Had the front seats out of my '38 saloon today, to remove the last vestiges of the red shag carpeting that was in it when it came to me. I put in grey cut pile.
After struggling to get out the (4) 5-16"BSFx2 slotted countersunk screws holding each runner to the floor under one seat, I discovered I didn’t have to; the seats come out easily by just sliding them all the way back and lifting up at the rear.
So be sure your passenger doesn’t release the locking lever just at the moment you are rapidly accelerating.
I got all the screws out anyway and cleaned them up. They screw into a tapped plate under the plywood floor.
I didn’t see any evidence of the footrests that I’m supposed to have.
The runners or sliders are made by A.W. Chapman Ltd. of London SW6.
Patents 379902 and 384505 and the word LEVEROLL are stamped on them as well.
The first patent is for a seat slide and was assigned to Arthur William Chapman of Putney in 1932, but the second patent no. might be a mistake because it is about a Siemens-Schuckert electrical switch.
Peter,
I note a few tools in these photos - Jack, Tyre Pump and end of Starting Handle.
Are these the originals from your 1939 Saloon?
Any more - as acquired pics of tools and/or tool tray?
I don’t think those photos are of Peter’s car. He said he didn’t have foot rests.
I do note the black jack and hose and natural finish pump handle.
No screw holes for hinges in my floors, so maybe my car never had them. Maybe they were an option, or came along later in the model year?
Thanks, Peter, very interesting from several aspects.
A. W. Chapman goes back to 1901. I wonder what their first products were; not seat adjusters anyway.
They chose to advertise use in the common Austin rather than some high profile car like Jaguar.
“The Highway Code” covers pedestrians and animals; life was different in those times.
Note the date use in Autocar, month-day-year rather than day-month-year. I have noticed this before, both in British magazines and in British books of the 19th century, so it was not always day-month.
