Old Holden seat mod?

[mattmillz]

I was wondering if it was possible to make a bench seat have head rests, and also fold back completely flat making like a bed.
just wondering. . .

[RET]

I think the former would pretty much rule out the latter

The "camping body" seat (as it was known) was a reasonably common modification to early Holdens.  My Dad's FC has one, and there are a few others in the club as well.  They turn up from time to time.  You might still be able to find someone who would do the conversion to your seat if you hunted around.  Be prepared to spend tho...

I imagine you could form head-rests up and graft them onto the seat, but it would - IMHO - have to be done very carefully to avoid looking horrible.  But then my aversion to high-back seats in FCs is well known, isn't it John?

Hope that helps,
RET

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Anything is possible!
As long as you are prepared to re-trim the seat the head rests should be easy. Just grab a bench out of a late model jap van, an '80s Tarago should do the trick. Check that the head rests are easily removable. You will then need to rip the trim off the seat and cut all relevant mounts etc from the frame.
Then its just a matter of dummying it up on your newly found camping (full fold down) bench seat and welding into place. Take the finished product to your friendly local motor trimmer to finish the job.

I'm not too sure, but if the camping bench is in good order, you may be able to carefully remove the trim without damaging it, then replace it and cut the holes for the head-rests.

I'll side with RET though on the head-rests in FE-FCs, although the ones in Peter Fitzpatricks FC look pretty good.

[normd]

Years ago , there were "clip-on" headrests , used to slide on over the top of the seats , pretty damn ugly but, probably even buy those sort of things at garage sales  
   Unless you're doing a nice modified job , originals look better
   Norm

[Spinner]

I think you wanna be careful when mucking around with seats like that.  I asked something similar a few years ago for one of my Morris 1100s and was told not to bother as that type of mod for a seat required an engineers certificate (something to do with seat frame behaviour in a crash).

Removeable headrests, similar to those in some smaller Jap cars & Taragos, would look okay on a Holden Bench seat because they have chrome legs, hole surrounds (bezels or escutcheons) and are removeable - IMO.

[RET]

I used to have one of those slip-on head-rests and tried it out in my first FC.  But it was completely useless, because there's nothing behind the material in the back of the seat for the legs of the head-rest to push against, so they just flop about.  Only the weight of your back against the lower part of it keeps the head-rest in place, but this is of no use in preventing whip-lash in an accident, and I found the position of it uncomfortable anyway.

Get used to the seat without head-rests - it's better for your posture than lying back against the head-rest any-way!  IMHO

Otherwise you could take the material off your existing seat, and get a seat with removeable headrests as Spinner suggests (like a HQ or LJ or thereabouts), strip it down and get the mounting out of the top where the ratcheting/removable headrests slot in, and weld that to the top of your seat.  Whack in some black (to be as unobtrusive as possible) bezels, or some chrome ones (to look period), and it prolly would do the job.

cheers
RET

[zulu]

My Ambulance has the luxury   adjustable slip on type headrests in a similar colour tan to the seats.
They are ok because the backs of the seat are reinforced & the headrest arms have somthing to push against.
So they would probably be ok in a panelvan.
Gary

[spinach]

hey matt.

If you cant find a camping style bench seat and you find someone willing to have a go at it, could you drop a note on here please? I'm really after a place to do this for me, have asked a cpl of motor trimmers and they wouldn't touch it.

thanks.

Luke.

[Edward]

Guys,

I have a camping seat conversion in my FC sedan that allows the seat to fold flat.

To achieve this the front seat has to be moved to its most forward position, and a lever pulled to push the back section of the front seat to a horizontal position, where it is jammed up tight against the rear seat squab.

As such, any modification to the top of the front seat to facilitate head rests could potentially make it more difficult to fold the seat horizontal and/or damage the trim on the rear seat, even if the head rests have been removed prior to folding.

The second point is that it is incredibly uncomfortable to lie down on, and forget about trying to sleep.

My advice, for what it is worth?

Buy a tent or stay in a motel!

Regards

Edward

[mattmillz]

well I just think head rest would add some anti whiplash/neck snapping saftey.
I guess there might have been an issue with the fold back seats. Also I am considering as the seats have a couch material all over them. yuk
thanks