Can (or are) bench seats comfortable??

I have a 1953 Cadillac Coupe. The front Bench seat is terrible. There are a few parts bent out of shape, so the drivers side leans back a little too far. The slider mechanisms don't work, so it doesn't move forward or back, and pivot joint on the passenger side comes loose, allowing the seat on the passenger side to lay flat. The good part? the upholstery looks good.

What should I do? I have hed the car for 2 years, and it physically hurts my back to drive it for 3-4 hours. I drive 45,000 miles a year in my Camry, and have no issues, so I know it's the seats.

Shold I scrap it and buy a new bench seat like from "Roddoors", or go with buckets, or should I just get this one fixed.

Since this is my first car with a bench seat, should they be comfortable? I want to be able to take long 4 day trips in this car next year.

Any help and guidance is appreciated.

Thanks
Charles

 

Replace the bench or get that one repaired. Bucket seats would look like ass IMO in that car and bench seats can be very comfortable.

 

They are VERY comfortable. Thet are less supportive for cornering at higher speeds. You ain't gonna autocross that Caddy are you?

 

Another vote for cruising with your gal on a well-upholstered bench.

 

get it rebuilt, a good upholstery shop will hook that one up, and most likely for less than a new one will run ya.

 

Yeah, best seat in any car I own is in my 54 Chevy!

 

bench is the only way! of course i don't drive a racin' car.

 

Benches are really comfortable and leave no gap in between you and your woman..

 

i've driven many miles on old bench seats. most are comfy get yours fixed. buckets would look like shit in a caddy

 

I'd replace it if you can find one that suits you.I got a 73 chevelle seat with fold down armrest in my 48 and it's real comfortable to me.

 

Comfortable for what? Get is fixed,have the upholstery shop build in some lumbar support, put in some seatbelts for when you are shifting east and west when you're going north or south and play Chuck Berry's "No Particular Place to Go".

 

A '53 Caddy bench seat should be as comfortable as the couch in your living room. You need to take the seat out and figure out why the tracks don't work. They're probably either rusty, have something stuck in them (I had one where an old rag got caught in the rollers and kept it from being adjustable) or they're out of sync because the spring cable that connects the two sides is broken or missing.

That should be a simple fix either way. The side piece coming off is also an easy fix, there should be a roll pin or a clip that keeps the side piece to the bottom, I'd guess it's missing and just replacing it would fix the problem.

As for the seat folding back too far, fold it forward and look at the bottom of the back cushion. Usually they'll have an adjustable bolt that can be twisted in or out to adjust how far back it goes. If it doesn't, just put something between the back and bottom to shim it forward until it's comfortable.

A '53 Caddy is going to look dumb with bucket seats. If your seat looks nice, keep it, it just needs to be fixed.

 

Yes, you don't want a woman with a big gap!

 

A good upholstry shop can do the padding as required to make the bench do what you want. I'm also a proponent of the bench. I autocross my mustang, it has buckets. Everything else has a bench.

 

Can bench seats be cool? You decide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIDgkvIYn4Q

 

Wives & girlfriends prefer benchseats... no handbrake digging into their ribs

 

The bench seat in Big Olds is actually MORE comfortable then my living room couch AND better looking. I do believe I have more sitting hours on this bench seat then my couch. Have yours reworked, it can be made to be comfortable and supportive.

 

Bench seats are the way cars are meant to be.. I'd say tear it apart and check it out, 'cus benches are the shit.

 

Had 65 T-bird buckets in the Merc for a while. Hated it cause you sit on the floor,and the just didn't look 50's enough!Too new...So I put a stock 50 Merc bench back in. LOVE IT!!!

 

I love driving my '51 with bench seats. So does my girlfriend

 

fix the damn bench seat and as Johnny Cash sings "I've Been Everywhere". drive the he double hockeysticks out of it.

 

2 words.......new foam.

The old foam rubber deteriorates badly. Esp. after 50 years! The new Polyurethane foam is wonderful!

 

I had buckets and on long trips found them uncomfortable. Put in a bench and can drive 5 hours+ with no problum.

 

Bench seats good....

 

Go bench. If it's a flat out race car or true sports car, then buckets... but they hopefully came with them from the get go.

Have you ever had your junk break down way out in the middle of nowhere...? I did and had to camp out in my old Jeep truck that some fool put buckets in. I ended up sleeping in the back of the trunk on my jacket because it was more comfortable (still a horrible night).

Found an original Willys bench seat and have never looked back.

 

Bench seats are amazingly comfortable. I'm working on a story for the next-next issue of Hot Rod Deluxe about just this.

You have to strip the thing down to it's basic frame and rebuild the seat springs, getting rid of the 40 year old ass-dent.
Then you have to replace the small diameter wires that run side-to-side, to properly distribute the weight of your ass across a large portion of the seat's springs, rather than the three or four you're sitting above.
After that, a couple inches of batting/padding. It doesn't hurt to go a little extra thick on the seat bottom.

I rebuilt the rear seat in my '62 Suburban, covered it with cheap army surplus canvas (stole the idea from a post on here), and it rides like the living room couch. My son would rather ride in the back seat than up front.
For the article, I'm rebuilding the front seats. Just got the metal frame back from the powder coating place, and the spring beds back from the sand blaster. Pulled a donor bench for parts from the junk yard.

I vote to keep the original bench--when rebuilt to as-new specs from the ground up, they're very comfortable.

-Brad

 

Exactly what he said. Nothin' like a rebuilt springer bench.

 

One thing that's good about the later model Min-Van seats - specially the two passenger model - is that they don't get much use.

All I expect to do to the maroon seat in the photo above is cover it.

The seat cushions proper are extremely comfortable.

So much so that I'm tempted to put one in my 32 roadster....

 

The bench seats in my trucks are comfortable to me

 

Be a bench-warmer, you will regret buckets.