Tech: Go grocery shopping for seat frames...

I'm not sure if this is a popular trick, or not... or if it's ever come up on the H.A.M.B. but...
... ever notice the cool shape of the lower framework on shopping carts?

Chrome plated and everything...





A little cuttin' and a little weldin'... get the wife to sew some of her tore-up nighties together and nail 'em to some plywood... and you got seats, bro.

I'm sure not suggesting that you go steal shopping carts, though...
I'd bet, if you ask nicely, they may have some damaged ones to get rid of...


JOE

 

Im not seeing it, intrigued by the idea tho, I love using junk to make cool stuff. Where would one sit in relation to the cart?

 

In the early 60's there was a art in mag about how to build seats from shoppingcarts,just like your talking about,don't remember?Car Craft or Hot Rod?,but hit news on TV about stealing carts being done by rodders in Miami Ha!
The bottom tube back then,also turned and ran up at a good angle for the seat bottom,so there was little to no welding needed.

 

How about a sketch? I ain't spending a grand on bomber seat copies!

 

I think I read it the first time ina Mag from the 50's and the article made a BIG point about BUYING a used cart.
I've seen "This cart will never be sold" labels on shopping carts.

If you do this, keep your legit sales reciept for the shopping cart in the car or some zelot-cop may be confi****ing your whole car because of the obviously stolen property.

The Cops are hot about hot shopping carts around here because the homeless use them for hauling thir only posessions, and they must constantly harr*** the already beat down, you know.

In other words; It works but it's not worth it.

 

Really? Who? I haven't seen them for much less thas $400-$500 each.

 

There is a guy from New Mexice that has an A sedan with a heavy chop and uses's shopping carts for seat frames. He is at B'ville every year. I think that he has a shop in Albuqurque and Rad**** used to work with him.
The seats look cool as hell.

BB

 

The bottom becomes the back, and the back becomes the bottom...
the cart just becomes a storage bin for the engine you pulled apart and never put back together.



... and DON'T steal shopping carts.


JOE

 

If I put those in my car, would the front wheels wobble and pull hard to the left?

Tracking down and buying a pair of used shopping carts seems like a lot of work when the slavage yards are full of seats. Scrounge the second hand stores for older dinette sets. SOM eof the older stuff form the 60's and such is still out there and might be an easier thing to adapt. Just a thought.

 

There's a few Dutch auctions going on Ebay for them, for between $24-$45 each...

Plus you get some wheels to put on your beer cooler.

http://business.search.ebay.com/shopping-cart_Food-Service-Retail_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfromZR40QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ11874


I was thinking, too, that NASCAR window netting would work cool for "upholstery"...
Some of it even has loops sewn in, so you could slip it over the tubing, after you cut the corner, and before you weld it. Just cover the nylon, so the sparks don't burn into it. Then, just run some self-drilling screws through the back of some of the loops to hold it in place.




JOE

 

LOL. awesome.

i see whats happenin now, thats a pretty hip idea.

 

Have you ever sat on a nylon web seat for any length of time? I have and it's not very comfortable. The webbing starts to dig into the skin; it's like sitting in your Gradma lawn chairs for a long time. Plus, in a car that's bouncing along, the nylon offers no stretch to allow for cushioning. It would prbably be OK if the seat frame had flex to allow some of the bumps to be absorbed or the web was suspended on springs around the perimeter.

 

I saw a seat like that a few days ago somewheres...

 

It was a tech article in one of the 50's Lil Pages----I'll have to dig it out.
Always thought it was a great idea.



Marcy

 

Do that.

 

My goodness... Aren't WE negative today...

Might have to use almost any idea for the right application.
Might work for some... might not work for others.

The webbing will let farts p*** through, so they don't creep back up your crack and up into your shirt.




JOE

 

Put a fan under the seat and blow them on your p***enger.

 

dude - yer not supposed to sit in yer backyard naked, bouncin' up and down inna lawn chair...

 

Never thought about the seat idea.
They do make decent engine dollys in a pinch, though.




(That's Keith, aka 'Ol Scratch')

 

You could even use the left over pieces to build a grill for your hot-rat-street-rod radiator shell! Think of all the spiderwebs, iron crosses, flying eyeballs, and skulls you could make with it! Yee-owser!!

(Don't take me too seriously, I'm just having fun with ya!!)

 

conjuring up memories of sitting in the cargo bay of a C141 flying from Yokota to Elmendorf, feet propped up on a 463L, trying to find a comfortable position......fun, fun....

 

There was a car at Kalamazoo in September that had the rear of the shopping carts as the backs of the seat. There may have been more used for the bottoms but I am not sure. It was a fibergl*** A tub made to look like an old rat rod. It was parked by all of the food vendors. The car was from Florida. I did not take any photos as I forgot my camera. He was using lawn furniture cushions over the top of the shopping cart.

 

That's what I was thinking. What was making me uncomfortable was the reason I was on the web seat in the first place.

 

We have a couple of creeper seats at work made out of shopping carts. Basically just take the basket part off and mounted a riding lawnmower seat. Works great! Didn't cost a thing.

 

Rods Illustrated august 1959 whole article pgs 20-23 its been done for quite a while .

 

beet to the punch yet again

 

LOL Man, now I have these REALLY weird pictures in my head.

EEEEeeeeewwwww

 

Yep...........

 

Read it again Chuck, it was MY GRANDMA'S lawn chair and they never leave her house....