[MatthewL]

Hi everyone.

After the great set of suggestions for the cup holder solution I have a new conundrum.

I’m quite tall and with the seat head restraint at full stretch, for me to actually rest my head I’d have my neck snapped far back enough that I’d be looking at the sunroof.

I recall our old Montego had headrests you could tilt forward to meet the back of your head or neck. I was wondering about whether the mechanism could be retro fitted into an R8 head rest. If not, could I fabricate a pillow out of the same Stratstone fabric (if I can find a donor part) to attach, in the style of what the early 1980s Aston Martin Vantages had?

Anyone got any fabric going spare, or an unwanted headrest in that material? Or a better idea?

[MatthewL]

How Aston did it…

[Johnny 216GSi]

I believe the front headrests do tilt on an R8. But the design actually changed at least three times throughout the history of R8 production.

Referring to the standard car, early headrests had genuine foam inserted around the mechanism and I believe this was a solid rectangular bar running across the width of the headrest to which the two spikes were hinged. These hinges were a force / friction adjustment - you just had to push/pull the headrest backward or forward on the car. I think you could tell these apart as they had a sort of piping edge design which was absent on later headrests. Not a plastic piping strip, just the material cleverly gathered into a piping-style edge trim where the main body of the headrest wrap was joined to the "end caps."

Now after 1992 or thereabouts, the headrests were expanding-foam filled to save money. I'm honestly not sure if these tilted or not, but I think they did/do. I did want to try and find some earlier ones when I had my '93 R8 interior re-upholstered, but I think I gave up and just had mine done.

When the phase 2 vehicles were introduced beginning in 1994 I believe, the front headrests were shrunk. I also drive a 1995 SLi with these smaller headrests. Not sure if they tilt. I'll have to give them a try.

If yours don't tilt, the answer might be to locate some early headrests. The one problem will be whether the material will match the rest of the material on your car. The headrests were always in the "seat bolster" grey material (with a hint of greeny-blue [ or bluey-green !!! ]). Sunlight has likely faded your own seat material and that of any donor vehicle's headrest material at different rates over the years.

When I was looking for some replacement rear headrests for the upholsterer to work on, I believe I may have noticed that the REAR headrests tilted on early vehicles whilst I'm now not sure if later ones do. The main reason I wanted the older headrests is that the expanding foam versions are difficult for upholsterers to work with, since they have to compress the foam into their new facing material carcasses, and expanding foam doesn't compress as easily as genuine foam and can lead to them splitting the stitching in their newly sewn seams. As I mentioned, I managed to get the rear ones replaced with early genuine foam types, but not the fronts.

[Montegoman]

Front and rear headrests tilt on the early cars.

[MatthewL]

Thanks Jeremy. I’ll keep an eye out for some of those with a view to seeing if a could get the cover switched. In the meantime I’ve ordered some Chinese made headrest pillows. The eBay advert says it’ll make my car just like a Maybach. So that’ll be nice

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225610576486 ... media=COPY

[Topcat Tomcat]

The eBay advert says it’ll make my car just like a Maybach. So that’ll be nice

Oooooo, a Maybach MD655?!

[crepello]

Oooooo, a Maybach MD655?!

You'd need to find a friend to drive around in permanent convoy for best effect!

[Topcat Tomcat]

[GTiJohn]

Thanks Jeremy. I’ll keep an eye out for some of those with a view to seeing if a could get the cover switched. In the meantime I’ve ordered some Chinese made headrest pillows. The eBay advert says it’ll make my car just like a Maybach. So that’ll be nice

We'll need photographic proof !

[MatthewL]

Yep, let’s see if it works… right…Maybach top, Rover bottom. No wait, Rover top.. no hang on… oh, I’m just not sure any more