31 roadster rumble seat

[sphooch]

HERE'S A QUICK QUESTION : does the seat cushion spring sit on a piece of plywood and then bolted to the floor, or are two wire springs that push into the holes in the metal floor to hold it in place? If there is no wood how is the upholstery attached at the bottom. THANKS THE HOOCH

[Larry Seemann]

I would recommend that you visit Marco's site: abarnyard.com
It has the answer to just about any roadster question

[Roadster62]

No wood, hog rings attach the upholstery to the springs. Bob

[Tom Wesenberg]

If you have the original seat spring you should see a metal lip that pinches the bead running around the upholstery. I don't think I have any pictures of it, but I'll bet Marco does.

[sphooch]

thanks guys i'll visit MARCO'S site. HOOCH

[Terry,NJ]

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Not to hijack the thread but I'd like to expand this a little. No wood? Is that right? I made my spring with a wooden frame much like the seat in my town sedan. A place to tack the fabric to. There are two holes in the bottom of metal seat base and I made two steel pegs, as are found in the town sedan, and attached them to the metal seat base to align and secure the wooden seat base to. Now I'm hearing that it's all wrong. So how does the rumble seat go in?
Terry

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by Larry Seemann

I would recommend that you visit Marco's site: abarnyard.com
It has the answer to just about any roadster question

I thought this is a place for questions. My 29 roadster has part of the seat springs that fit into 2 holes in the floor pan. there is no wood on the bottom of the springs. the upholstery is attached with hog rings

[Terry,NJ]

Thanks Brendan! As I said, I more or less duplicated the form and design of the seat pattern in my T. S. Since it's not visible and it works, I'm going to leave it alone. Unless, a good used rumble seat comes my way. BTW I went to Marco's site and they are excellent, except I couldn't find anything about fabricating seat springs. YouTube has some great videos about upholestry too, but nothing specific to rumble seat springs and their configuration.
Terry

Originally Posted by Brendan

I thought this is a place for questions. My 29 roadster has part of the seat springs that fit into 2 holes in the floor pan. there is no wood on the bottom of the springs. the upholstery is attached with hog rings

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by sphooch

HERE'S A QUICK QUESTION : does the seat cushion spring sit on a piece of plywood and then bolted to the floor, or are two wire springs that push into the holes in the metal floor to hold it in place? If there is no wood how is the upholstery attached at the bottom. THANKS THE HOOCH

As noted, yes the spring used no wood and had wires that dropped into two holes in the riser.

Now based on other responses some clarifications are needed. The majority of models indeed incorporated hardwood frames below or behind the springs for the covers to be tacked to. However this did NOT apply to Roadsters, four door Phaetons, and Open/Closed Cabs (truck and pickup cabs). These models used springs with a special channel at the base. The covers were made to absolute size with a welt sewn into the bottom edge of the cover. This formed a bead which the special channel contained when crimped closed.

As with most other parts of the Model A, Ford made seat covers for most models available through the dealer's parts departments. However the crimped design described was not considered 'serviceable' so if you damaged a seat cover in a Roadster for example, a replacement was only offered as a completed seat cushion assembly.

With all that said, you will find very few cars with the covers made and installed like original. The typical method is to make the cover facings at least two inches longer to be wrapped around the bottom of the spring and attached to spring coils with hog rings as noted in other responses. This allows for the cover to be installed without special equipment and provides much needed adjustment to compensate for manufacturing inaccuracies.

The first pic below shows original '29 Open/Closed Cab cushions. The other pics show '28 Phaeton cushions I did about fifteen years ago for the late Dave Lopes.

[d.j. moordigian]

Originally Posted by Marco Tahtaras

Now based on other responses some clarifications are needed. The majority of models indeed incorporated hardwood frames below or behind the springs for the covers to be tacked to. However this did NOT apply to Roadsters, four door Phaetons, and Open/Closed Cabs (truck and pickup cabs). These models used springs with a special channel at the base. The covers were made to absolute size with a welt sewn into the bottom edge of the cover. This formed a bead which the special channel contained when crimped closed.

With all that said, you will find very few cars with the covers made and installed like original.

Marco,...do the repop seat springs ( that had the metal hem ), come
with the metal hem?
If not, do you have a size?
Ya...I know....you don't do repop, but this is one of you main areas.

Thanks...

[CarlG]

Not to hi-jack this thread, but since Marco opened the door: On a late '31 CCPU, what is the height of the finished seat, front & back.

The seat that was/is in my PU was obviously a "made from scratch" seat, and sits way too high. In addition there is a 3/4" plywood bottom. I also suspect that the seat back is not correct either. I'm not a tall person at all (5'9") but my head hits the headliner (I know, that's not correct either).

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by d.j. moordigian

Marco,...do the repop seat springs ( that had the metal hem ), come
with the metal hem?
If not, do you have a size?
Ya...I know....you don't do repop, but this is one of you main areas.

Thanks...

Some of Dave's MAY be Snyder springs but don't recall. If you go that route it's wise to send a pattern from your seat riser to be sure you don't get one with big gaps.

Originally Posted by CarlG

Not to hi-jack this thread, but since Marco opened the door: On a late '31 CCPU, what is the height of the finished seat, front & back.

I don't have an answer as I've never had any. The seat riser and bottom cushion was a couple inches narrower fore/aft beginning early/mid '31 but that's all I know.

[ericr]

Originally Posted by Marco Tahtaras

As noted, yes the spring used no wood and had wires that dropped into two holes in the riser.

Now based on other responses some clarifications are needed. The majority of models indeed incorporated hardwood frames below or behind the springs for the covers to be tacked to. However this did NOT apply to Roadsters, four door Phaetons, and Open/Closed Cabs (truck and pickup cabs). These models used springs with a special channel at the base. The covers were made to absolute size with a welt sewn into the bottom edge of the cover. This formed a bead which the special channel contained when crimped closed.

As with most other parts of the Model A, Ford made seat covers for most models available through the dealer's parts departments. However the crimped design described was not considered 'serviceable' so if you damaged a seat cover in a Roadster for example, a replacement was only offered as a completed seat cushion assembly.

With all that said, you will find very few cars with the covers made and installed like original. The typical method is to make the cover facings at least two inches longer to be wrapped around the bottom of the spring and attached to spring coils with hog rings as noted in other responses. This allows for the cover to be installed without special equipment and provides much needed adjustment to compensate for manufacturing inaccuracies.

The first pic below shows original '29 Open/Closed Cab cushions. The other pics show '28 Phaeton cushions I did about fifteen years ago for the late Dave Lopes.

this is rather fascinating subject, and the original design sure presents a neater appearance than our repros. I would imagine that originally, an owner with an upholstery issue would simply go to an auto upholstery repair shop, that the country abounded with ( even within our memories ) rather than replacing the whole unit from a dealer. Whether the material would have matched exactly would be problematical.