The driver side seat hinge on my 1981 Vette is stuck. It appears that they originally had an enertia locking mechanism, but I cannot fold the drivers side seat forward.
I'm looking for info before I actually take it apart. I have not been able to find replacements in the usual sources, like Eckler's.
Has any one of you fine folks experienced this?

If you remove the plastic hinge covers, you should be able to see the white plastic "intertia locking cam" sandwiched between two layers of stamped steel. This happens to me occasionally on one seat, not the other. When I was rehabbing the seats, I noticed the cam on the problem seat does not swivel as freely as on the other seat. Tries graphite powder - may have helped a little. Anyway, with the covers off, you should be able to use a screwdriver, wire, etc., to push the cam out of the way and let the seat hinge downward. Then maybe try the graphite. In order to get the covers off, the only way I know how is to take the seat cushions out, then unscres one hinge bolt at a time, which will drop the "acorn-nut" on the outside of the hinge. Maybe someone else knows an easier way to get those nuts off from the outside. If you need help with how to remove the seat cushions, let me know.

Another easy, but short-term fix: take off as hard as possible, then come to a very gradual halt. Hopefully you will dislodge the cam... ;-) Good luck!

sounds straight forward enough - I'll give it a go -
thanks very much!