I am debating whether or not to try to use the back seat in my 28 Sedan. For those who have decided not to would you be willing to post pics of what you did to occupy or otherwise address the area where the seat used to be? I know some mount a fuel cell back there but I already have a 32 tank setup welded onto the back of the frame. The body is on a Brookville frame with a 2" kick up and its looking like making the original floor pan and seat riser work may not be possible and really beyond my skill set.
When I was in high school, I had a 2 door sedan that I put a small wood stove in place of the back seat so we could keep warm at the drive in theater in the winter. I ran the pipe out the side window through a piece of sheet metal in place of the glass. I burned pieces of Presto-logs.
I was looking at using the narrow fold down back seat (minus legs) out of a 2k Burb that I came up with a few years ago in the back of the 31` Vic I had. Figuring that it would probably be folded down and have our bags on it 90% of the time when we were going somewhere. I can't get to it to measure it for width right now though as it stashed away in the storage.,
I like the fold down seat idea, SUV-wise. I'm sure you'd regret not having a place for rider(s) later. Or, if you go straight panel van, why not get one of those rear door kits to make loading easier?
36 Chevy sedan, built a hinged box about the size of a seat bottom. Tools, battery and anything else I wanted stored out of sight there. Upholstered to match the interior, looked fine. Lots of cars don't hold four people.
Put a pair of mounted slicks and a jack back there... Oh yeah, a few tools and a tool box. And a helmet of course...
Do like Chevy did with the buisness coupe in 55-57.No back seat just a raised platform to lay stuff on.
Doing second model a with same setup, built a raised platform tall enough to mount battery and used plywood for top that was hinged for storage . Upholstery guy put a railing across top at front for handle and to stop stuff from sliding forward under hard braking ( cooler, luggage etc)
With a 10” step in the chassis there isn’t much room for a real back seat. there will be no real back seat structure as such ,we just added the cut outs for some style. Have not yet decided how to cover the back seat area. My son has been adding wood where he saw fit to. Two small pockets behind rear crossmember ,battery and tools.
I'm in Clare, Michigan. What city in Central Michigan are you from? I'd love to see a pic of how you did that.
Knew a guy years ago who put a woodstove in a Volkswagen Bus to keep warm during the winter months; he had it bolted down and ran the stove pipe through the roof. He even cut a hole in the floor so he could use it to go ice fishing. It was funny to see him driving around with wood smoke coming out of the stove pipe.