Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

That's how it is! Next thing you'll be wanting seat belts! LOL

The back seat slides under the back rest and the onto the two steel tabs sticking up from the floor. You can see one of them in the bottom left corner of this picture. This is my 53 Cavalier, but I'm sure yours will be the same.

That's how it was back then.

Back in those days, if the car was in a crash not too much concern was given for passengers or objects flying around inside. Your seat retaining method should be identical to this base 47 seat and very similar to other cars made by Packard and probably from other mfgs as well. NOTE: This seat has been modified for my addition of AC. Yours will not have the wood riser and the seat will sit directly on the floor or carpet.




The seat frame bottom consists of a metal structure with about a 1 inch square tube or bar as the main support with a thin wire ladder like structure welded on providing shape and supporting the seat springs. That square support tube sits directly on the floor or carpet. The tabs that 53 Cavalier pictured are welded to the car floor structure and slide into a slot arrangement welded to the seat support bar. Usually the floor tabs are shaped to have a kind of retaining means in them that require the very bottom of the seat to be pushed rearward (with some force) and simultaneously lifted so the edge of slot can clear the tab retainers and allow the front of seat cushion to be freed from the floor tabs. The rear side of the cushion is just held by being firmly wedged under the bolted on seat back assy.

Unless you want to re-engineer the seat structure to modern standards, about the only options are to leave as is and hope for the best or have your upholsterer see if there is a way the floor tabs and support tube could be drilled so some kind of retaining pin or bolt for added security could be inserted from the front of seat thru both bar and tab to physically tie them together. That pin or bolt would be hard to conceal over finished upholstery but perhaps could be made to look decent by some kind of upholstered cover like the fabric covered buttons used on some furniture to hide fasteners.

Another possibility might be to attach some sort of L bracket to the support tube from the back side so one leg extends out from the front of the seat an inch or so. A bolt could be inserted thru the bracket and thru a hole drilled in the floor. Some reinforcement could be added under the car the bolt could thread into which would securely fasten the seat front to the floor. The existing tabs would remain untouched and used as locators. If the carpet does not go under the seat bottom the bolts and an L bracket might be the easiest and could be hidden by carpet. If the carpet slips under the seat by an inch or so as it does in some models then bolt heads could not be hidden or even accessed and that idea is not very feasible.

It may be noted that the V8 car rear carpet only went to the front of the rear seats. Which I think is dumb, but Packard did do it for some cars, so it wouldn't be too unoriginal to do it in that way.

Hate to break it to you Todd but the danger to the driver in the back seat in an accident is not the seat itself but the passengers back there who may well fly forward with enough force to dislodge the front seat.

Again, just how things were back then. Drive defensively...

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The original rear carpet on my 53 Cavalier only went to the front of the back seat like you mention. As much as I dislike making things unoriginal, I decided to run the carpet underneath so the seat holds it in place. The sides, along the sills, I did like original and then put Velcro to hold them in place.