MTFCA Forum

I would like to add a panel under the seat of my 22 runabout pickup. This car appears to have been rebuilt by someone made some things up as the went along. The body framing under the seat looks odd to me. I want to make a pan we to go under the seat to give some support to the seat springs but I want to know what the framing should look like before I start. Here are a couple pictures of what I have. Can anyone compare this to the proper seat framing for 22 runabout?

It looks a lot like this '24 framework. http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50 ... 1426363229
Early cars had a wooden cover like this. Yours would have been sheet metal with similar hinges. I thought these were used in '22 too.

I have not seen an original one as it came from the factory. Yours looks much like mine. That little pocket near the passenger seat is where I keep a gas stick and a duster to get the dust off the top of the tank around the filler before I put in gas. I am thinking of putting a piece of thin plywood under the seat to keep the springs from sagging in the middle. There might have been a metal piece there, but my car does not have one.
Norm

I have a 21 Touring and there is no wood around the front seat frame like yours has. The front cushion is a snug fit and is held up by the sheet metal framework surrounding the front seat area. The outside of the seat cushion is supported all the way around. I bought a sheet metal hinged repo gas tank cover and that helps hold up the middle a little but as a support it’s not really necessary. Hope this helps. I’m thinking the 21 and 22 made be made pretty much alike? Used a body wood kit for my 21 and there was no wood pieces like that in the kit.

But we have to remember also the low cowl era had up to 5 body makers so maybe some were made a little different. But like you you said the wood doesn’t look quite right.

This is the wood kit I used several years ago.

Here we go. http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/217340.html

Mine looks a lot like the photos folks have posted, some extra blocking appears to have been added. The wood is old, but the screws used to hold in the extra blocking are Phillips heads. I would like to have a gas tank cover to support the seat and kind of close things up a bit. I would love to have one of the little metal “pockets,” but the extra blocking is in the way.

Richard Eagle has posted a picture which looks like my low-cowl '23...exactly. If you notice, his is raked back/down more than yours. That period runabout had the seat springs bouncing off of the top of the tank and it looks like your guy added an inch or so height at the back so as to have the springs fully clear the tank. I raised the rear of my seat just a tad to clear the tank too:

I think I will order a reproduction metal cover. Not that expensive and it should fit better than the wood one.