1936 Pontiac rubber mat

[aristech]

I was wondering if there is anyone out there that reproduces a rubber mat for 1936 Pontiac?  Is there any original ones out there that have survived?

[Bloo]

Short answer: No and no.

 

Part numbers for 1936, from a 1937 parts book:

 

2dr with bucket seats                            -    4071292

All four door                                            -    4067370

2dr without bucket seats, all coupes    -    4067295

Universal mat, cut to fit any style          -    601635

 

Wild speculation: The first 3 are almost certainly brown, the last number was probably really meant to service much older cars that did not have a part number listed. Probably black. Probably not intended for 1936.

 

I'll probably have more to post about this as soon as I can find my notes.

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[aristech]

I know they reproduce the ones for 30’s ford, 39 chevy car and 47-54 chevy truck.I am wondering if the 30’s ford would be possible to use. Would like to see what an original looks like ? 

[Bloo]

Me too. Generally the closest ones are Buick (more on that when I find my notes), although in recent times everybody seems to be out of stock of every mat. The Ford ones don't look close to me.

[aristech]

Yeah I forgot about Buick. I am gonna try and keep hunting. I want to try and find some pictures of the original as a reference point. 

[Bloo]

I've got a factory photo I'll dig up soon. I am extremely skeptical of it for a lot of reasons. I wish an original would turn up somewhere but to the best of my knowledge it hasn't.

 

[aristech]

This is one of those unicorn type items. 

[Bloo]

5 hours ago, aristech said:

I want to try and find some pictures of the original as a reference point. 

Me too. I've been looking about 6 years. So far, only this. My skepticism is off the charts. I recommend taking a really, really close look at this before you start making a mold or something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[aristech]

Thanks for the pics. 

[aristech]

I was looking at this ford one 

 

Ford mat

 

Another one

Edited November 25, 2022 by aristech (see edit history)

[Bloo]

Well, mats for just about everything are out of stock just about everywhere. I've not seen any Ford mats unpunched, so you would have a bunch of holes in the wrong place. Also, the floor contour is completely different.

 

AD Chevy trucks are way too wide, Most Chevrolet repros for the 1930s, when they existed, had at least one Chevy bowtie on them, and most had a whole bunch of Chevy bowties. Buick Repros have a Fisher Body emblem on them.

 

This, I think, is a 36 Buick 40 series repro in a 36 Pontiac. This is probably the closest thing that existed by far. I couldn't get one. All out of stock both in brown and black. Bob's has been contemplating a run for a while. I am no longer holding my breath. It is worth an ask in case it happened recently. 1935-1936 Pontiacs, 1935-1936 Oldsmobiles, and 1936 Buick 40 series are all almost the same body, so the size and outer shape should be close enough. Unfortunately the floor contours and pedal positions and other holes vary quite a bit.

 

Case in point, as you know the 1936 Pontiac has a bit of a transmission hump, while the 36 Buick 40 has much less of one.

 

 

The 1936 Buick 40 has a floor that is almost completely flat.

 

 

In particular, look at how far to the right the gas pedal mount is. It would be way up on the transmission hump in a Pontiac. It's a miracle that brown mat fits as good as it does since it's made for a floor with almost no hump. Looks nice though, doesn't it?

 

Here is my 36 Pontiac with a cut down unpunched 1937 Buick Roadmaster mat.

 

 

The transmission hump on the 37 Roadmaster mat is just right... at the front. It fits perfect there. But, the Pontiac hump tapers down to nothing and the 37 Buick stays the same. You might have to add a little padding. I did. There are also some bumps at the back you can see sticking up that are for a 37 Buick floor contour I don't have. It's not a big deal. It's all under the front seat where it isn't hugging the floor. There is one spot on the toeboards, just to the right of the top of the gas pedal in the picture, where another little piece of carpet pad would make a more perfect fit.

 

You have to cut off a lot. It loses the entire outer border and edge bead. I believe these are the same mats as the Buick 40 mat for 1937, just unpunched. The new wood-less bodies for Pontiac, Olds and Buick 40 for 1937 are wider than our cars, more like the large series Buicks from 1936. In any event centering is super critical because of where the cut lands. In many of these repros, the transmission hole is not quite where it should be. No word on whether Buick's original mats had this problem. Don't assume the marked spot for the shifter is right. It isn't. Measure and remeasure before cutting.

 

One other thing. Pontiac dimmer switches are in a different spot. This is true even when comparing 1937 Pontiac to 1937 Buick 40. The hole needs to be punched in a spot where it appears not to belong.

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Bloo]

There is lots more I'd like to know about this subject as well, and now I've had time to think on it a little and find some old pictures.....

 

Here is the Pontiac's transmission hump.

 

 

 

A little over 1-5/8". A huge difference from the Buick. I once got a 36 Buick owner to measure it, but cant find the info. It is there, but just barely. I still think the Buick mat might be the best option if you could get one.

 

It occurred to me when I couldn't find a pic of the Pontiac mat to see what the other GM divisions at that time were doing. After all, Fisher Body was probably the source of the mats. The mats are always in the Fisher section of the parts manual.

 

I mentioned before that Chevrolet mats always seem to have a bunch of Chevrolet logos on them. What I didn't mention is that in Chevrolet, I've been told by a reliable source, is that in 1936, Chevrolet Standards (cheaper model) had black mats and Chevrolet Master (more expensive model) had brown floor mats. He didn't say anything about the firewall pads. You have probably noticed that all the Buick ones seem to be reproduced in both black and brown.

 

I suspected something similar in Pontiac, but it probably isn't true. At least by the time my 1937 manual was published there was no color choice. There were no black/gray interiors in 1936 Pontiac, but I believe there was one gray option in 1935 Pontiac. Did they put a brown mat in a gray interior? The 35 mats are the same as 36 in the 37 manual.

 

And that brings us to this 1936 Oldsmobile, an allegedly original car with a gray interior, and the only 1936 Fisher body I have seen with what I believe is an original mat.

 

Some of the seat upholstery might not belong. It's kind of hard to tell.

 

 

Look at this floor.

 

 

A few things of interest here. One glaring thing is the black floormat, and under a brown firewall pad too. It must have been possible at Oldsmobile. I think that plate around the steering column and pedal holes can be ignored, that is an Oldsmobile thing they had been doing for a while. Chistech's 1932 Oldsmobile DCR had a plate about like that and he reproduced one for his restoration. To the best of my knowledge, 1936 Pontiac and Buick used no such plate. Notable that the plate is black and the pattern matches the mat, giving weight to the idea that this mat is original. There is just a hole for the dimmer, no molded lines or anything. I have seen pedal pads like these with the horizontal tread on a 36 Pontiac somewhere, but I don't quite think they belong on one.

 

 

That pic isn't so hot, but if we blow it up....

 

 

What I notice is that the transistion from horizontal to vertical stripes is almost at the door, like that factory 36 Pontiac photo I posted. It's not exactly the same spot, but it's close, and it sure has the same look. By contrast, my cut down mat makes that transistion where the toe board kicks up (bottom of the gas pedal), as does the 36 Buick repro, more or less.

 

Here's that 1936 Pontiac factory photo again..

 

 

A few things really glare at me here. The biggest is the transmission. It is a Chevrolet type. Those were gone by mid-year 1935, and I don't think they ever intended to use those in 1936. This must be a really really early pre-production sample, before they even had any Buick-type transmissions available. Now, what is that gigantic oval hole around the parking brake? Should a boot be there? We won't get any help from Buick or Olds on that point because they no longer had the brake on the floor in 1936. Chevrolet had no boot, and as I recall no gigantic hole. Buick had a boot about that shape though, a few years earlier. 1933 maybe? It is reproduced for a sum that seems absurd, and comes only in brown. If memory serves, there is no boot in the Pontiac parts book, only a "felt". I can see that working fine with a much smaller hole, but probably looking really unfinished here. Pontiac would have done something to stop the draft. They even tacked something over the clutch linkage relief slot in the driver's floorboard. I don't know what it was, but I can see the tack holes in my car. Nobody can even see that. It's buried under the mat.

 

It is interesting to see that piece of carpet along the seat. That is a common Fisher trick. The 2 pieces of binding are sewed together and that is how it is held together once bound. I have seen it in a bunch of postwar Pontiacs, and also in an early 30s one that had full carpeting (front too, and original). In the mid 30s though, I have only see a few cars that had original carpet and none of them had carpet there. None were 1936. 2 of them had rubber there, with a finish or grain that looked like it had been belt-sanded. I think that was a 1934 and a 1937, but am no longer sure. On the others whatever had been there was missing.

 

 

This car in the picture is a Deluxe, as it has brown knobs, and the deluxe sewing pattern in the door panels. I'd say it is a Deluxe Eight like yours because there is no starter pedal. I see the hole in the mat is punched for the speedometer cable but there isn't one.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[pont35cpe]

Bloo, the picture of the `36 front floorboard is mine..

[pont35cpe]

Jermaine/Bloo, i just stumbled across these,   Chevs of the 40s   Might be cut to fit.    https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/shop/search.lasso?vehtype=All&year=All&Catalog=All&search=front+floor+mat&SeachBtn=Search&dept=&cat=&new=&sale=&showcase=&searchtype=FT&method=KeywordSearch

Edited December 10, 2022 by pont35cpe (see edit history)

[Bloo]

That 37-40 "with modification" one might work. I would get them to measure it carefully. In particular, the tunnel cut at the top of the mat in the middle looks way too low. Maybe not. 37 anything GM is wider than our cars by a lot. You'll be cutting a lot off the sides like I did what that unpunched 1937 Roadmaster mat. Speaking of that, when I bought it, Bob's still had one in stock in brown. I imagine it's gone by now but it might be worth an ask. Worth the call anyway to see if any 1936 unpunched mats are in the works.

 

[Bloo]

For anyone following along who doesn't realize it, 1936 Pontiacs have two owners manuals. The "owners handbook" is a fairly abbreviated thing that has a pocket in front containing warranty info for the tires, battery, etc. and a folded up lubrication chart. It has basic owners manual info. The "user's guide" is a longer much more detailed owners manual that also delves into the philosophy of driving. Here is a picture from the "owners handbook".

 

 

There is quite a bit less wrong here than that factory photo I posted earlier with the big open hole around the parking brake, no speedometer cable, a Chevrolet transmission, ignition key cut on a trunk key blank, etc. etc. This mat does look very similar to that one. I am inclined to believe this is what it should look like, at least at the beginning of the year. Note the correct transmission in this picture, and also a boot around the parking brake. What boot though? Here's the factory photo again.

 

 

That oval hole might even work with this Buick boot for the last cars Buick made with the brake in the floor. Available from Steele in brown only, for about $100.

 

 

Maybe that is what they intended? It might even be what we are seeing in the owner's handbook picture. On the other hand, to me it looks like they might have hastily crammed a second shift boot over the parking brake lever for a photo op. That would have taken some real stretching. It is notable that there is no parking brake boot for these Pontiacs in the parts book. As I recall there is something called a "felt". Pontiac were pretty good about plugging up holes. I don't really believe they closed up that giant oval hole with a piece of felt. If it was a tiny hole then maybe.

 

I'd sure like to see an original mat or some remains.

 

On a side note this owner's handbook pic also has horizontal tread on the pedals. Maybe another of Pontiac's mid year changes?

 

[Bloo]

Here are some small bits from a book called "Presenting the 1936 Silver Streak Pontiac Sixes and Eights". I don't think these even began as photographs, but here they are anyway.