County Stadium Seats

[Tailgat0r76]

I recently got my hands on a set of four county stadium seats, and a single one.

They're in prettttyyyy bad condition and will be looking to restore them.

 

I'm wondering if anyone else has done this? Anyone have any advice? I'm also going to need the stands for them, anyone know where to buy/how to make those?

 

 

Thanks for any advice!

[JimH5]

Congrats on the seats!

 

I bought two sets of two when the stadium was torn apart and they were shipped with seat stands. I can't help you on locating these stands or other methods of mounting them. The Hall of Fame has a number of seats on display, and they might be able to help you in locating some seat stands.

 

I would offer you the suggestion that you DON"T restore the seats. Mine are pretty beat up too, with chipped paint, and one set has some pretty chewed up wood on the backs.

 

One reason for my suggestion has to do with the retaining the seats' value. Unrestored seats ALWAYS sell for more than their restored counterparts--in case you ever see the need or desire to sell them. That's true of any collectible. It's always better to keep things original and flawed that to do a repair--even if the repair is of great quality.

 

The other reason is for pure aesthetics. I remember County Stadium being exactly as chipped and flawed as my seats are. I wouldn't recognize these seats as being from County Stadium if they were all shiny and new.

 

Keep the grungy memory alive!

[Tailgat0r76]

Yeah, it was cool, I got the seats from a friend who's parents were sick of having them around the house. They we're going to throw them in the dumpster! They had 4 good condition seats, and no use for all these trashed ones, so I definitely took them from them.

 

 

Well here's a picture of the seats;

Here

and here

 

I think I basically have to restore them. I know the value will plummet, but I don't really plan on reselling them if I can get them right. I wouldn't ever be able to sit in them with the condition of the arm rests, all rusty and scraped up.

[Paul77]

First off, I'm very jealous.

 

Second....my brother, who is a member of this board, got a CS seat for Christmas. His seat was in pieces (if I recall correctly). I know he has some brackets to put them back together and to set the seat up for use. I'm sure he'll see this post and respond if he has any suggestions.

 

Also, I agree with the above statement, don't try to restore the seats by painting them. I remember lots of seats, particularly in the upper deck, that were poor shape. That is exactly how I remember county stadium, run down but beautiful in it's own way.

[zachlaka]

Wow 5 seats that's cool.

 

I just got one off of Craigslist a few weeks ago I was actually buying a County Stadium seat direction sign. The guy sold me one of his many seats he has. He was part of the demolition crew for county stadium He had a bunch of stands either for mounting the chairs permanently or for actually sitting in them. I got the ones used for sitting in the chair

 

This guy is selling stands for old refurbished metropolitan stadium seats for $70 a pair. I don't know if he would sell just the stands or if the even work CS seats I do not know why they wouldn?t.

 

www.vendiamo.com/Met/MetStadium.htm

 

 

My seat is also in pretty bad condition it was parts from 2 different seats. I had to take a dremel to each nut and use about 10 cutting wheels due to all the rust.

 

I haven't put it together yet but would like to fix it up first. I am not going to sell mine so I want to restore the metal so it looks nice and doesn't start chipping all over my carpet or getting me dirty when I sit in it for watching games on TV. The arm rests are really rusted. I am going to ask my old HS Tech Ed teacher if I can use the sandblaster to fix up the arm rests. I hope he still works at the HS.

 

I noticed a restored chair on eBay so you might want to ask him some questions I know I will be.

cgi.ebay.com/Milwaukee-Co...dZViewItem

 

 

Wow this is horrible writing http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/embarassed.gif Oh well hope this helps some I will make a post of what I actually do when I do it to my chair.

[JimH5]

Yours are a little more beat than mine--but not much.

 

The underside rust will be invisible when the seats are open (mine are always open, with a pair of 1989 seat cushions on one set and a set of ASG sets on the other). If you're concerned about the armrests, then maybe do a little fine steel wool to take away the heavy rust. Mine have been indoors (not in the basement) since I've gotten them, and I haven't noticed any progression of rust at all. So I would think that they would do fine indoors as they are now without getting any worse.

 

When mine arrived, one of the pair had a couple of breaks in the iron frames, down around the bottom. Not sure if they were damaged when they were removed from the stadium, or maybe in shipping--or by me in wrestling the stinkin' things up the stairs. If I remember right, they were shipped with lumber mounts on the bottom, maybe to add stability or to create a shape for the packing crates. In any case, they were very awkward and somewhat heavy to move (by myself) up several stairs onto my porch and into my house.

 

I took that one set to a local welder to do a repair so I could use the seats, and they look fine.

 

My only beef with mine are that both sets are seats 22 & 23, as if they came from different rows, one behind the other. I would have preferred to have 4 sequential numbers--but that's probably just nitpicking.

[zachlaka]

Yea my only real beef with my seat is that one arm rest is #25 the other #32 and the number on the top piece of wood is 19 and has a nice dent in the top side. Was probably stepped on pretty good by people trying to get to seats or this seat from other rows.

[ccbrew]

If the eBay picture is what your restored seats are going to end up looking like..don't do it! As banged up as your seats look in your photo, that's honestly how I remember them looking like back in the day. I can look at them and immediately recognize them as being from County Stadium, and nostalgically reminisce of my time there. The shiny new ones don't do that for me, because we all know that CS seats didn't really look like that..

 

Just my two cents.

[JimH5]

I believe there is a card show at Gonzaga Hall in West Allis this Sunday. If you're in or near the area, it might be worth a visit to see if any of the dealers there know about getting some of the original seat stands that were offered for sale during the demolition.

 

There were a couple of veteran dealers who seemed to have lots and lots of vintage stuff from the old stadium.

[Tailgat0r76]

Can't make it this sunday; have my graduation party.

 

 

Man, am I torn. On one hand, I definitely do see your point with the ebay auction; I don't really like how that looks. But I also don't see me ever wanting to sit in the chair with all the crusty paint, and rusty metal.

 

I guess I'll try and get the stands first. See how they look completely natural and go from there. I think I'll do everything I can to just do small touchups (steel wool to the rust, etc..) without actually restoring. If I don't like it then, I can always do more.

 

I did just get done hosing them down, and I must admit; they already look a lot better. Maybe I'll restore the single seat, but keep the four original, or vice verse.

 

Thanks for all the advice!

[zachlaka]

Quote:

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Man, am I torn. On one hand, I definitely do see your point with the ebay auction; I don't really like how that looks. But I also don't see me ever wanting to sit in the chair with all the crusty paint, and rusty metal.

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Same here I am only going to sand blast a few small areas that need touch up with some welding.

[Tailgat0r76]

Yeah, I'm also going to weld together part of the frame on the left most seat in the four some. Broken in half. I'm also missing half of the fold-down arm-rest from the right most seat.

[JimH5]

I don't think any of those seats had fold down arm rests. I think the part you're talking about is the seat bottom frame for the seat that would have been next to yours when they were in a row.

 

I can see how you wouldn't want to sit in the seats if they were rusty, and would track rusted metal onto your clothes. You can probably spot treat the worst of those areas with steel wool. But I would leave the wood exactly as it is.

 

Enjoy!

[panthernick]

I'm really jealous. I have wanted one of those seats since County closed. Any one have any idea what they go for now? (Ebay, dealers, etc)

[burniebrewer]

I've got two of these diamond box seats mounted together:

 

http://hometown.aol.com/r1ch1ea/images/padded%20county%20stadium%20%202-29-04.jpg

 

According to the website I took the picture from, the guy is selling those for $499 each.

[zachlaka]

On ebay they go for $200 - $300 Diamond box blue seats go around $300 -$500 .This is from what I have seen in the past. and price gets higher with connected seats

 

Autographed seats go for about $350 - $500

 

Luckily the guy I got mine from was the one who sold me the sign. He wanted to get rid of the pile of seat parts he had laying around so he sold me 2 partial seats which make one seat with extra parts and a pair of legs for $100

 

The people who sell on Craigslist usually sell for alot cheaper

milwaukee.craigslist.org/...53638.html

 

The guy I got my seat and sign from on craigslist is also selling another sign just like what I got and a metal Reds sign that used to hang in CS.

milwaukee.craigslist.org/...97214.html

milwaukee.craigslist.org/...60186.html

 

I am no expert on this but these are the prices I have seen.

[mattsr0625]

well i want to buy that sign i just have to talk the wife into it. but i made a set of legs for my seat. i made them high so my kids wouldnt try to sit on my seat. i stands very vell. check your inbox i may be able to get you a set of stands.

[zachlaka]

Quote:

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well i want to buy that sign i just have to talk the wife into it.

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You should definently go for it the guy is really nice and for $50 it is a steal IMO. I am really happy with mine. It is the same sign just different section numbers. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[berniebrewer4life]

I have a chair from Wrigley, i'm still trying to find a decent priced seat from County.