Hi all I am looking for info on how the third seat in the 61-63 series Ford station wagon works.. My wagon is a 62 Country Sedan with a 60\40 split rear seat... My parents bought this same type wagon new in 62, but ours was a bench seat... I am taking for granted that with a split rear seat they has to be a third seat arrangement I have seen some pictures of the wagon with a third seat, but not clear enough to see how it operates... So if anyone has this model and has good pictures of the setup, or can give a good detailed description I would be very grateful .. BTW at the Huntington Beach Ca, car show yesterday, I talked with a couple who have the same year and model, with the split rear seat, and they had no idea about a third seat, Best Dave Torrance, Ca
1962 was prior to the introduction of Ford's dual-facing rear seats ('DFRS' - 1965 the first year), so your wagon, if so equipped, would have had a forward-facing third seat, accessible through the flipped-forward small section of the second seat. Here's some brochure pages (in Canadian French, of all things...) showing the third seat and the operation of the second seat.
Yeah,if you could find one,you're set up for one. It's just like a '56 Ford would have. But since 3rd seats were removable,folks would lose them. And if you don't know what it is,the floor panels don't look like anything until you set them up to accept the seat back and the cushion. In other words,you can fold them vertical right now,and see the footwells and a space for the seat cushion.
Hello Well the dilemma is solved, sorta. The Ford "big" wagons as early as 1960 or so had a 3 hinge rear compartment From behind the back seat, you had a hinged section that folded up when the rear seat was in place or when you folded the rear seat or split seat down this section would lay flat for added storage . Now for those that had a third seat, with the first section folded back you could lift the section hinged section and it would or could latch in place The third compartment is the spare tire. Now for the third seat... there is no mention in the 1962 Ford shop manual or the owners manual.but it looks like there was a slip over back rest as can be seen in the photo posted... What is still not visible is the seat bench part... I have a couple of pictures I took, and I'm going to post them... One photo shows the hinge and spring Thanks again for assistance.. Best
In your second and thirds pics you can see the snaps where the seats snapped in place . You couldn't fold things flat without removing the seat cushions , that is why most got lost . There should also be some snaps on that fold up part on the lower backside .
To tell you the truth I had the original cushions, I had a guy make me new ones, but that never solved my problem of how they fit... Now that I know how everything working well almost... I don't understand where you are suppose to store the cushions unless you just lay them in the back, and although I have found how the seat back comes up, I did not see how a bottom or how the bottom cushion fits... It is really funny that the 62 Ford owners manual does not explain any of this... or if it does I did not read it... Think I'll take another look at that PDF right now. Thanks for your input.. best Dave
OK, you learn something every day.. but you tell me what this says, I did find it in the Ford 1962 owners manual (PDF) does not say where the cushions comes from, does not say anything about the seat bench... and there is no good picture provided... unless I'm missing a piece... Wonder why there are (double P's) 9-PASSENGERR SEAT F0LD-D0WN Too convert Ford 9-passenger wagons, rotatee second seat cushion forward and lowerr support legs to rest squarely on floor.. (2) Release safety latches behindd seat back and flip down. (Secondd seat is divided so one-thirdd may be lowered to provide aa "walk-through" to the rear and still leavee two-thirds up for passengers.) Withh second seat down, (3) simply slipp out third seat foam cushions and flipp down seat back. Loadspace providedd totals 93K cu. ft.—over 10 feett to end of open tailgate (overr 8 feet with taillgate closed)!
The Country Squire lifestyle assumes that you have a garage and maybe a chauffeur/footman,one of whom will hang the seat cushion and seatback on a wall in said garage. These items are not intended to be stored inside the car. When I bought my '56 Country Squire in 1970,Erica the owner had the seat parts on a wall in her garage--mint condition! Came with the deal,all for $35.00. The pictures above don't show the important parts--the slots for the seatback at the top of the panel and the sort of oval shaped dimples in the floor to fit the two feet of the seat cushion. Or maybe the '62 is a little different. Anyway,there would be rubber floor mats or carpets in the 3rd seat footwell.
So I can only assume what the layout is.. I'm painting interior trim pieces right now and just finished painting the floor\deck... when I get the trim pieces installed I'll take time to better understand this setup. But I am getting closer... Thanks for your input.. every bit of info helps.. Best Dave
So really there is no bottom metal bench except for the floor of the wagon. It's also cool that that is the same interior my wagon had...color and pattern.. thanks for the posting Best PS: On a side note, about cars or older cars.. This 62 Ford wagon has a front bench seat, which has what I call adjusting bolts for the seat back, only in my case my car has 3 of these and none one the Ford parts vendors show this, they all only show 2. So after months of trying to find or understand this, I just went and bought new J clips which work fine. which brings me to two other interesting car stories. my 74 Dodge dart swinger had a starting trouble, this is many years ago now and I had lent the car to my niece for her to drive to high school. Then the car had problems starting.. Making a long story short, when I finally got the car back to my house, she finally did not have a problem starting, she would not start.. Yes I checked every wire I could Yes I checked safety neutrals switch. the car just sat there. then one day I put my problem on the net, and sure enough on guy told me to check the "seat belt interlock switch" yes for only half of 74 they had this device and it was bad so I disconnected it and the car ran fine.. Oh it was not mentioned in the repair manuals... And one final interesting item. The 74 Dart line had a few different models. and at least 3 different front windshields... I know this because I went to replace the windshield gasket and the one I ordered was too small for the opening. I contacted a glass installer and he told me about the window sizes... Just thought you'd like to hear some of the interesting stories that I've had I'm sure the rest of you have yours
The early '60s 3rd seat setup is a bit different from my old '56 Ford. Oh well,nice to see how they did it.
