'69 bucket seat upholstery question

[Ranman69SE]

       I'm getting ready to re-cover the bucket seat backs of my '69 (early, no headrests) and I'm hoping someone knows the answer to my question.  There is a vertical strip of vinyl located at the top on the back of the seat, that is open on one side but stitched on the other.  I believe the purpose of this is to provide a grab point for a rear passenger to slide their fingers under the flap and pull the seat back to the latched position after they've entered the car.  My old upholstery was open on the left side of each seat but my new Legendary seat covers are left & right, so they are specific to driver/passenger seat.  If my description makes no sense, I'll post a picture but I am hoping to find out as an example, if I was seated behind the driver, would I use my left hand or right hand to pull the seat back???

[Lord Warlock]

I doubt you would grab material to move the seat forward or back if you were sitting in the back seat, if i was in my backseat, i'd grab the side of the seat just above center, or on the right side shoulder of the driver seat to pull it back into position to where it latches in place, i'd also do the same when getting out as i'd have to use my left hand to reach down and unlatch while pushing forward on the seatback to fold it forward, then again, i'm right handed so that may make a difference for me.  On the right side i'd pull the seat back with my left hand, usually on the upper side or top of the seat leaving the right hand free to lift the latch if necessary, since they didn't always set itself properly when folding back in place.

The question intrigues me though, i'll have to go look at the seats i have and see if they are open on one side as you mention, mine is an early 69 without headrests, but i already installed new seatcovers from legendary so can't look at the originals anymore in any case.   I'd be going out to the garage later anyway, i'll try to check it out while there. 

[tan top]

 there should be nothing open as your describing ,  if im reading it correctly !  
its just a seam for desgine , have fitted new legendary covers to mine  ,  when fitting  , there is a plastic strip on one side / half  of the cover &  it slides in under the seam & should be tight ,

heres a picture of mine  

[Ghoste]

I always thought the "flap" was purely decorative?

[Lord Warlock]

Just looked at my seats, and yes there is a flap per se on the back of each vertical seam, the left seat (driver) opens to the right side, the passenger opens to the left side.  There is stitching on both, and they appear flat until you slide your hand in and see that you can actually fit your fingertips inside the flap, it isn't really open as the open part is closed/sewn shut on the inside but  you could use it as proposed should you decide to, i doubt it was designed to be used that way, but who knows for sure, i never noticed it before.  Just goes to show how often i've been in the backseat of mine.  

Mine are legendary seatcovers with leather inserts for the se,  don't know if the non SE models are any different.  

[Ranman69SE]

Thanks guys, I really believe I'm over-thinking this.  I'm pretty sure it's just part of the fold-over locking flap, and not intended to be used as a handle.  I agree, one would normally just grab the seat to pull it back rather than slide their fingers under the flappy-flap