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Date:         Tue, 11 Jan 2000 06:44:24 -0800
Reply-To:     Steve Arbaugh <sneakers@EMERALD.OZ.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Arbaugh <sneakers@EMERALD.OZ.NET>
Subject:      Re: 5th seat

I still have pics up on my web site with the single seat on the tracks, with detail of the tracks and covers. The covers probably wouldn't be too difficult to make if you had access to sheet metal and something to bend it with. The seat itself is, so far as I can tell, the same as the front seats, including the swivel, and yes, I've only seen them in this brown color. I'm sure a headrest could be installed. As for track length, I've only seen them in '85 westy's, and they all went the width of the floor, stopping just under the front of the fridge. Take a look: http://www.oz.net/~sneakers/Westy1.htm I've heard the two person bench also fits, but don't have one to verify. Might make access to the rear seat more difficult unless it folds or something.

steve '85 westy kent, wa

>> Fifth, the pedestal seat. I've not seen one in person (seen pics), but here >> is what I know (and don't know). It is a forward facing seat, that sits >> like a dunce-chair in the middle of the van. How it sticks to the floor, I >> don't know. Seat belts/head restraints are integral. The base is a large >> box, with a padded top. The box is large enough to accommodate pelts, dried >> rations, beads, or other items for trading on the open frontier. Or you can >> do a little fancy painting with bright colors, and attach a large crank to >> the side of the box, and make the solitary individual seated on this box >> look just like a Jack-in-the-Box. Your kids will love it. The last person >> picked up in your carpool will not. > >I have one of these, although I haven't installed it yet. It's meant to >slide into tracks in the floor, just like the 2-person bench. I don't have >tracks, so I'll probably just attach it to the floor with (removable) >bolts rather than bothering to put tracks in; I'll have an RV place help me, >to make sure it's attached safely. Besides, the Westy manual says that, if >I DID have tracks, I'd have to remove the metal sliding door threshold >(6 or 8 screws, I think) whenever I wanted to slide the seat in or out - >way too much work, in my opinion. (I am spoiled by my Honda Civic station >wagon, which has seats that can be folded and/or removed in a gazillion >useful combinations with hardly any effort at all.) > >The seat is simply a standard Vanagon "front seat", mounted on a standard >Westfalia swivel base, on top of a low metal-framed plastic box about the >same height as the "boxes" the front seats sit on. The seat swivels 360 >degrees and has a belt attached; the belt can only be used with the seat >facing forward. There's no head restraint. Otherwise, the seat is as >comfortable as a front seat. Mine has the older "short" arm rests (whereas >my van has the "long" armrests). > >The box has a door in its front so you can store stuff under the seat; >I think the interior height is about 8 or 10 inches (I don't have it in >front of me to measure). > >The "normal" place to put the seat is right by the sliding door; that way >it doesn't block access to the fridge and cabinets. The bed can be opened >with the seat in place, so you can leave it in all the time if you don't >mind the loss of floor space. > >I think these are only available in beige, on a brown base. I seem to >remember hearing that they were only actually produced for the Vanagon >in 1985 (although they were incorrectly listed in VW literature as an >available option in other years), and that there were no gray-interior >vanagons produced that year. In any case, they're rare. > >My van is has a gray interior, but since I'll only use the seat on those >relatively rare occasions when we need a 5th person in the van, I'll >probably just live with the color difference. If I get really ambitious >some day, maybe I'll replace the seat with a gray one and paint the base >gray. > > -Steven Sittser >


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