2nd Gen front seat concept

I love the look of my 2nd gen, but deep down I'm jealous of the 3rd gen "captains" chairs that rotate to face the rear.  I was thinking about how I could achieve this on my 2nd gen when i remembered something when I rode the METRA in chicago; the seats flipped to favor the direction you would like to face.  I thought this was pretty cool, and have been thinking of ways to adapt this design into my van.  What are your thoughts?  

Quick sketch off the top of my head

I think that's a cool idea! As long as you can make something that will "lock" into position and insure that it won't accidentally release while the vehicle is in motion, it seems like it could work. Are you thinking of just using the idea on a regular single seat or the bench seat like in the picture? Either way, I like where you're going with this idea! I guess safety would be my main area of concern...build it strong and build it safe...nothing to lose by giving it a go. I Like It!!!

I agree, cool idea.

Thanks Gents. Right now Im looking at doing just the front seats. The locking mechanism would probably two spring loaded pins on each side of the seat. Currently just brainstorming but if I decide to move forward with this I'll try to keep anyone interested posted.

like the idea but see a couple issues. the seat base is level where ours have I little slant to the back and the back seems slanted too much for comfortable driving. maybe something similar but improved?

Volkswagen Bus's had a camper version called a "flip seat", the front seat would flip all way over and it had 2 arms that would lock in to face the rear. It also would stay flat at the top to support storing luggage or ?

Thanks for posting Russell!

Nice find Russell. It looks like the VW seat not only flips from front to rear but also rotates the back rest so that only on side of the back rest is padded. Very interesting

Jrinaman, I agree. The design would definitely need to be improved. Already have a better idea now that I saw russell's post. Thanks guys!

67VanHelsing wrote:
Jrinaman, I agree.  The design would definitely need to be improved.  Already have a better idea now that I saw russell's post.  Thanks guys!

seems v.w. addressed those issues long ago! kinda what I was thinking on the base, had ideas on the back but theirs is better.

Thought about this a bit more and played with moving the passenger seat around in different positions without the seat brackets.  It looked to me that the seat could easily be mounted on a hinge and flipped forward and back.  I checked the clearances and it seems like the hinge option would work.  The back rest would sit on the dog house for support on one side, and some sort of bracket on the other side.  Of course, I would have to make sure that it's secure enough so that i don't go flying our of the car.  

Take a look at the A100s. The pin setup might allow for a flip back.