Do all 49-52 come with rear seats? I had a 52 and it did, I'm looking at a 51 and the guy isn't sure if it had one. Any info?? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Certain ones didn't , I believe the business did not. But it wasn't uncommon to see them with out the back seat Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
'49-'52 Chevy COUPE back seats should all interchange. Yes, it's possible to put a back seat in a coupe that came without it. If I remember there is a brace or something that you remove? But the floor pan structure is the same in the business coupe and the club coupe or sport coupe. (I cannot remember if it's the "club coupe" or the "sport coupe" that has the same body but with a back seat, which is funny because I have one all over my shop right now - just can't remember what the title said!)
"Business Coupes" were based on the Styline Special. the "special" had less trim with only rubber around the front and rear windows, no trim above the beltline around the doors or side windows, no side spear on the fenders and doors, rubber gravel guards on the rear quarters rather than the chrome ones, fixed rear side windows rather than the sliding ones, no stainless trim on the inside garnish moldings and a standard steering wheel. if it had a back seat when new it was a Styleline Special Sport coupe. no back seat makes it a business coupe. in 38 years of owning a 49 Chevrolet I have never seen a 49 - 52 business coupe in person. people liked their chrome trim in those days, even the Styeline Specials are hard to find compared to the deluxe models. if the one you are looking at has the extra outside trim it came with a back seat originally. if it is still original inside it would be obvious it was built that way.
The Specials are really scarce in fastbacks, too. Both cheap body styles ceased production early in '51. I've seen 2 '51 business coupes, one had the rear half of a Truckstell still in it.
Having a 51 Bus Coupe, that I've actually given to my nephew now, the only difficulty in installing a rear seat will be locating one to fit, and removing the floor support braces required for the "platform" in a Bus Coupe, all three rows of them. The floor "pockets" for locating the seat bottoms are already there. Over on ChevyTalk.Org, in the 49-54 forums, is a woman named Angie Weaver. She has a 51 Bus Coupe that originally belonged to her uncle, and she inherited the car. The uncle had installed a rear seat somewhere along the line, and she was confused on "why" her Bus Coupe had a rear seat in it when it should't. You should be able to find her thread there, or you can E-mail/Private Topic (C.T.'s term for P.M.'s) and get some specifics from her. Tell her Butch referred you. Butch/56sedandelivery.
I think this is may be in error. I believe the short roof coupe, which is what I think the OP is talking about, IIRC, has a shorter rear lower cushion than a sedan. I believe the divider wall between the passenger compartment and the trunk is moved forward in the Coupe body. Since the door length is the same as a 2 door sedan, the space available for the rear lower cushion length is reduced by several inches.
Jeff, are you sure you have a business coupe? My '52 business coupe had a back seat added early in it's life (when it was first customized), but it had the platform before that. I don't know if it is a hard and fast rule; but I always go by the quarter windows - fixed: business coupe, hinged: sport (or deluxe) coupe.. My coupe (1975) in one of it's many versions... Dave
Fixed: Styleline Special. Styeline Special with no back seat: business coupe. there were no hinged side windows for 49-52 Chevrolets, they slid back a couple inches on the Deluxe coupes.
i don't know if it was born that way, yes it has fixed quarter windows. the car was dismantled when i got it all in boxes it was a father/son project and they got in over their heads way too much work to do.
My dads business had a 52 business coupe (no back seat), and my brother and I delivered oil field drill bits to all the drill rigs around Williston, ND in the mid fifties.
I have a pair of the fixed rear windows and rubber trim from a fixed-window 1952 Styleline Special coupe. (Not 2-door sedan, coupe!) I believe it had a rear seat in it, but it's been a few years and was sitting in a junkyard so I could be remembering wrong. My '51 Deluxe coupe has the sliding rear side glass that 49ratfink describes and definitely had a rear seat all along, which like an idiot I threw away not realizing how hard it would be to replace. (My understanding is that the coupe seats are different than the other 2-door seats like Hnstray says. If anyone knows for certain if this is not true please let us know!) If anyone wants to buy those fixed rear windows shoot me a pm; I have no use for them and they are nice originals. I only pulled them because I was already pulling the interior garnish moldings for my car and they were nice and the car was going to get crushed before long.
Had a '50 Fleetline Special. Had a seat and roll down windows. Most any lower seat will fit them, upper needs to be narrow at the top, once recovered will look like it belongs there.
A Business Coupe, of the 49-54 vintage, will have # 1227B, prefaced by the year (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54) located on the body identification tag on the passenger side of the firewall. anything else is not a true Business Coupe. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Lots of confusion out there between the "business coupe" and "sport coupe" because they have the same roofline. And then you get all the guys who call their 2-door sedans a "coupe". Personally I don't know why anyone would care if a coupe was a business coupe or sport coupe? You can put a seat into a business coupe and you can take one out of the sport coupe. It's the roofline that matters.
Quick and random question. I'm building a 51 business coupe (fixed back windows and no back seats) and need doors for it. Will doors from a 1949 2 door sedan fit?
the doors on 49-52 tudors, & coupes, are very similar. There is a slight difference & the side glass is a little different. But, if you can only find sedan doors, they will work. Just don't tell a restorer
Be aware the doors on a "Coupe" are also different; they won't interchange with a sedan's doors without some work to reshape the top rear of the doors. Also, 1227 will be embossed on the interior side of the coupes doors. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
The Jalopy Journal
