Ether, that interior is probably the most traditional look possible. Looks good.I apreciate all the interior pics as I have to make up my mind which way to go so I can prepare .
Cruisers must have bench seats. How else can you're best girl slide over next to you as you reach over the steering column to shift the three-speed with your left hand? Buckets are for race cars, muscle cars, european sports cars, and American cars that think they're european sports cars.
From what I remember, most guys kept the stock seats, but all out show cars usually got a wild interior. For a while in the late 50s they'd literally use kitchen chairs and build a console to go with them - some cars got 4 of these "buckets" and the console and carpet run all the way back. Bonus points if the fronts had a swivel mounting. But if you're actually going to drive the car, you want a real car seat. A stock bench would work, or if you can't find one there are plenty of later model benches that will work, especially if you're going to recover them. An 80s GM car power split bench might be a good compromise.
I had all kinds of seats in my Merc and ended up with the Stock Merc Seats I think they are the Best just my 3.5 cents
I have 1970 Imperial 6 way electric buckets. They are so wide they look like a bench seat. Super comfy as well. .
LIFESTYLZ, if you weren't so far away I would buy your old seat, that's a baby lincoln seat, much nicer than a merc seat.
I will be the heretic here. While Bad Bob's photos clearly demonstrate the advantages of bench seats when parked, I actually prefer bucket seats when I am driving the car. The Merc in my avatar is getting a 1960's T-bird rear opera seat with mid 1990's buckets with the headrests removed from a Suburban (heated). May seem like an odd combination but they are comfortable and can be upolstered to give them an old school feel (even though they clearly are not). The goal of the build is to make a car that I like to drive as much as I like to look at. I also gain clearance for the T-5 behind the flathead.
I drive my car every single day with the stock bench and i have no complaints. Once i installed seat belts it was even better, because you were held in place more.. between bench seats and bias plies, i dont get why having your car as a driver is a reason not to use them. They both work fine in everyday driving conditions. Rant over.
I've been driving my Merc,pretty much ,everyday For the last 6yrs and I love my bench seat. It's about preference,NOT, one feels better than the other. I've seen all kinds of seats in Mercs. Run what you like. I personally think the bench looks better. My buddy ALWAYS uses Honda Civic bucket seats with tuck-n-roll. They look great.
well, like I noted earlier, I would like to have LIFESTYLZ throw away seat but thats not going to happen, so I am leaning toward a curved tbird rear seat with 63 or older tbird buckets or 65 or older gm buckets and a painted console running from the dash to in between a split curved tbird rear seat. However I have been known to change my mind.
I've over 10 thousand (mostly long distance) miles on my stock seat with tuck 'n' roll and have never felt uncomfortable. Actually they are very comfotable.
HHHMMMMM and the build was so going in the right direction..... I really like the baby Lincoln seat with the extra trim, breaks up the back and gives options for design.
I can get some pic's. they don't look like Honda seats at all. He strips them down,re-foams them and reshapes them. They resemble Corvair or Impala buckets when he's done. he swaps sides so the controls are on the inside,so you don't see the knobs and levers when you open the doors. Still don't look as good as the stock bench,IMO. But they look better than T-bird seats.
I prefer bench seats.I have them in my 56 Chevy and they're comfortable.I also have them in my 51 Merc.They were done in the 50's by a GM designer.Here's a couple of pic's.
guess, my struggle is this, I found this modified 59 Imperial wheel at the Puyullup swap meet and I thought this wheel was nice enough to build a car around, of course I was just starting my merc and I thought ,why not? Problem is this wheel screams for something a little different in the interior department than a bench, now I suppose I could scrap the wheel, but I would like to see it happen in this car.
I know I'll take some flak for this but here is what I have decided to do, tuck and roll naugahyde or possibly leather, a metal finished console painted to match the dash, this console will run from the dash to rear package tray. I found some front and rear seats out of a 64 riviera. I will use the stock front speaker grill and the riviera rear speaker grill wich fits between the rear seats. The rear seats are single seats like buckets.I am not sure of all the details yet but I hope to attain a Jetsons style aeroplane look with a 50s early 60s look.Here are some pics , the first one is some funky stainless my brother found a long time ago in a car in an old boneyard, I will incorporate these into the door panels. For those of you who are not familiar with riviera seats ,another pic.
The Jalopy Journal
