Hi,
When my daughter was born four years ago I got the rear seat from a GT and
had it recovered to match the front seats in my '73 B (which I had
reupholstered earlier). They really did a great job and contoured he top of
the back to match the radius of the body (the GT seat back top is straight).
Looks great! With the top up, there is plenty of room back there and I
installed a seat belt too. The next phase of the project will be swapping for
an earlier "tinker toy" top frame so that I will also have room back there
when the top is down.
The "rub" to the idea is protection for my daughter in the event of an
accident. If she is belted in her childs car seat and it is belted to the
car, she has back and neck support in the event we were rear ended. Beyond
that, the GT seat is rather dangerous compaired to the regular front
passenger seat. When she out grows her car seat, all back and neck support
will be gone. If the car rolled, a person in this back seat would be the most
vunerable of all.
A friend told me a story of her dad having a B when she was a small kid. On
an outing with her parents, her folks noticed everyone honking horns and
waving... more than usual, as they drove down the highway. Her mom turned
around to see that she had climbed out of the rear shelf area and was sitting
on the luggage rack (on the boot) waving at people. Scared the hell out of
her folks who sold the car that year. Frankly, the story scared the hell out
of me too.
The bottom line is that I have hardly used the rear seat because of safety
concerns. When Rachel rides in the MG, she is belted in her car seat, which
is belted to the front passenger seat.
R. Johnson - Dallas
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