My 1929 Plymouth Model U

Above are pictures of what I found when I removed the rear seat covering.  Looks like original black leather.  The spring bed is composed of 6" high springs in the front with the middle and rear 5 inches in height.   What's left of the buttons circled in red were used to pull down the front of the cushion and create the height difference form the front to the middle/rear.   I found this very interesting and a clear view into my car's past.  The original rear seat had 12 pleats.

As you can see in the pictures above the wood framing needs to be replaced and the spring bed needs much repair.  Rather than piece together a wood frame I decided to cut a new base from a single piece of 3/4 inch plywood.

I used the old frame as a template to cut out the correct shape for the rear bottom seat.  I then needed to fit the base to the rear metal pan.  I had to cut out areas where the floor pan pressed up against the spring bed.  I like the way this came out because the added base material will provide additional support to the old spring bed. 

I ordered a half a dozen 5" springs a long with spring and mounting clips.  While I wait for these parts I decided to work on the back cushion of the rear passenger seat. 

This seat back was in much better condition than the seat bottom.  The spring bed was fine but the framing was in very poor condition. I replaced the deteriorated wood and added two additional support pieces.  Since the spring bed was in good shape I didn't remove the seat covering so like the seat bottom shown previously, the original seat material lies under the blue upholstery. If the old seats don't hold up they can always be reupholstered.  For now it is a time capsule from another era.

I stapled the seat covering onto the frame and the wife cleaned and conditioned the seat material.  Still waiting for the new springs and clips so I decided to finish off the rear passenger door.

As described in a previous section, the door covering took a great deal of time.  The first step was the upper door board and material surrounding the window Next the door bottom area from the window bottom molding to floor. There is at minimum one spring behind the window crank pushing the door board into the door handle backing plates. Of course installing the window frame. I found that with a good spring behind the window crank putting one behind the door release handle wasn't always necessary.  The interior is looking great and I can't wait to finish these rear seats.

I received the 5" springs.  The height is correct but the diameter of the springs was anywhere from 4.25  to 4.5 inches in width.  I need 3.750" to fit the frame railings. 

This problem was easily resolved by locking the spring wire in my bench vise and tapping the tie knot until the diameter measured three and three quarter inches. 

I installed a half a dozen springs to replace one broken spring and five badly worn springs.   This resulted in three middle springs on either side of the seat.   Once this was done I reinforced the edge wires with 1/8 steel rods which squared the wire frame back into its original shape.   I attached the spring cage to the previously made bottom base.  Retied the springs and installed a one inch thick extra high density foam layer prior to reinstalling the old seat cover.   The picture below is the result of this work.

The seat back is sitting a little high because I haven't permanently installed it but rather just placed the seats into the car to see how they look and feel.  The new springs in the seat bottom along with the high density foam pad made for a very comfortable rear seat.   I'm very happy with how this all turned out.