I just took my seats apart and recovered the seat and backrest  I reused the vinyl from the sides and around the bottom  all it cost me was time. I'm not sure how long it will hold up but they should last till I can buy the good one's.

Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright till you hear them speak.

Seats of a similar vein can be found in places like Shuck's, Kragen, Checker, Pep Boys, etc. (i.e. auto parts chain stores.)

There's a chance these places might even have the same seats as sold on eBay - so you could preview them before buying.

 

DLY

I purchased a pair of these type seats off ebay a couple years ago for a Triumph project  . They really were not that bad. The material was kinda cheap, but they seemed well made. They are the type listed as "universal racing seats". I had the same problem with these seats in my TR6 project that would also occur if trying to fit in a mini. The flared out area in the shoulder portion of the seat jammed into the TR6 convertible frame and was deemed too wide. I ended up using Miata seats as they are more of a coke bottle shape and don't flare out at the shoulder area. I would guess these "universal racing seats" would also be too wide at the shoulder area for a Mini. Do lots of measuring before you buy, and keep the shoulder shape in mind.

My seats are pretty crappy, but I'm too cheap to buy the good seats from MM..at least until I fix bigger problems.  I've seen low buck Chinese knock offs on EBAY, for $99 to$134 per pair, plus $150 shipping.  Still, $285 for a pair of seats is pretty cheap.  I'm just a little leary of buying anything off EBAY, and afraid if the seats did arrive, they'd be really, really crappy.  Anyone checked these things out?  I'm not trying to take bread out of the hosts mouth.  In fact, most of the places selling these are in California.  Maybe MM could start selling the seats. If MM offered them, I'd snatch them up quick.  Anyone taken a closer look at these seats??