seat springs

[Gary Bakeslee]

I am presently restoring a 1947 Cadillac convertible.  When I purchased the car, the rear seat springs were missing.  Could someone in the club suggest a way I can idenify the correct springs for this car?  I need both the back and the seat section of the springs.  If suggesting measuring, please attach the correct measurements and the location of where they are taken from.

                                          Thank you     Gary

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Hi Gary: As you probably already know the Buick, Cadillac and Olds convert shared the same C body in 46-47. The Buick convert continued to use the C body on their convertible through through 48. Since any seats for a 42-47 Cadillac convert are difficult to find, I would try to find a Buick convert 46-48 for your seats. Finding a 98 series Olds convert I think is very remote as there were not that many made. I could give you some measurements but that really will not give you the correct measurements for the springs as my measuremets will include the covering as well as the padding. I would recommend that you install your quarter panels around the top cylinders and then make your plywood seat rest backboard. Now you can get a good measurement of the width and height of your back rest spring. Then I would get a large piece of cardboard and cut out a template for the bottom seat cushion spring. That seat cushion makes a semi circle around the top cylinder quarter panels then gets wider and comes foreward along the interior quarter panel. As you see by the attached pictures the bottom seat in front has slope from front to rear as well as top to bottom . I decided to go all leather with my interior. Cadillac did not offer a full leather in their converts until 48 as leather was still scarce after WWII. Hopefully someone out there has some springs for you or has some without coverings to give some accurate measuments. Please email me direct if you have other questions.

[Bill Ingler #7799]

For some reason the second picture did not come through so here is another try.

[Kevin Bielinski #13320]

Send me an email. I've been ding a lot of upholstery work/research and might be able to direct you to a reputable source.