OK - first the car... I have a 46 Ford coupe that I've been fussing with forever. Pretty basic kinda traditional deal. SBC, T350, column shift. Dropped I beam, leafs & 10 bolt behind. Lower than stock, but not really s****in'. Wide white radials on chrome reverse with bullets. Some filled seams and such - not bad but not show. Some dents, some putty. Black primer. I have no interior and need to sit on something. I have the original seat frames somewhere in the ba*****t - but they're really just a stack of rust and twisted tin - not much left. What fits good, looks right, and costs less than a zillion? New car chairs from the boneyard are an option but I don't think they'd look right. I'm looking for ideas and inspiration.....
I recovered my original seat in my 46 and it is very comfortable. I know places sell replacement springs etc. They are restorable while it may not be super easy. Especially if you are starting with real tough stock. I agree with you that late model seats don't look good in old cars. My vote is to rebuild the old ones or find a seat out of a 50's car. Check Dennis Capenter for springs and find an upoholstery shop. It'll be worth it, then you can put some sweet covers on them. i made my door panels using ezboy rod interior kit. They sent board and I cut it to fit and stapled their fabric to it. I think it looks pretty slick.
Original is the only thing that looks right on 36 and up Fords IMO. You could look for same year but different make seats. We were going to put an S-10 bench in my old '46. Never got around to it though.
I used the front seat out of a 2 door Dodge Aries in my 48 Plymouth. Dennis http://community.webshots.com/album/59719957vpOPwX
I'm guessing here so you need to do some measuring before you hit the junkyard. That said, take a look at the rear seat of a mid-90's or so Dodge Caravan. (In fact, take a look at the Ford Windstars as well.) The pics below shows what was purported to be the middle seat out of the same era Caravan. Reason I say purported is - and this is not a snide comment on the guy who wrote the article and did the work, I was just lucky and figured I'd have to do the same thing he did . . . which was . . . to section the seat for my 31 roadster. As you can see, he did a nice job and the seat fits his coupe very well. One thing that made the sectioning easy was the longitudinally oriented springs which makes taking a chunk out of the middle easy. So here's what happens with the middle seat bit out of the Caravans. We were lucky to find a completely intact one at the local junkyard. The middle seat is a two p***enger seat and the rear seat is a three p***enger seat and the rear seat looks to be a good fit for your Ford coupe. If not, sectioning it would be easy. When we removed the seat, I noticed an oval plastic cover in the rug floor just to the right of the two p***enger seat that was the right size to cover the seat floor mounting well on the right side of the two p***enger seat. It's obvious the Caravan is designed to remove the middle two p***enger seat, store it away in the garage and move the three p***enger seat to the middle and end up with enough room for six as well as plenty of luggage space. Some good thinking by ChryCo engineers as it makes the vehicle very flexible as far as potential p***engers et al go. More than likely this is why the "middle" seat on the Caravans requires sectioning for some narrow bodied hot rods. A hot rodder who pulls the seat out for hot rod use and see's the empty rear seat mounts and maybe even the extra mount for the true middle seat may not realize exactly what he's looking at. Measurements showed the two p***enger seat would be a total drop-in for my 31 roadster and once home the seat fell into place like it was made for the car. The only thing required was to unbolt the front factory mounts and hacksaw the rear factory mount below the two holes so the seat could be adapted to a couple of 1/4" aluminum angle runners. You can adapt the seat belts as well. There are two and the middle belts, short w/buckle bolt to a big bolt on the seat frame proper. It would be easy to run a reinforcing piece from the big bolt to the floorboard or frame, but if the seat tracks are sufficiently strong it may not be needed. The outboard seat belts with retractors would be easy to adapt as well. You may want to get another belt from another van so you would have the extended plastic belt guide pieces on both sides. Take note that the seat shown in the pic looks exactly like the one I have - cept mine's maroon and a little higher in front than the rear. Extensive garage testing shows that it will be a very comfortable seat in use. The seat will end up fairly close to the floor with only a slight rise at the front and the seat back will fit under the rear ****pit lip and partway into the trunk. The occupants will sit down low - always good in a roadster - and as is obvious height can be what you want because you're making the seat runners. It would be very easy to adapt sliding bench seat tracks to this seat as well. As far as ease of adaptation to the roadster, no welding is required. Four drilled brackets adapted to the seat frame, a couple of drilled floor runners - call em non-adjustable seat tracks - bolted to a reinforced section of the floor and you'll be in business after a few hours work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I wish I could remember who did the original article, he's the guy who deserves the credit here. It was just dumb look that I stumbled onto the middle seat/rear seat bit and lucked out with a nice seat for very little work. The darned upholstery is so nice that it will run as-is for a while....
I just gave Kulturepimp a third row seat out of a 94 Ford Mini van that measured 46" wide on the back and 46.5" wide on the bottom at the widest points. It was 25" tall if mounted to the floor with no brackets and 21" deep. These seats are wider than the second row seats which I used in my Model A. Maybe this will give you an idea on measurements.
too bad your not in my area , i have a decent front seat in bare spring form ready to be recovered 40 buxs . From what i have seen and sat in , i am sticking w/ the origional seat frame redone in a nice tuckNroll w/ heavy foam. Can not beat it for comfort factor , its like a nice sofa in your living room .
Pretty slick wheel and column in there! I don't usually like later columns in those cars, but that really looks good!
I agree, the original looks best. You may be surprised what an upholster can do with old seats. Springs can be replaced and tied together. But, when It came time to fit the steering column in my 47(didn't get one with the car) I could not find a good front seat lean back. Both mine were rusted beyond salvage. I bought a Glide Engineering seat, which looks and sits like an original. It matches my rear seat and came with the foam. Kind of pricey, but the front seat gets the most use. I do have a good front seat cushion and base I do not need now. If you can use it, we can work out a deal. Jim
Thanks - A.S. I would keep your eye out on the cl***fifieds - there was a guy selling a 46 seat on here a little while ago.
i used a 88 up chevy pick up seat in my 47. if i remember right i narrowed it 6" and the front gm tracks bolted right in to the 47 ford holes. it sat pretty good with the pick-up track/risers set up
I once used a '73 Cad 60/40 all electric seat in a '37 Ford. It had to have the center armrest cut out to fit the '37 but may fit a '47 OK. They sit really nice. pigpen
Thanks for the ideas! Finally a good use for mini-van parts. I think I'm gonna chase that one down 'cuz I bet they're CHEAP!!
right now i have buckets form an early mustang and a rear from a late 70's granada in my 46. both are black vinyl and don't look too bad. what i would like to do is put the buckets and wrap-around rear seat from a mid 60's tbird in my car. anyone know how much work it would take to get the rear seat in and looking right? i was told it wouldn't take much.
Since I am not using my front seat, you are welcome to it. The seat cushion is good, but the lean backs are rusty. Jim
The Jalopy Journal
