A rumour circulated among car enthusiasts that a 1957 Ford Thunderbird featured a stock rumble seat. Like any good barn-find story, this information was intriguing enough to prompt a little research.
Here is what I found. According to Hagerty, there was an aftermarket add-on rumble seat with a factory-installed conversion. The custom kit turned your trunk into a seating area for a couple of hair blowing in the wind, thrill-seekers. The kit featured a fiberglass insert, a padded bench seat, and, unusual for its day, seatbelts.
However, according to some automotive authors, the seat was designed for children or small adults. But here is thinken — if you greased up a couple of full-size adults and slid them in where the trunk used to be, “that would work”. That addition just made this popular 2-seater roadster into a 4-seater passenger vehicle. 😛
Now that I’ve given you a taste of what to expect, we will start my story off with a question. Does any classic car enthusiast even remember the term rumble seat? “
The featured photos should bring back a few memories of the fun years where anything worked. However, I myself found a rumble seat was kinda unique in its own right.”
But for you skeptics, here is a web definition.
- Wikipedia explained it this way. A rumble seat in the UK is called a dicky seat. Also referred to as a mother-in-law seat. It is an upholstered exterior front-facing seat that, when folded into the rear of a coach, carriage, or early motorcar. Depending on its configuration, it provided exposed seating for one or two passengers. Originally, the term “rumble seat” came from the era of horse-drawn carriages.
As roomers put it, “they were used by servants or, some say, your favourite mother-in-law.”
Now looping back to the automotive application:
Before becoming a standard addition to some of the early automobiles, the term “rumble seat” took on new meaning.
Riders sitting in the rear would smell exhaust fumes and the harsh, loud rumble of the simple, noisy engine, thus naming it, “the rumble seat.”
Did I mention the UK called them “dicky seat.”
The rumble seat became popular in the American automobile scene in-and-around the 1920s. These dangerous open-air seats provided overflow passenger capacity for two-door coupes and roadsters. As mentioned, they were quite common back in the day. And when the extra seat is not being used, the seat can be folded shut, and the space converts into a standard trunk for your luggage.
But alas, all things change over time and placing passengers at the very back of the car, completely exposed to the elements, “the fad and popularity eventually faded.”
With the help of a sleeker, fully enclosed 4-seater sedan, it became the norm; the two-seater and the additional rumble seat were no more.
When the new cars no longer offered true factory rumble seats. (around 1948–1951) You could still custom-replicate an add-on from aftermarket, coach builders if you so desired.
Funny enough, the rumble seat was simply called The BirdNest — after the manufacturer.
This unique “Bird Nest” add-on replaced the trunk with a functional, steel (some say fibreglass) rumble seat that sat two, and a custom lid for when not in use by passengers, closed, ‘looking like the original trunk lid.’
Because the conversion required permanent modification, the 1957 Ford Thunderbird equipped with a “BirdNest” rumble seat are extremely rare today. Adding, there were only 120–150 conversion kits ever ordered and installed in that year. For collectors, these original “Bird’s Nest Thunderbirds” are a rare find today and in most cases, you have to dig real-deep into your pocket.
- Extra Note: With the introduction of the 4-seater 1958 Thunderbird, the factory-installed rumble seat from that year became an instant, overnight collector item.
*** Did I mention that a 1957 Ford Thunderbird with the factory add-on rumble seat is a rare find? Did you also know you can find these classic cars for sale at Canada’s own – Old Auto Newspaper?
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“Written by Dave Wettlaufer. A once truck driver, a heavy equipment, truck, coach and everything in-between mechanic. Now turned, opinionated Blogger.
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