Str8-8-Dave Posted October 12, 2021 Share Posted October 12, 2021 Hi to all; I reached out to the AACA Library to see if they had Fisher Body drawings of the rumble seat back assembly consisting of a wood sub frame, upholstery and springs and had no luck. A volunteer archivist sent 3 illustrations from the 1931 Fisher Body Service Manual which are useless and I already have them. They consist of a coupe wood illustration, one of general coupe sheet metal parts and one of the gas tank cover and radiator gravel shield that happens to have a side view picture of a rumble seat in the open position. Again- I know this is a Buick pre-war topic but I'm trying to reach the widest audience to see if anyone knows where I can lay eyes on Fisher Body drawings of the seat back assembly or pictures of a 60 series rumble seat back in the process of being re-upholstered/restored, particularly of the wood frame the back springs attach to. I have some input on how the assembly attaches to the rumble lid but I got no springs and more importantly the wood frame the springs attach to and over the base of the wood frame the upholstery is tacked. I'm trying to keep this car restoration project as authentic as possible. I don't want to invent a design for the frame if I can avoid it. Any help deeply appreciated. Thanks. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted October 12, 2021 Share Posted October 12, 2021 I'm curious if you need to be more specific in regard to which body style you have: Coupe, roadster, or convertible coupe. Also, if you had some photos of a 90 series being upholstered, would that be of help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Str8-8-Dave Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, West Peterson said: I'm curious if you need to be more specific in regard to which body style you have: Coupe, roadster, or convertible coupe. Also, if you had some photos of a 90 series being upholstered, would that be of help? Hi West- Thanks for the response. I clearly identified to the library and in previous posts on this topic that my car is a 31 model 8-66S Special Coupe which is a rumble seated sports coupe. The rumble seat in the 80 0r 90 series car rumble seat might be pretty close to the same construction. It is the seat back that I need information for and the key item is a wood frame the back springs attaches to and then is upholstered over in black leatherette. The black leatherette stretches over the seatback springs and wood frame and is tacked to the bottom of the wood frame. That frame then has a couple of brackets that insert into some inset pockets on the upper rumble lid and the bottom has metal straps that are screwed to the seat back frame across the bottom and they are then screwed to the lower header of the rumble lid woodwork. If anyone has pictures of any series of the 31 rumble seat back without upholstery on it I'd sure like to see them. Dave Dunton down in Lawrenceville GA has the exact same model as my car that has never been apart. He has given me as many pictures of his rumble seat as he can without taking the seat back off the lid or disassembling it. He is also restoring a 30 Chevrolet rumble coupe that has a similar rumble seat but the construction is different. The Chevy rumble lid is all steel where the Buick is steel panel over wood. You can get an idea from the Chevrolet seat but the shape and construction of the wood frame of the seat is different. Dave This is a picture of Dave Dunton's rumble seat back. All around the perimeter of the seat back under the black leatherette is wood frame that the springs are attached to and the leatherette is tacked to. Here is a picture of my bare rumble lid. The arrows point to the inset pockets that some brackets on the seat back slide into to attach the upper back. Here is a picture of one of the lower strap brackets that are attached to the Buick seat back upholstery frame. It then screws to the woodwork on the rumble lid to hold the bottom of the seat back in place. These are some pictures Dave sent of his Chevrolet seat back. You can see the wood frame the seat back springs and leatherette upholstery attach to to make up the seat back assembly. Here is a picture of the Chevrolet's upper seat back attaching brackets which I believe are different than the Buick's. It looks like these insert into the sheet metal lid and let the seat back hang from the upper mounts. Here is a picture of the lower straps on the Chevy seat back that are attached to the seat back sub frame and are then screwed to the sheet metal lid. Edited October 13, 2021 by Str8-8-Dave Arrange pictures, captions (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 A friend recently had both his '31 90 roadster and convertible coupe upholstered. I'll see if I can get some photos for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Str8-8-Dave Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, West Peterson said: A friend recently had both his '31 90 roadster and convertible coupe upholstered. I'll see if I can get some photos for you. Excellent- Thank you so much West... Edited October 13, 2021 by Str8-8-Dave (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 This is the rumble seat compartment area. Rumble lid photos still being sought. This is from the roadster, so probably built differently than your car. The roadster was built by Stewart, whereas your car was probably Fisher (?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Str8-8-Dave Posted October 14, 2021 Author Share Posted October 14, 2021 Hi West- My car is a Fisher Body build. The seat you show is the base seat area in the rumble compartment. That is all accounted for in my car. I need seat BACK details, the seat back attaches to the rumble lid per my previously posted pictures.... Thanks. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 As mentioned. Rumble seat lid photos still being sought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Str8-8-Dave Posted October 14, 2021 Author Share Posted October 14, 2021 8 hours ago, Str8-8-Dave said: I need seat BACK details Sorry West- I thought what you sent was what you got from your contact. My bad- I jumped to a conclusion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Str8-8-Dave Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 (edited) So to tie a ribbon around this topic I did get information I was seeking from Dave Dunton who has been my pen-pal on the restoration of my 1931 8-66S for the past 3 years. Dave generously removed the seat back from his rumble lid, turned it over and patiently fielded numerous requests for pictures and measurements. Below is a sampling of what I got. In pictures that include the side rails you will note the side rails are curved to fit the rumble lid woodwork and dodge over hinges and hinge attachment hardware, namely a 3/8 stud with a square nut the side rail has to fit over. The side rails measure 4" wide. I'm sure they steam bent ash lumber to produce the side rails and they also finger joined the upper and lower sections of the side rails, something I could not reproduce. Instead I made a template of the edge profile of the side rail and will trace the outline onto 1" thick ash lumber then saw 4 pieces for each side rail and laminate the 1" thick pieces together to get a 4" wide side rail curved to fit the rumble lid like the originals did, just without the finger joint and steam bending. I did finally have to invest in a band saw for this project. The project will appear in detail on my "Me and MY Buick" thread in the future. I would have never been able to get this done with Dave Dunton's assistance, he has been a great resource and friend... Most of the construction of the seat back wood frame is pretty straightforward. The side rails seen in the top and bottom of the picture below are not so simple. The ash frames were steam bent in short sections and finger joined. The finger joint is clearly visible at the bottom of this picture. On the bottom right corner you can see where the lumber was machined out to get over the rumble lid hinge and the hole partially visible under the seat cover material fits over a 3/8" hinge stud and square nut. I can't steam bend or finger join the 4" wide side rail lumber like Buick did but using the template I made shown in the picture below I can trace the profile of the side rails onto 1" thick ash lumber, cut the pieces out on a band saw and laminate 4 pieces together to make a 4" wide piece. This also offers the opportunity to use the band saw to cut out the relief pocket for the rumble lid hinge and cut insets for the cross slats to nest in. Edited October 21, 2021 by Str8-8-Dave add text (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Str8-8-Dave Posted November 13, 2021 Author Share Posted November 13, 2021 (edited) Picture attached is of the wood seat back frame I was able to construct from pictures and measurements of an original 31 Buick 8-66S rumble seat back from Dave Dunton. Many thanks to Dave for his patience. This part was completely missing from my car and I wouldn't have had a clue how to make the part without Dave's input. When completed I will post a detailed update on my "Me and MY Buick" restoration thread. Edited November 13, 2021 by Str8-8-Dave (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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