VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Anyone have experience converting back to a trunk?

My car is a 1933 Master 5 Window Coupe. I am wondering how hard it would be to convert it back to a trunk instead of a rumble seat. When I bought this car it had been converted to a rumble seat sometime in the past. I think whoever did the conversion did a beautiful job. But if it wouldn't be too much work and needed experience I would rather have the trunk. Does anyone know the procedure for this. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
If I don't believe I could do a first rate job on my own I will leave it as a rumble seat.
Thanks,
Dennis

Its been discussed here before about the conversion.

I was informed that you cannot just take a rumble seat lid and flip it around. ????

Well only way to find out , is to remove the lid and flip it end for end. 2 people , 2 sets of hands and be careful.

If the curvature over the trunk lid matches the quarter panels your in business ???????????

Changing the lock assembly back to original location is step 2

Mounting the original trunk lid hinges back to original location or if missing find new ones.

Also the side of trunk holding open mechanism .

Please post if it works , the flipping around

mike lynch

The only real difference with a rumble seat and a trunk is the way it opens. The seat springs should remove quite easily.

Not according to a series of posts by others in the 29--32 section in the last 2 years span. Think it was about a 32 5 window coupe and owner wanting to convert from , too.

mike

I wasn't thinking of conversion, just the usable space by removing the seat. you put the suitcases in over the lid instead of under it. Your right, conversion would take a bit of doing.

My 35 Chevrolet roadster comes factory stock with a rumble seat , I have converted it from rumble seat to a trunk.

A true trunk is much more convenient to use to place things into , than a rumble seat, which requires lifting items over the quarter panel with the possibility of scratching the panel paint. Trunk is straight in.

For that same reason having somebody step on the rear bumper step and up onto the rubber pad on the fender then throwing their leg over the quarter panel and onto beautiful Scottish leather seat, I DON"T THINK SO .

Yes , taking the back and seat cushions out makes it a pseudo trunk .

mike lynch

Thanks everyone. I do appreciate the input. I'll think about it and study it a little. If I get into it I will surely take pictures as I go along and post them on the forum.

Dennis

33 and 34 are the same lid , there is no difference . the same lid is used as a trunk or rumble lid.
there are trunk lid hinges , tough to find. the handle is different but either one will work .

When I first bought my '35 Std Coupe, the previous owner had reversed the deck lid, and it fit OK. I would have loved a rumble seat then, since my kids were
still small enough to get into it! It was simple to reverse the hinges so the lid opened like a rumble seat, but, in my search about how to do it correctly, I found
out that with a rumble seat, not only are the hinges different, but you would have to either remove or severely modify the bottom drip gutter on the body, because
when the lid opens, it folds in nicely under the rear body panel and to do so, you must remove the 'drip gutter'. Further research told me me that no Standard
Coupe had a 'rumble' seat and modifying it would destroy the correctness of the vehicle! The only Standards that had a 'rumble seat' were the Roadsters!
As an afterthought, I am happy now that I didn't do it! I strongly feel that the car should remain strictly stock. just as it left the factory!
Yes, I did make a couple of deviations form stock, but I kept all the parts and car can be brought back to 'original' in less than half an hour! I replaced the
original tail and stop lamp bulbs with LED's for better visibility at night, and I replaced the generator with an alternator for better lighting and easier restarting
on a 'hot' engine! I needed the alternator to carry the extra load of the sealed beam driving lights I installed for night driving! Phil Lipton

PHIL, actually one of the 33 standard series CC coupes had a rumble seat .

Your right about the lid, there is a drain channel on it that when closed the water running into it like an eves trough funneling the water to the sides where there was a couple of 1" holes in either corner. Problem with that design is that the water ended up all over the floor causing the metal floor to rot out prematurely.

Also a rumble seat the drip rails on the trunk/rumble opening sides , 1/3 of them are removed on the lower also funneling water all over the floor. What the rumble lid pivots on is a tri angle shaped bracket, 2 of them, available repo from I & I or filling station.

Also a rumble seat car would need a roll down rear window installed, so driver can hear the passengers screaming ???????????

mike lynch

Thanks, Mike! When I was considering making a 'rumble seat' I didn't know that I&I was making them or that the Filling Station had them; maybe they didn't
have them then; it was over 40 years ago when I was thinking about it! One of my Club members had a Master Coupe with a rumble seat and he let me
examine and measure it to my hearts' content! In retrospect, I am glad I didn't do it now; it would have destroyed the originality big time! Flip

No problem Phil, no idea why people have this infatuation with a rumble seat and riding in one. The glazed over look in their eyes when they ask if my coupe has a rumble seat, and the total disappointment when I tell them I do not.

Coupe it was not available, the roadster where its stock , is being turned into a trunk.

mike lynch ---- no rumbles here.