Second Seat Question

chaparral2f

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Did Chrysler ever offer a split bench fold down seat for it's second seat in a C Body. I was thinking about putting one in my '68 Town & Country.
 
No, at least not that I know of. All wagon rear seats went all the way down. Not half.
town and country.jpg
 
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So Chrysler never offered a split bench in any year C Body wagon?

If you mean the front seat with a one-piece bottom and a split back with a fold down center arm rest, the answer is yes for years 69-72 at least.
 
If you mean the front seat with a one-piece bottom and a split back with a fold down center arm rest, the answer is yes for years 69-72 at least.
He's asking about the center seat in a wagon. Did it ever come with a split back?
 
The whole idea of the 50-50 "Split Bench" was the separate seat cushions, not just the "lean back" seat backs. NO need to have separate seat cushions in a wagon 2nd seat, as they didn't move front to back, as the front 50-50 split bench seat cushions would.

In the 2000s Malibu MAX and Cadillac SRX, the rear seat cushion would move about 2" front to back. NOT a lot, but something to talk about. I suspect everybody pushed them to the full-rearward position (for max legroom) and left them there.

On wagons, usually, the 2nd seat cushion flipped up and then the seat back flipped down, to make that flat load floor all the way to the tailgate. On modern SUVs, with 3rd row seating, the 2nd row seat seat backs are split, usually 60-40, to allow entrance to the front-facing 3rd row seat. Such was not needed with the earlier station wagon (even for the full-size Fords of the '65+ model years) as the 3rd seat area was accessed via the tailgate opening.

CBODY67
 
The whole idea of the 50-50 "Split Bench" was the separate seat cushions, not just the "lean back" seat backs. NO need to have separate seat cushions in a wagon 2nd seat, as they didn't move front to back, as the front 50-50 split bench seat cushions would.

In the 2000s Malibu MAX and Cadillac SRX, the rear seat cushion would move about 2" front to back. NOT a lot, but something to talk about. I suspect everybody pushed them to the full-rearward position (for max legroom) and left them there.

On wagons, usually, the 2nd seat cushion flipped up and then the seat back flipped down, to make that flat load floor all the way to the tailgate. On modern SUVs, with 3rd row seating, the 2nd row seat seat backs are split, usually 60-40, to allow entrance to the front-facing 3rd row seat. Such was not needed with the earlier station wagon (even for the full-size Fords of the '65+ model years) as the 3rd seat area was accessed via the tailgate opening.

CBODY67
I was just wanting it so that someone could still sit back there with only one side of the seat folded down for storage
 
I was just wanting it so that someone could still sit back there with only one side of the seat folded down for storage

You would need to graft-in a later model seat, a designated 2nd row seat, with all of the necessary hinges and such for flip the seat cushion forward so the seat back will fold down. And THAT could well be a big task. Dependent upon floorpan shapes and such between the new seat and what the '68 floor pan might offer. I suspect that any more modern seat would not be quite as wide as the '68 seat is.

With any seat change, there can also be some safety liability issues that might (key word) come into play. Secure anchoring of the seat itself, plus seat belts for all passengers back there. Just an advisory.

Of course, you might graft-in the 2-dr seat backs onto the existing 2nd seat cushion, but then you'd lose the capability of folding the seat flat for cargo. PLUS any related welding of the seat frame items between the two seat types.

End result is that you could spend close to what the whole car's worth just to have the 2nd row seat you might desire. AND for it to "look factory", too. Your money, your desires, your car.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
 
You would need to graft-in a later model seat, a designated 2nd row seat, with all of the necessary hinges and such for flip the seat cushion forward so the seat back will fold down. And THAT could well be a big task. Dependent upon floorpan shapes and such between the new seat and what the '68 floor pan might offer. I suspect that any more modern seat would not be quite as wide as the '68 seat is.

With any seat change, there can also be some safety liability issues that might (key word) come into play. Secure anchoring of the seat itself, plus seat belts for all passengers back there. Just an advisory.

Of course, you might graft-in the 2-dr seat backs onto the existing 2nd seat cushion, but then you'd lose the capability of folding the seat flat for cargo. PLUS any related welding of the seat frame items between the two seat types.

End result is that you could spend close to what the whole car's worth just to have the 2nd row seat you might desire. AND for it to "look factory", too. Your money, your desires, your car.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
Thanks I think I will leave well enough alone.
 
Thanks for the pictures! Nice looking car. Wondering if the 2nd row seat deal might have been a "fleet option" rather than a "consumer option", as there would be no need for 3rd seat access on an ambulance?

Several years ago, at Mopar Nats, there was a '62 New Yorker Sheriff's car. It was converted to allow a gurney on the passenger side of the SEDAN. Needed the longer New Yorker wheelbase/body to do that, I suspect. It was fully fitted-out with the nurse riding on the driver's side of the rear seat (what was left of it) as the front seat (rh side) was not there, either. Had the gurney in place, too. A nice restoration of an interesting car, from a time when the Sheriff would do first aid "in the field". Sheriff/Coroner/Medical Examiner/Ambulance Driver. Complete with the black doctor's bag.

That particular car was silver with a Sheriff's dept logo on the front doors. I've got some print pictures of it, somewhere.

CBODY67
 
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Some info on the sedan ambulances.
F. H. McClintock of Lansing, Michigan was a new-car dealer that advertised in funeral service trade journals starting in the in 1930s, claiming itself to be the largest dealer of 7-passenger sedans in the country, and later, the world. A 1951 ad pictures their first conversion, a 1925 Buick 7-passenger "Sedambulance".

In the 1930's, there was a conversion offered for sedans to transform them into sedan ambulances called the NuSystem conversion. It was the typical type of sedan ambulance conversion, and NuSystem listed about 25 authorized firms located around North America that were authorized to convert cars using that process. Ironically, about the time that NuSystem ads stopped running, McClintock began advertising its Sedambulance conversions. Previously, its ads listed cars in its inventory, and some were described as "cutovers," meaning that they were already converted for use as sedan ambulances.

Like the NuSystem conversions, McClintock's Sedambulance featured a removable doorpost that could be fastened so that it served as a normal B-pillar or could be attached to the rear door when it swung open, allowing easy access to the passenger side of the coach.

McClintock's Sedambulances were advertised heavily for several years, and after the war, McClintock found new popularity for its conversions because of Chrysler's line of 7-passenger sedans. After the war, the market for 7-passenger sedans had virtually dried up, aside from business uses such as funeral home family cars and such. Chrysler used to push those cars on its reluctant dealers, and having them converted to sedan ambulances made them easier to sell in many cases.

Their sedan-ambulance conversions continued into the 1960s and one 1962 McClintock-Chrysler is known to exist, however it's a dedicated side-loading ambulance, and can't be converted into a sedan/limousine. It was built from a 1962 Chrysler New Yorker and featured a stretched wheelbase with a rear-hinged suicide style rear door installed on the passenger side. Five McClintock Sedambulances are know to exist, the 1962 Chrysler detailed above, a 1951 DeSoto, 2 1952 DeSotos and a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker.

William J. McClintock, the son of F. H. McClintock, took over his father's Cadillac dealership after attending the General Motor Institute and working for Cadillac in the mid 1950s. McClintock Cadillac closed in 1982 and William moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan as general manager/partner in Kazoo Motors, another GM dealership until 1985. In 1989 he started Thrifty Car Rental of Kalamazoo where he remained until retiring in 1993.
$(KGrHqV,!mEE69kMSNzJBO1WwKZm2w~~60_3.jpg
 
//kimmeyerphotos.com/mikescars

A set of 30 pictures of the '62 New Yorker Sedambulance. Found it via Google image search. Link might not work, but that's what was in the address bar. Link from Google picture works, though.

CBODY67
 
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