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1946 Chevy Suburban; looking for rear seats


Doc Hubler

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Here's a picture of my 1946 Chevy Suburban which will be undergoing restoration after sitting outside for 3-4 decades. I'm looking for the 2 rear seats; have the front ones, and also had the wooden cover under the passenger side that covers the "toolbox" or storage area under that seatpost-89110-143139240822_thumb.jpg

post-89110-143139240846_thumb.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Tim,

It's great to hear from you! I had seen your website before. I haven't really made any progress on this truck as there are 3 others in front of it (actually more, but I'll work on the Chevy sometime during this year). They are a 42 Desoto Club coupe, 67 Olds Toronado, and 48 Cadillac. After the Toro, the Chevy seems like a relatively easy one to restore. My Suburban truck was originally like yours in that it had the clamshell arrangement. Those were ripped off and probably thrown out with the seats probably 40 years ago as the truck was purchased by my brother in law from a church camp in Idaho, and they had been using it to haul stuff around the camp locally for some years. He found a a pair of barn doors, probably off a panel truck, so I have those, and rather prefer them anyway. I investigated how those would go on and they are essentially like the front doors, but the hinges are a little longer (about an inch I think). I can see that the bodies were built to accept either arrangement, which is what would make sense from a production standpoint. I talked with folks at Jim Carter about this and they have those hinges on backorder. Interestingly, I found parts of the chain and mounts for the tailgate/liftgate that were originally with the car. Other than finding the seats, the major items are the engine and suspension. I can get all the suspension parts from Rare Parts, pretty sure. The head had been taken off this engine while the truck sat since 1983, so things are quite rusty. Can be rebuilt. A lot of folks say to trash that engine and put in a full pressure 235, but I think the old splasher engines are fine. Under today's driving conditions and with the oils available today, everything will last much better on a properly rebuilt engine. I have several Hudson cars, including a 1941 Hudson pickup. Those also have the splasher type oiling system and they work fine and the babbit bearings actually make the engine purr quietly. I also had a 1941 Chevy PU in the past, but sold that one before I completed its restoration because I needed to concentrate my resources a little. Anyway, I very much want to stay in touch, so please do the same and let me know how your project is going. Who do you recommend for vendor for parts? Jim Carter has always been helpful to me. They looked for the seats, but didn't have any in their stash. The guy thought that a lot of folks use the Advanced Design series suburban seats as a replacement for these 41-47 Chevys. With only 2545 of the clamshell door type and around 1500 of the barn door type Suburbans, you and I have some of the few remaining examples of these cars from 46-47, and there are probably a few 41 and 42s left, but not many. I dont' know the original color of my truck. Looks like someone brushpainted the black. I plan the Boatswain Blue with black fenders (silver stripe with red pinstripe down the sides).

Tim Hubler

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Guest www.46chevytruck.com

Awesome to hear you are thinking Boatswain blue. I have not seen one! I keep going between Swift red or matching my pick-up with the Brewster Green (both with bllack fenders/running boards). I need to find somone that is good with photoshop so i can see all the color options. Mine will be restored as correct as possible (similar to my pickup).

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Guest www.46chevytruck.com

The grey is correct. Bill Hirsch sells a perfect match to the original color. Orange was a respray and was not correct.

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  • 4 months later...
Guest murraydave

I am restoring a 1946 Chevy Suburban with tail and lift gate. It was a school bus for a 1 room school house in NE Nebraska and then a John Deere parts delivery vehicle. When I got it was painted yellow with green fenders. My work is a combination of preservation, restoration and safety modernization. I am preserving the wood floor but need some patch panels of wood to fill in in front of the 2nd seat. If anybody has some pieces I am willing to buy them. My modernization consists of a full pressure 235 engine and later model 3.53 open rear end with larger drum brakes on the rear and disc brakes on the front with a dual chamber master cylinder. The transmission is a SM420. Everything else is original. I am painting it Federal yellow it original colors. I am in need of a passenger jump seat, 2nd and 3rd seats which are impossible to find so I will have to have them fabricated. If anybody has a line on a fabricator their name and contact information would be appreciated. Thank you, Dave Murray, murraydave@aol.com

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Dave,

Cool, a yellow truck (with standard black fenders I take it)! I think Tim Sheridan, the other poster on this thread, can help us because his truck has the original 2nd and 3rd seats (well, all the seats). I encourage you to visit his website if you haven't done so already. There was another 46 Suburban for sale in Portland about a month ago and I checked into it, but decided against that. Rough as mine is, the other was even rougher. I did find a guy with a 46 Panel truck nearby. But of course no seats, etc for that one and apparently those didn't have the little jump seat on the passenger side either. Below that jump seat is a little tool storage box that has a wooden lid with hasp. Is you're still there?

My truck was originally the clamshell like your truck, but the tailgate probably broke off and was damaged, then disposed of. When I got my truck, it had a set of barn doors, which I like better anyway. So I do have to retrofit the truck for the bard doors. Not too bad to do I don't think. There is an interesting and unique rear bumper for those whereby the fender is "bent" in the center so it's closer to the floor of the truck. THis is so that when the barn doors are opened, one can stand closer to the interior of the truck. Obviously, no need for that with a clamshell arrangement.

The truck I have was probably a Navy truck out in eastern Idaho (yes, the navy was there). Then it was eventually sold to a church for church camp in the 60s. I think it was used to haul stuff around, so naturally the seats were removed, and the tailgate was eventually damaged and all those items were lost or disposed of. The Advanced Design Suburbans of 47-54 had similar seats, but there are a little different. Some people have retrofitted that type of seat from what I understand.

Let's all stay in touch and see how our projects turn out.

Tm

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Guest murraydave

Hello Gentlemen, A little more about my burb. The original color out of Janesville WI was all Federal Yellow, no black except for the running boards and tail light. I agonized over the color but the yellow was the original color and it is easier to see which counts on todays roads. I am currently driving a 1941 1 ton Chevy Long bed pick up that came from Janesville as well. The light cream yellow is easy on the eyes and makes the truck look even bigger. My Burb should be out of the paint shop in 3 weeks and then I will start wiring and finish work. Currently I need the following parts. 1 LH roof pillar cover,1 RH windshield wiper panel cover with recess for 2 control knobs holes and of course the 2nd and third seats that are never there. I also need an original passenger front jump seat but I have a 1949 one I can modify to fit if need be. I am currently actively looking for a seat frame fabricator and I have pictures, drawings and measurements of these seats. I do not have them for the jump seat. FYI Jim Carter makes a reproduction of the wood tool box cover, mine was still with the truck. I am also looking for some short wood planks to replace the ones in front of the second seat. Since this was a school bus the "little darlins" wore out these boards in the front. The sizes I need are 16"L X 8" W, 12"L X 8"W and 19"L X 6" W. Since these boards are over the metal under panel I am going to scarf them to the existing boards. As for the original board they were in good shape (with the exception area above) so I sealed them with a special epoxy to preserve and strengthen the old wood. FYI I have made two trips in years past to L & L classic in Wendel, ID. They have quite a few Art Deco Trucks to pick parts from. I have restored 3 of these vehicles and this is the rarest and most unique of them all. If I can help you in anyway just let me know. Dave Murray murraydave@aol.com

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest murraydave

Hello Doc, Brian Mueller has a guy in CA that builds these seats. Send me your email ID and I will forward the correspondence to you. Best regards, Dave Murray

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  • 1 year later...
Guest Metal Twister

I realize this is an old thread but I too am looking for original seat info and I have a few questions... Anybody home?

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Guest murraydave
I realize this is an old thread but I too am looking for original seat info and I have a few questions... Anybody home?

If you go to the website below you will find on it drawings of the seats you need. They give all the heights, widths and depths.

www.46chevytruck.com/46suburbanrestoration.htm

I found a local guy to bend the tubing and shape the sheet metal for the frames. For seat cushions I am using plywood bases with foam rubber for the cushions then covered with vinyl.

If you go to Stovebolt.com and look under panels and burbs you will find numerous topics on seats.

If I can help with anything else you can get me directly at murraydave@aol.com.

Dave Murray

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

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