationally acclaimed, award-winning, shit-posting journalists like you. Some of us HAVE to be Cheap Bastards. 😉
Idea for a product:
Make a nice metal sign that can be hung/nailed up in a garage/shop/barn. Maybe have a vote on design, or make it a member-driven competition for it (I have no skill and no skin in that game if it ever happened).
Enjoy the weekend.
Funny how that worked. I’ve been hesitating to join, didn’t know if I wanted to pay for Vinyl. So you come out with a Cloth version and I signed up for Vinyl anyway! Looking forward to getting my shirt. Already bought a hat!
Make it donations at the top right. I’m telling you it will work. You will get way more money from donations than memberships.
Does it bug anyone else that vinyl should be lower membership than cloth? Growing up, that was the hierarchy… vinyl, cloth, velour, leather, then rich Corinthian leather, of course.
Honestly, looking to move up from vinyl – these folks do wonderful work! – but ‘velour’ gives me horrific flashbacks and I can’t afford RCL (although I do currently own a such equipped Cordoba)…
How about a Corinthian Leather membership level?
i love you all and what you’re doing with the site, but I need a ripped-cloth–foam–and–springs–sticking–out tier. Or maybe a splintery-wood-bench tier. You get the idea.
David, your next tier we’ll be looking at wil be Klopapier.
Quit denigrating me and my cohort as “cheap bastards”, publically, mind you, and I’ll consider a Foreign Legion membership. Mr. Torchinsky’s writings are absolute gems.
Give us a app at this price point so it’s easier to manage the subscription
’89 to ’94 Suzuki Swift GTi seats.
They were shaped just like a Recaro racing seat, and they are still commonly advertised for sale as actual Recaros.
They had deep side bolsters that would hug you firmly, and an integrated headrest with hole for a racing harness.
They were 2 tone, and the early ones had a checkered insert that would sort of mimic a VW GTI seat.
I don’t like memberships. There are times I don’t have time to read stuff and no after 2 busy months I probably won’t bingewatch-catchup on dozens of member-only posts.
Imagine there was some sort of online digital micro payment system that would allow to pay for watching individual articles, like 2 cents here, 2 cents there. We could call it crypto-currency and then later completely ignore why it was a good idea at first so each transaction of 2 cents would still cost like 5 bucks so nobody will use it for micro-transactions.
Anyways, micro-transactions. That would be a good idea. Also easier for the occasional reader who’d land on this site without having been there before.
Show half the article, show the “pay your 2 cents now” and there you are ; money in the bank!
Now we just need a company that would accept USD as input and providing some micro-transaction API for all kind of websites all over the global and it wouldn’t be a pipe dream anymore…
Call it the ‘Duct Tape’ tier
Media properties have been trying to do micro transactions on the web for almost 30 years with no success. The transactional costs and middleman fees are too high.
Which is a hundredfold worse with crypto.
Those TJ seats may as well be unobtanium. The driver left bolster wore through, and before I sold my TJ, I was going to fix those exact awesome seats. No go! :(. In the end I put a seat cover on and explained to anyone who would come look at it; the upholstery company that promised they could fix it and was paid stuffed some foam blocks in and made the worst attempt ever to stitch a tear.
Surprisingly enough, the best cloth seats I ever had were in my old 1989 Caravan SE. White with the burgundy-hell interior. When I finally gave it away in 2006, the seats still looked brand new. Everything else was a miserable wreck, but those seats, man…
And it’s not like I took care of ’em either. It was my dad’s first, and he always trashed his cars. Then when it was mine I hauled everything. College moves, first job move, bricks, plywood. You name it, if it was heavy with sharp corners, I had it in the seats. Never even scuffed ’em. It’s like they were made out of Kevlar.
I used to sign up max tier for everything but finances are getting tight these days it was difficult to justify even the lowest tiers. These days I sign up just to avoid seeing ads (I don’t use ad-block); I usual avoid joining huge Discords and I never really rep with badges and whatnot.
Thank you, will sign up soon
My 87 Toyota Truck was very nearly a bottom-tier stripper when I got it. I bumped it up a couple of notches post-purchase by adding a radio and, much later, a CD player.
It came with “woven vinyl” cloth seats. I don’t know if this was bottom tier or not, but I’ve sat on black, smooth vinyl seats in the summer and that was enough to make me swear off shorts for the rest of my life. But these woven vinyl seats are a little weird. Are they bottom tier, are they vinyl, are they cloth? The truck is well over 30 years old and the seats are only now beginning to look a little worn. If they are bottom tier, they defy the stereotype by being the most rugged option available.
I’m not really sure what the fabric is. It’s cloth, but it’s no fiber I can identify. I’ve been sitting on it forever and as far as lifespan is concerned you could tell me it’s ringspun Kevlar and I’d believe it. It’s as tough as the rest of the truck.
I signed up as soon as memberships were offered, because, as a resident of that very small spot on the Gawker Venn diagram where Jalopnik and Jezebel overlap, I am still angry at the deranged billionaire who blew it up and want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
To anyone who hasn’t signed up yet, Jason’s drawings are great, Sid’s grille badge is amazing, and you will enjoy it more knowing you helped pay for David’s next ridiculous adventure.
If I were still a bachelor, or if my wife would stop somehow spending ALL of our income, I would gladly spring for a a Rich Corinthian Leather membership just to support you guys. You’re awesome.
Maybe I can convince my wife to let me get a cloth membership. At least I’d be supporting you a little.
Would love to support, but live in Russia and as you probably know, sanctions suck. No flights, no DHL/UPS, no $ transfers. Like living in the wild west. You should see the car scene here tho! I’ve never encountered so many “wtf is that brand” moments than over the past year. Our market is begin FLOODED by the Chinese. At least we still get to see some of these gems:
https://ibb.co/DDH5PmG
https://ibb.co/S04D5Ss
https://ibb.co/P6S5WCb
How about a tier that’s just a metal frame with a canvas strip across it, a la original Jeeps, Land Rovers, Citroën 2CV (maybe wasn’t canvas, but whatever the basic idea of an automotive seat would be)? Somewhere around $1-3/month, with only special article access, no need for the other fancy stuff.
Yeah, that’s what they really need, more options are better…I would have signed up over a year ago if they had a dirt cheap “rusty” option
What about old xxl tshirt from goodwill stretched over god knows what happened to the original upholstery? No benefits, just the ability to pitch in once in a while. Maybe “skinflint” flair next to your avatar or something.
In his POStal wasn’t David sitting on a milk crate?
Supporting the work, holding my nose for the auto renew. Grr.
We have maximized the number of renewal alerts that Memberful allows, i.e. when it’s time to renew we hope we did a great enough job to get you to come back, but you’ll definitely have the time and awareness to make that decision. You can also go into settings and turn it off immediately.
Well, time for this certified Cheap Bastard to put his miserly money where his mouth is and subscribe. I am current in a different country so it will have to wait but I promise I’m a Cloth man for sure! Definitely want to directly support great independent work, grazie a tutti!
I am ocassionally a man of my word. The cloth feels nicer than expected.