Interior Restoration
Jump-seat Assembly
Once the jump-seat was fully disassembled it could be restored and begin the assembly process. The wood panels that formed the seat and vertical support were glued back into solid planks while the metal supports were glass beaded to remove the old paint, primed, and painted in gloss black Imron. The slide mechanism for the seat back was disassembled, cleaned, and lubricated so that each slide moved freely.
Once all the individual pieces of both jump-seats were restored the seat was reassembled as shown in the above photograph. Once of the results of the restoration was that each seat "shrunk" by about 3/16" in width. The wooden planks had dried out over the years and gotten smaller. As a result neither seat fit the support plank that holds them in place in the car. As the support plank was in bad condition and a new plank was planed, the shrinkage would not be an issue.
Both the seat back and the seat bottom were covered with industrial felt held in place with heavy duck cloth. A change in the manner that the seat back assembly was covered was planned. Originally the piece of leather covering the back of the seat back was tacked to the edge of the back and then a narrow trim strip was tacked in place to cover the leather's edge. A suitable replacement for the trim strip could not be found at any of the restoration suppliers so the seat front leather was wrapped around to the back side of the seat. A Masonite panel was cut to the contour of the seat back as shown at the lower right of the photograph above. This panel would then be covered with leather and held in place with some decorative, half-spherical, black, upholstery tacks.
The photograph above shows the modification made to the jump-seat back. The modification makes for a cleaner appearance. The seat back now slides which it did not do when the restoration started. The seat back will move about 4" away from the seat bottom to provide better back support.
This side view of the jump seats shows the left seat in position with the seat back extended. The right seat in the foreground is stowed into a recess in the floorboards. Both seats have had carpet applied as was originally done by Shields Carriage Company. A flap is provided in the floor carpet that lays flat when the jump seats are stowed but will fold back to allow the jump seats to be used. The recess the jump seats stow into is also carpeted. |