Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 00:35:49 -0700
Reply-To: Bruce Ralphs <bar@ISLANDNET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bruce Ralphs <bar@ISLANDNET.COM>
Subject: Re: Vanagon Middle Seats
In-Reply-To: <23.301f4ce9.2c066860@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
I grabbed a solid two-person seat from a donor van of 86-88 vintage.
This seat had the arm rests of either side and the fold-down one in the
middle. My 85 Westy had the rails so I just slid it in. I was really
tight so I cut off the arm against the fridge and it works well. You
have to be really skinny to get in the back as these do not fold down
but my kidlets are skinny enough. Just an idea for you...it can face
forward or backward.
I looked for years for that middle seat and only found really ratty
vinyl ones as previously stated by Ben. I finally opted for the velour
one even though it is blue and my van is brown and the pattern is the
grid instead of the weive. It's comfy, has worn well and was cheap.
Cheers, bruce
'85 Westy
'02 Snap Beetle
Victoria, BC, Canada, truly a Westy ;-)
On Wednesday, May 28, 2003, at 12:30 PM, Ben T wrote:
> In a message dated 5/28/2003 12:22:41 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> dlu@CANISHE.COM writes:
>
>>
>> We're sadly thinking that our '83 Vanagon has reached the end of its
>> useful life, and we're looking for a "new" one. Trouble is we really
>> like the forward facing middle seats, but they're not so common in the
>> later years.
>>
>> Does anybody know how hard it is to add them to a Carat or Wolfsburg
>> with the rear facing middle seats? I know we'd block the table from
>> opening, and that's OK.
>>
>> Also, I've seen two Vanagons with a three across middle seat. It
>> looks like the passenger side seat hinges forward to allow access to
>> the back seats. Was this an option? Any idea what years?
>
> Doug,
>
> Adding the 2-person middle bench can be done by installing tracks in
> the
> floor from the a donor van. The holes are predrilled and threaded
> under your
> carpets. I'm going backwards (no pun intended) from what you are
> doing. I am
> putting the rear facing Carat seats in my 7-passenger van.
>
> As for the 3-person middle bench, they were a pretty rare option in
> North
> American vans. They are used in 9-passenger vans and are usually
> upholstered in
> the early vinyl. It is possible to modify a rear bench for use in this
> position
> as long as it is not the type that folds into a bed.
>
> BenT
> <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/bentbtstr8/myhomepage/">Vanagon
> Cafe</A>
>
>
>
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