I dated a guy who had an older car whose front bench seat folded down and made a big bed with the back seat, does anyone know of any models like that?
The large Nashes, circa early '50s, had this feature.
How old was the “older car” in your case?
If it was a car from the early '50s, and if it looked like an overturned bathtub, then it was a Nash.
The Nash Ambassador and the Statesman had reclining seats. In the straight-laced 50s they were the butt of many jokes. Tom McCahill described the seatbacks as going from “semi-stargaze to full sandman position”.
The partial reclining feature was great on long trips. My brother in law had such a car and on long trips the passenger could snooze.
My father’s American Motors did that. I spend many nights in that car while traveling or camping. I believe it was the “American” ~1965 model and it had a 6 cylinder L head.
That makes sense. If Nash had it, then early AMCs should have, too.
thank you I believe it was a Nash
Nash automobiles back as far as 1949 offered this feature. There were magazine advertisements showing a family sleeping in the Nash. When Nash merged with Hudson in 1954 to form American Motors, the American Motors cars offered this feature. I can remember going with my parents in 1951 to look at a new Nash Statesman. This car had the famous seats that made a bed. I purchased a Rambler Classic in 1965 that had this feature. I think American Motors offered this feature in the Ambassador and Matador in the last of these models that were produced in the 1970’s.
Actually it was the Ambassador V-8 by Rambler
Yes, I used to own a 62 Rambler with such a feature during college. It was so popular with my brothers, I got to use one’s Triumph and the other’s Corvair Spyder any time I wanted. I was playing college football and had little time for extra curricular activities…and they had more ambitious use for my car.
Other than the weak motor, it was an solid car overall…the checker cab like design was practical and comfortable and great trade bait.
There is one epsisode of MAS*H (the series about the mobile medical surgical hospital during the Korean conflict) where the head nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan is being investigated for a possible communist affiliation by a congressional aid. Margaret had dated a person named Wally Krighton when she was in college, and Wally Krighton was alleged to be a communist. The congressional aid asked Margaret “Didn’t you frequently go to a motel with Mr. Krighton?” “No”, Margaret replied. “Wally had a Nash”. I’ve often wondered how many viewers understood this joke.
For a look at how Nash advertised this feature on their 1953 “Airliner” sedans, take a look at:
The seats probably functioned in much the same way on later Rambler vehicles.
Nash/AMC, like Studebaker, was chronically short of funds, and as a result there was a huge amount of carryover from one era to another.
It is strange that you would remember the seats but you can’t remember the kind of car it was!!! I wish I had owned one!!
I remember that I could also get window screens that fit in the windows for the Rambler I owned with bed seats. These were available from the factory by sending in a coupon from the owner’s manual plus a few dollars. Years after the Rambler was gone, we were camping out in New Mexico in a tent. A sudden storm came up. We headed for the car we owned–an Oldsmobile with bucket seats. My wife crawled into the back seat and went to sleep. My son and I had to try to sleep in the bucket seats. The Rambler with the bed seats would have been very handy.
Since they don’t print the make and model on the headliner, I don’t think it’s so strange! 