1966 Chrysler rear seat install advice?

[Mike66Chryslers]

Years ago I bought the complete bucket seat and console interior from someone who had already removed it from the donor car. I had the seats reupholstered and installed the buckets and console in my '66 Windsor, but never got around to installing the matching rear seat and package tray until now. It seems impossible to do without breaking the rear package tray!

The 1966 Chysler FSM does not say how to install this rear seat, but I also have a 1967 Polara/Monaco FSM that does, and it agrees with what I figured should happen:
1. Install the package tray.
2. Install the side shields
3. Install the seatback

If I try to lift and push the seatback far enough to engage the hangers on the body that it attaches to, I'm pretty sure that the rear package tray or side shields will break before I get it in position.

By the way, these are fiberglass reproduction side shields and they appear to fit perfectly. I'm sure they came from abcmoparts.com, formerly "dashes4u", but I don't see them listed on their website currently.

Package tray and side shields in place to test fitment.

Afraid to push it any further. I can already hear creaking.

If I install the seatback and then the package tray I can get everything to go together, but not possible to install the side shields.

 

[stubs300]

I wonder if you have a little to much stuffing in the seat? How's the tray installed, can you loosen it for more wiggle room? Can't really help without lookin at it. Good Luck

 

[Polara_500]

Whoa, slow down. Did the conversion setup you bought include the different seat back brackets?? I did what you're doing back a few (40ish) years ago and had to remove and install the specific brackets for the Monaco interior I put in my Polara.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Whoa, slow down. Did the conversion setup you bought include the different seat back brackets?? I did what you're doing back a few (40ish) years ago and had to remove and install the specific brackets for the Monaco interior I put in my Polara.

No it did not. I noticed that I seem to be missing a couple of brackets, for the corners of the package tray and for the side shields, based on holes in the parts and the picture in the '67 Polara FSM. I figured I might have to fabricate those or get lucky and find a donor vehicle for them. Are those the brackets you're talking about?

I actually wondered if having the package tray corners attached to the (missing) brackets might actually make my problem worse. I had the package tray installed loosely and I was trying to lift the seatback to hook it into the hangers, which lifts the package tray also. Having the package tray corners fastened down would prevent me from doing that at all.

 

[Polara_500]

There are those also, but there are some different brackets for the top side of the rear seat back itself. The ones I see in your photos aren't them. IIRC, the seat pushes 'up' into them rather than sliding down into the ones you have for the standard seat. Dang, wish I'd taken some photos when I had the seat out a while back.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

There are those also, but there are some different brackets for the top side of the rear seat back itself. The ones I see in your photos aren't them. IIRC, the seat pushes 'up' into them rather than sliding down into the ones you have for the standard seat. Dang, wish I'd taken some photos when I had the seat out a while back.

Thank you! That is excellent information but terrible news. Based on how it appears everything goes together, it would make sense for the seatback to push UP into the package tray.

Sounds like I need to get lucky and find a donor car that has the correct seat brackets. If anybody could provide pics of what they're supposed to look like, that would be very helpful too.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Mike, you're welcome to come and look at my mounts, easy to get at right now. Take pictures, measurements etc. With your skills I bet you could fabricate suitable seatback mounts for your car based on what's in mine.

Call me.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Yesterday I took Ross up on his generous offer to take time out of his long weekend to let me take measurements from his 1966 Monaco. Thanks again Ross! I saw the alternate seatback brackets/hooks that @Polara_500 described, and the side shield brackets that are shown in the 1967 Polara/Monaco FSM and missing from my car (1966 Chrysler Windsor).

Passenger-side side shield bracket and bracket for the corner of the package tray.

Close-up of one seatback bracket. The seatbasck is pushed UP into this bracket.

Two of the (4) seatback brackets/hooks. If a car doesn't have bucket seats, an upward-facing hook is installed in the horizontal slot shown instead of these downward-facing hooks.

View from in the trunk showing the backside of the hooks and how they are spotwelded in place.

 

[Polara_500]

You can drill the spot welds and pop rivet the brackets into your car, although I don't think I'd press Ross that far, (or trust him to stay distracted that long ). It won't look as professional as what many of our members here do nowadays, but I did it that way working in an apartment parking lot back when I was upgrading my car - (or at least when I was doing lots of major upgrades).

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

I figured I'd start by fabricating the side shield brackets, using a cardboard template that I made from Ross' car yesterday. Ultimately I wound-up back at square one however.

Here is one of the brackets in progress from my template. I simplified it slightly for ease of manufacture, but functionally identical.

The bracket did not actually fit my side shield properly. Only one of the two holes lined-up with the ones in the side shield. When I attached it to the side shield with the one viable hole and mounted the side shield in place in the car, the bracket was about an inch and a half away from the fenderwell that it should attach to.

One possible conclusion is that I have the wrong side shields. I did not get a set of side shields from the car that my rear seats came from. The seller I bought my seats from told me that they broke upon removal. I have since acquired 2 sets of side shields. One is a reproduction set. The other is an original set from a 1966 Chrysler 300. The two sets are identical. From that, I would have assumed I have the correct ones.

So now I am really confused.

 

[Polara_500]

I can't prove it, but I think the side shields were only used for 65/66 and only with the sculpted rear seatback - so 300, Monaco, (Sport Fury?). And while the manufacture of the package shelf and shields changed from pressed paperboard in 65 to fiberglass in 66 I think they're essentially the same dimensionally. I did change my 65 stuff out for the 66 fiberglass units when I found a set and they just swapped straight across.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

I can't prove it, but I think the side shields were only used for 65/66 and only with the sculpted rear seatback - so 300, Monaco, (Sport Fury?). And while the manufacture of the package shelf and shields changed from pressed paperboard in 65 to fiberglass in 66 I think they're essentially the same dimensionally. I did change my 65 stuff out for the 66 fiberglass units when I found a set and they just swapped straight across.

Ross' car is a 1966 Monaco with factory bucket seats, so I would have expected the brackets to be the same as mine. The reason that I mentioned the 1967 Polara/Monaco FSM is that my 1966 Chrysler FSM has no info on the back seat which goes with the bucket seat interior. The 1967 Polara FSM does show similar looking package tray and side shield brackets. My package tray doesn't have anywhere to attach wire fasteners to the backside of the center dip to attach it to a bracket however. (Ross' car has the center bracket but I didn't bother to measure or photograph it.)

 

[Polara_500]

Okay, had to go check as my memory didn't align with the pics of Ross' car. These are from a 65 Monaco, and are the same as what I installed in my Polara from a 65 Monaco all those years ago......

So the hooks are very different which makes me think the seat backs are different which makes me urge you to be sure you build brackets that match your seat frame......... Did you get photos of the backs of Ross' seat? I didn't think to take any on mine, but it wouldn't be real hard if necessary.
Mike

 

[stubs300]

I wonder what the 65 models looked like? Let's not forget now that Mother Mopar would make a change in something for a model year. Maybe they used leftover stock? If you have a early 66, you could have some left over 65 stock before they started using 66 stock. I've seen this lots of times between model years of all Mopars. Food for though. Good Luck

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Okay, had to go check as my memory didn't align with the pics of Ross' car. These are from a 65 Monaco, and are the same as what I installed in my Polara from a 65 Monaco all those years ago......
View attachment 206511
View attachment 206512
So the hooks are very different which makes me think the seat backs are different which makes me urge you to be sure you build brackets that match your seat frame......... Did you get photos of the backs of Ross' seat? I didn't think to take any on mine, but it wouldn't be real hard if necessary.
Mike

Geez, your seatback hooks look different again from what I've seen before.

I wound up taking a day off last week and going up to National Moparts with a sawzall. He had a 66 Windsor 2-door hardtop factory bucket seat car in the yard. It had exactly what I needed.

It had the same top brackets (downward facing hooks) as Ross' Monaco but had different side shield brackets which are taller and shaped to attach to the side shields, as shown in the 1967 FSM page that I showed above.

I was too busy all weekend to get on my PC, but when I do I'll post pics.

 

[stubs300]

Like I said in post #14. I didn't even think that maybe it changed in 67?

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Like I said in post #14. I didn't even think that maybe it changed in 67?

If so, then Ross' 66 Monaco has leftover 65 brackets and the 66 in National Moparts yard has (had!) the correct 1966+ brackets. The interior was redesigned between 1965 and 1966, so I wouldn't be surprised if the brackets changed also. It's difficult to make out, but in the second pic that @Polara_500 posted above, it looks like his 65 may have the same brackets are Ross' car. It looks like I didn't mention this before, but Ross told me that his side shields were never actually attached to the brackets in his car.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Here are the pics of the brackets that I cut out of the donor 66 Windsor. These are definitely the ones I need. Problem solved!

 

[stubs300]

Isn't it amazing what you learn when you take a time out, step back, study, and learn something new about Mopars and your car in general?

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

I have most of the brackets welded into my car now, but I have a new problem... The original side shields in the donor '66 Windsor I got the brackets from were good, so I took those and used them. I repainted them saddle bronze to match my interior. Today I installed the fiberglass package tray and side shields to line-up where the last brackets should go.

On the package tray near the window frame the side shields don't fit well. They tuck under the window frame, which doesn't seem right. Both sides are the same. In the below picture I put the green masking tape on to mark where I'd need to cut the side shield to go around the window frame instead of under it.

I could cut out the side shield around the window frame so that it fits better, but the donor car was the exact same model as what I'm trying to install them in, so I would expect these to fit without any hassle. The only difference I know of is that it had the cardboard package tray (which was not usable) and I am using a fiberglass one.