How’s it going everyone. Just out of curiosity and boredom I thought I would ask you all about the possibility of making a bench seat recline/ lean backwards. I have a 65 chevelle malibu 4 door with the full bench seat in front and thought it would be cool if I wanted to lean a bit back when Id prefer to. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Haven’t seen anything else online like this. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Several AMC cars had reclining seats. My school chum had a OT Marlin that actually had the front seat lay down, in-line with the back seat! He took it to the drive -in picture show a lot! Never could figure why he never wanted to sell that car! Bones
A buddy drove a 56 chevy with rusty floorboards. If you weren't careful the seat would recline all the way. good thing he kept a tight grip on the steering wheel. yep them ramblers where known as Sin Wagons
In high school (1954 ) our English teacher got rear ended in her 1950 Ford and it knocked the seat out of the mounts and laid her back to the rear. Amazingly she was not hurt.
Had a high school buddy who's girlfriend's dad wouldn't let her go out with him when he showed up in his Folks Rambler. He was embarrassed enough to have to drive his mom's car anyhow.
There is a adjuster on the bottom of the seat back, sometimes you can svrew it in further and get a little extra recline, you could also remove the bolts holding the front of the seat and add blocks, remember to replace the bolts with longer ones. HRP
There's no ready-made kit to do this. But if you hunt the local boneyard, you should be able to score some hinge/latches to do this. The tough part is figuring out how to release both ends of a bench seat at the same time. And you better have basic upholstery and welding skills. A pre-existing bench transplant is really the best answer. ........but then you have to match the back seat and so on...... Can you say"can of worms"?
I believe I saw that done on Full Custom Garage....didn't take too much to do if you have the tools and know how...
It would depend on if the seat frame was one piece or if the backrest bolted on. If it bolted on, you might be able to make something work, but a one piece frame isn't going to work. You might be better off to look at a mid sized 80's GM four door or two door with a similar designed front seat, I think some of them had adjustable backs. If you get lucky, you might even get one that you upholstery will fit on.
Watch that show a lot. Good stuff. Ian Roussell was in a documentary called "Back From The Dead" in 2005. Good stuff. He built a Rat Rod Roadster for the Las Vegas Rat Rod show.
Are there any bench seats with tilting mechanisms that lock at both sides? I dunno, but I have a Glide seat that only locks on the drivers side, and as a result the passenger side does flex a little but is ok. I'm actually looking to build a Glide type seat to fit a 3w coupe and sourcing the tilt / recline mechanism is my first hurdle! I've not been to the bone yard yet but I figure I'll be looking for a hinge / tilt / recline mechanism off a 2 door coupe type car passenger seat, but ideally want something with a handle / lever rather than a rotating knob. And I'm in the UK, but as we don't really make cars any more it'll invariably be a German or Japanese source! Chris
A bench seat with a one-piece back is normally going to be fixed solid. With 2 occupants on the seat, if one wishes to tilt, the other probably doesn't. I can't dogmatically say that one never has offered tilt. (But I might bet money on it.) Perhaps someone on the forum is a walking encyclopedia of seats and has the exact answer. It's not until more modern times with split bench and bucket seats that tilt options became common. If you're hyper-focused on being able to tilt, scraping the bench and installing buckets is the best solution. Another possibility is a second row seat from a mid-size SUV. Those almost always have a split back that tilts forward and some may tilt back or be easier to adapt. The biggest rub with either the bucket or SUV bench option is matching the rear seats and the rest of the upholstery. I still think the whole idea is a pipe dream and the reward is never going to be worth the effort required.
Just install a 6 way power seat. Oh, and by the way, wasn`t there a seat with a cam you could rotate to adjust the seat back . But then there`s the power mechanisms that are found in the rear seats of conversion vans, that you can lay the back of the seat down.
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