I did searches on this subject and found plenty of advise on how to get the back off the front seats of my 1983 380 SEL. However, I need to know how to get them back on.

When I bought the car it had been reupolstered in MB-Tek. The job is ok, not great but not bad either. My problem is that the driver's side seat back is off and I can't get it back on.

First it is very hard to get it slide up. There doesn't seem to be room for it go up under the area where top of the seat rolls over from front to back.

With a mighty effort I can get it "sort of" in place and get the bottom pushed it to where it belongs but the screws don't seem to really screw into anything, they just sort of wedge up into the fabric along the bottom. I've probed in there with an ice pick but can't really find any holes to screw into, and when I just screw into what is there the back falls off within a day.

Can anyone offer any suggestions as to what is wrong? Unfortunately this is my first MB and I've never seen what it is supposed to look like in there.

The passenger side is managing to stay put but I'm afraid to take it apart for fear it isn't assembled right either, and is just staying in place by luck.

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2000 Mercedes S500
1990 Mercedes 560SEL
1970 Triumph Spitfire

Sounds like there is a bit too much upholstery in there after the re-do.
There is a screw hole in the bottom, but it's covered by the leather, and difficult to find. It's nothing fancy, just a small hole for the self-tapping screw to fit. You may need to pull the leather back from that area to find the holes. Then you can get a better idea of how to position the seatback. I've had the back off a couple of times, and it's difficult to get pushed back to align the holes, even with the original leather.

DG