Carpet seat track cutouts

[Wallington]

Anyone have original carpet in their Firebird?

Like many GM of the era the carpet had extra holes cut for the seat tracks to pass under the carpet and hide them when the seat was back, just bolt and seat track cover plates up front. But Firebirds seem to only have one of these seat track holes cut, and it's the inner side, the least visible. Anyone know why, can't see if the springs and adjuster lever play any part in this. Perhaps to keep the carpet off the hot trans tunnel for anyone putting their hand down the side of the seat!

Here's a few original carpet pics I had saved. Along with the extra cuts for the seat track to pass through, there's also the 4 mounting point cuts so mount flat onto floor, not through the carpet as many do. Also, in some pics can see the side cut for the seatbelt to pass through to the side sill, not over, and that the rears are cut open into flaps only, that fold back over to cover mounting points.

Also, have seen one or two samples, both about 1980, that didn't appear to have the extra seat track holes at all.

Camel tan original carpet 1979TA by Ben, on Flickr

1976 Firebird original black carpet (1) by Ben, on Flickr

1976 Firebird original black carpet (4) by Ben, on Flickr

Original carpet Camaro 81 by Ben, on Flickr

Original carpet Firebird 79 by Ben, on Flickr

[roadking77]

I have one from a TATA but its packed in a box high on the shelf. I would love to pull it out to compare, but honestly I have so much crap going on right now it may be awhile before I can do so.

[Wallington]

No one else here has an original carpet in their car or can explain the cutout for inner side only?

[FormTA]

I know 5th TA does. I'm sure he'll hope on here soon with some clarity.

[5th T/A]

I first read this post on my phone and couldn't really tell what extra holes you were referring to. Back in December while doing my audio system upgrade, I pulled the driver's seat and the rear seat out to run power and signals to my power amp mounted behind the rear seat. I am very confident I have the original carpet in my car, but this is a 1980 TA. Under the driver's seat there were only four cutouts one for each leg of the seat and nothing else. What you can't see is the factory cut the tar like material and insulation so the legs would be siting directly on the metal floor. Sorry I did not take any pictures of the carpet while I had the seats removed. This is probably of little value, but I attached photos of the seat bolted in.

This is the front of the driver's seat cut out hole. You can see the feet overlapped the carpet a little bit. This is how it was installed by the factory, so that is how I reassembled it.

image0 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Divers seat right rear with carpet folded back.

IMG_1332 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Drivers seat left rear with carpet covering hold down bolt.

IMG_1331 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

[Wallington]

Excellent pics, shows the cut and folded carpet flaps nicely.

These are the holes I'm referring to, the 5th cutout for front seats just behind the front inner track mount, but only on the inner legs. On other model GM it is on both or just the out visible leg where the carpet runs up and over to hide the track frame.

1976 Firebird original black carpet (6) ff by Ben, on Flickr