Other than the standard bench seat, what have people done as for seats? It seems choices are limited, since the interior is narrow, but I'm sure people have come up with some creative ideas. I searched a little, but I'd like to see more.
I've seen small bucket seats used but I honestly believe with the already limited amount of space available the beach seat makes the most sense. HRP
i found some bucket seats out of an 80's chrysler minivan, stripped them down to the bare frame and removed the upper half of the backrest. they fit perfectly. that said, a bench is quite convenient for hiding wiring or providing additional storage.
Just throw some high back buckets in it and call it a late 70s build Seriously, the T is such a small car to begin with, just go with a bench to keep all the room you can have.
I know this flys in the face of tradition but I've used 2" high density foam covered with vinyl bonded to a sheet of .032 aluminum in my bucket with a sheet of aluminum for the backrest all the way across. I put 1/2" high density foam on that and vinyl R&P over it and it was super comfy and I routinely made 150mi. runs, which was the limit of my fuel tank, with no ill effects on my usually sad back and ***. Every inch, and fraction thereof, counts in a T and this sets you as low as you can go and still has good ride comfort. Worth trying, it's way more comfy than it sounds. I might add, if you can snag a seat bottom from Glide with the roll on the front, it does wonders for thigh support. They won't sell me just the bottom so we've been sharing sets with one guy using the back and one the bottom for this setup.
if you check out early magizines i have seen early fibergl*** bucket seats used side by side, low back, and went with the progressive times of the early fibergl*** bodies, think of the oldhigh school fibergl*** seats ( hmmm am i dating myself? ) and take off the legs, late fifties and early sixies you would see alot of english sports car bucket seats, austin healys, etc, small low back and curved , they work really nice in such a small body
****py pic but I made a pair of buckets out of aluminum I had laying around. Made brackets that laid them back at a comfy angle and proceeded to put quite a few miles in them.
We have been using the factory 23-25 T front seat cushion spring ***embly in 23-25 gl*** roadsters for years. These are available from Car-Line Mfg. in Beaumont TX 409-833-9757 and from Snyders Antique Parts in New Springfield OH. Mount the spring on a 3/4 inch piece of plywood, pad and upholster and you have a comfortable seat. With a 3-5 inch seat riser board in front and 1-2 inch blocks in back. With a formed plywood/paneling upholstered insert around the sidewalls of the ****pit you have a quickly removeable interior that can't be beat for comfort during a nice trip from Houston TX to St. Paul MN and back.
My own 'T' had an insert that created a console between two seats. Mind this was an insert, Not two separate seats. However, the console was quite useful, as everything placed "inside" a 'T' eventually blows away... Cosmo
Gotta go with a bench for practicality. If you don't, you'll be starting a thread on, "Where can I store stuff in my T Bucket". My back flips forward for storing stuff, like the Sunday newspaper. The crease is because I had just gotten out and I used two pieces of foam. The whole thing lifts out for storage and other things like my fuse box and tools. Trust me, I have a LOT of stuff under there.
Great topic. What is the ideal material to use to make the formed insert for the back rest? Luan won't bend nearly enough. I'm wanting to make some interior panels for my '26 and was wondering what would work for the curved seat back.
Nice looking car. I want my car to end up looking something like that. Right now it's more like a Fad T.
Actually Luaun will bend if you use some heat. You need to make up some type of form to clamp it to while it is "setting", and you need to use 1/8" Luaun, probably about 3 or 4 layers all together. Just think of all the big pieces of wood that are bent into some pretty wild curves on a wooden boat. A steam box is one way to get the plywood into a pliable state, or if you have an oven big enough to heat it that might work as well. I say "might" because you would have to watch that the wood didn't burn. A heat gun might work as well, given that you basically just need to heat the edges up more than the middle. The other option is to kerf away one layer of the Luaun plywood so that it is easy to bend. By the time you glue three or four layers together it will be strong as hell.
I like these seats. The brown one is a stocker from a Citroen H Van, the other is a stripped seat from an air cooled VW with a pad made out of that stuff that looks like a mover's blanket. VW seats might fit, I was in a couple recently and reminded of how narrow those cars are.
We made the upholsery insert from 1/4" plywood this time. Made our rough pattern from posterboard then cut the plywood slightly oversized to fit it. We run the insert from the firewall back to the center of the rear wall. It is done in two pieces which are screwed together at the rear overlapping by 2-3". We cut our radiating kerfs for the corner bends at the back and kerfs for the beds at the cowl bend. Soaked them with wet towels and weighted them between horses to make the bends. After several hours of soaking and bending and fitting the insert was installed and trimmed several times to a good fit on the bottom and ends. We then cut the top level with the top rail of the body and installed a double-thickness flange of waterproof board with staples around the insert. A layer of fibergl*** cloth running up from the insert wall and on the top and edge of the flange makes it truly secure. A final check of fit, let it dry overnight and you're ready to start making your upholstery. We install an alignment pin in each side of the insert in the flange up near the dash and drill a matching hole in the body rail to accept the pin. The insert can be removed or installed by one person, then the seat cushion is dropped in and seated.
The pads would be useful, the frames, not so much. IMO, these are simple cars. When you make them complicated, thy end up looking goofy. And a T Bucket is already goofy enough without the help.
I'm planning on using a pair of boat seats, with the weak link hinges replaced with surplus power wheel chair seat hinges. Sturdy, meant to take the elements, they fold down, many styles & sizes available, and prices ranging from dirt cheap to mega-$$$$. In my case I got 3 nice discontinued NOS two tone grey seats (an extra for parts if ever needed) and the hinges for around $100
I'm building mine similar to yours. I'm going to use webbing and foam. What is the length of your bench. I'm thinking 32" for a t bucket.
I have a t-bucket bench seat build thread in the upholstery group. I will have to track it down. I used wood, webbing and foam. Fred had boat seats for a while. I see he is now back to the bench...
Here you go: T-Bucket Bench seat build http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=21768
Picked up a pair of some kind of boat seats at a rummage sale that looked like the stadium seats with the swinging arms on the bottom to clip on a bench. These seats were kinda secured to a board that had a little glove box with a cover between the seats. Got 'em for three bucks. When I got 'em home the whole thing was just the right size for a T bucket. All I had to do was adjust the seat lay back a little and it was perfect. Sold 'em at a swap meet and the guy that bought 'em said they worked great. All he did was recover them in the same color vinyl he had in his car. This stuff is out there........ ya just gotta find it.
My 26 T RPU is getting these bomber seats built for me by Frank Wallic. They will barely fit, they will almost be touching in the middle and will be getting some pads made for them similar to this picture. They are also being mounted right on the floor for a low seating position.
I like it too, not a great fit for a T however. Here is a mock-up of my dash with the Cl***ic Instruments hot rod series gauges.
At the risk of being mocked, here's what I did. I was so excited to drive it, I made this in an hour just so I could go for a drive. So going on year three... It's "temporary". Grabbed some wood and plywood. Sit it up to make seat frame. Then cut up a back seat out of a Subaru to make up the space. Covered it all up with a military duffle bag and called it done. I can easily pull it up to service battery or store stuff. Surprisingly comfortable... Yeah........ It's temporary... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Not the best photos but this is a jeep wrangler rear seat, little narrow but was pretty comfortable. here you can see the narrowness ended up using these plywood and foam buckets off e-bay
I'm not sure what you mean by length. If you mean from the rear of the seat forward, about 16". From side to side is about 46" at the front edge. Yea, I did. That **** was a VERY bad idea. They were too damn small. They looked goofy and made my *** and back hurt. I think the main reason I didn't like mine was the look. T Buckets just seem to look awkward with bucket seats. Those boat seats were smaller than most bomber seats and just as hard. Maybe in a boat, where you're on a lake drunk off your ***, they'd be okay. But not in my car.
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