The original design had cables attached to the doors that actuated the seats automatically as the door opened, swiveling the seat out as the door swung open and vice versa (I think).
Somebody figured out that it would be impossible to grip the seat with your butt and stay on the seat if the door opened going around the outside of a corner, and the connections were left dis-connected for the sake of safety very early on. Bet it was a big thing to have working on the show cars, though.
My 1960, #26 has these cables under the carpet, but they are not connected, probably weren't ever. All later 1960's that I have seen had no cables, and perhaps they ran out. 1960 saw the very late model year intro of the alternator (advertised as a 1961 item), and it is pretty well documented that they routinely exhausted the parts bin before going to a new part design. Maybe the early ones were left in so the owner or dealer could re-connect them? Maybe nobody told Moe down on the factory floor to drop them till late in the game?
It is my understanding that this auto mechanism was totally deleted, and the seats were just manual for all post 1959 cars for certain. I have not played with the mechanism on mine because I'm not on the seat section of my project yet, but will report as I go. Curious to see what others know, too.
To quote the ad above: "The seats swivel to let you in and out. These are the easiest cars you've ever seen to get in and out of. As you can see in the picture, the seats turn like an office chair, on noiseless nylon bearings. They lock in place while you drive......"
There is a second ad from the same series (not up yet) that shows a young (hottie) mother with an infant in her arm as she reaches down to release the lock lever. "Why didn't somebody think of this before? Swivel seats make these the easiest cars to get in and out of you ever saw - even with your arms full" -Now the photo only shows one arm full and the other hand on the release lever. Does not make sense, but maybe the copy guys hadn't sat in the seats and used them?
Kenyon
ChiPieAlandPaula@xxxxxxx wrote:
Hello All, I was under the impression that the original swivel seats (59 models) where moved by unlatching the seat and physically moving it. The 1960 system became spring loaded. If this is wrong, please let me know. At any rate, by 1961, all of them had some kind of assist. Incidentally, my dad felt the same way about this " useless item." I can still hear him saying that they could be fatal in a serious accident.
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