Front Seat Differences

[Rod]

Hi All,

I will start by saying I love learning about the subtle differences between the FE and FC other than the obvious. To be honest I am fascinated by it and how and why the changes have occurred.

Here is one for you that I am sure someone will know. I have searched high and low and can't find any reference. My FE has a sagging drivers seat. Upholstery is good but some springs are broken. Any way I followed some threads about getting replacements from a donor etc... which I did some time ago. I have just moved the seat to clean the floor up / minor maintenance.

This is where I have come across a difference (I think). The donor springs and two coil springs come from an FC Special Sedan where as the seat in question is out of a FE Special. I can't see any coils springs (two each side) on either side of the seat. I have then looked at the the FE Manual with FC supplement and the picture / sketch of the FE seat does not show any coil springs. There is no reference made in the supplement. Today I saw an Fb/EK seat on ebay without the covering and you can clearly see the coil springs.

Has anyone else come across this. Makes sense that the coil springs would add additional support. I will go and have a look in the master parts catalogue to see if there is any reference.

Anyway enough of the useless trivia.

Have a good one.

Rod

[ardiesse]

Rod,

I didn't know about the FE/FC front seat difference, because I thought all Holden front seats had the coil springs in them on the sides of the cushion.  But, Standards and Specials have different front seats: the Specials have an extra "roll" section all the way along the top of the squab, presumably to make the Special front seat look thicker and more "luxurious" than the poverty-pack Standard.

Rob

[mcl1959]

I think the coil springs are added later by trimmers or dealerships to fix the sagging seat problem
Clearly no coils shown in this pic of FE seat in 1956



This pic is of a GMH fix for the seat it reflects the business sedan seat which was stronger than all the other seats. June 57



And lastly an FB seat once again showing fixes. No coils in FB seats.


Ken

[Rod]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the information which adds to the story Ken. It is interesting that the tie wires led to improvement but no mention of coil springs.

The donor springs I got came from a car that I know its history relatively well (FC Special). I am fairly confident it was not re-upholstered. So may be the dealer had them put in. When I removed the coil springs there was / is a "notch" in the frame where the springs clicked into. See an image below of a FB / EK (or is it EK as your FB Picture doesn't show coils) frame and you can see the coil springs and the "notches".



As highlighted by your Service Bulletin, I wonder if there is a difference between the variants ie: Special being more luxurious got an upgrade from the FE to FC.

Then again I am not sure now. I have just looked in the master parts book and it seems the Standard Sedan and Station Sedan had the same part number, the Special Sedan and the Special Station Sedan had the same number, the Business Sedan had the same number and the Ute and Panel Van had the same number. The part numbers are for both FE and FC.

Things changed slightly with the FB/EK. All variants in FB/EK had the same part number except for the Panel Van and Ute which had the same number.

One again thanks for your insight Ken as I think your explanation is the most plausable other than the notches in the frame. If I get a chance this coming weekend I might dismantle the FE seat and investigate more.

Cheers

Rod

[mcl1959]

The inbuilt clips for the coil springs look like a certainty that the coils were factory fitted.
In the last picture showing the FB seat there is a possibility that the drawing does not include all the features of the seat. There could be coil springs in the seat but not shown in the drawing to aid clarity.
Ken

[fcwrangler]

I just went back through my build page to see if I had put photos of my seats on, but no. I remember taking spring sections from another FC seat to replace broken ones on my frame. I also removed a couple of coil springs from the left side and replaced them on the right side as it sagged as well. The spring were secured to the seat frame by the tags as pictured. Mine is an early 59 car and the donor seat was late 59 with the embossing across the top both cars being specials.

[Errol62]

Original seat out of my EK van
My FB ute also has them
I couldn’t remember, but I put my hand under the seat and can feel them.


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