The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 54 with split seat

My friend asked me to look at a truck he is wanting to buy and I have some questions. It is a 54 3600 longbed that was ordered by a wrecker company.It has a factory radio,heater,five window cab,power takeoff? and a nice split seat.Is the seat a rare option on a truck like this,I have never seen one before , but most of mine were half tons.The guy wants $1200.00 for the truck and it is in fair shape.

It actually has a bracket welded to the back wall [top of seat]that was spotwelded at the factory.The seat is a 60/40 but I did not look at it close enough to see if they tilted forward.

If you would have had the ULTRA RARE pickup "Unison" seats for sale 3 months ago and in excellent condition, I would have eagerly paid $600 for them. I bought 3 nearly complete sets to get most of the parts I needed, and then had to do some horsetrading to get a complete decent set to restore. I'm emailing you some pictures of Unison seats; let us know if they what you have.

He should jump on that truck for $1200 and slap himself on the back for scoring an excellent deal.

Anyone else reading this post that gives a hoot; I have a large variety of unison seat parts that I have no use for.

Those seats are one of the rarer AD options/accessories. If they (and the rest of the truck) are in decent shape, it's a steal.

Hey 50gmc253 I had to go back in and change my email address. Please try the pics again when you have time. The truck is pretty nice , some surface rust,rear fenders are pretty nice one is cracked ,needs a cab corner ,drivers door glass etc.. the rest is pretty smooth . The chrome grille is perfect besides the center piece having a dent ,which is pretty comman.The truck was running a couple years ago but was parked since the owner has gotten where he can't drive it around his place.I bet this is the seat because it was sent from the factory with it. I just don't find many deals like this.My buddy is going to buy it hopefully.

Check your inbox again.

truckrodder,

Any chance you can post photos? Anyone else with a '54 60/40 (non-Suburban) seat, any chance you can post photos?

A 60/40 seat seems to be a "rare" '54 Chevrolet Truck option. Does anyone know the RPO number?

The "Ride Control" (Unison Seat) is RPO 264 and it appears to be a single person seat. It was supposedly available in all cabs (but I doubt that two Ride Control seats could fit in a Suburban cab)

The "Auxiliary Seat" is RPO option 263 and it appears to be a 1 person seat (and it was only available on the Panel Truck and maybe on the Canopy Express).

The standard/only Suburban front seat is a 60/40 seat (more like a 70/30 seat). It only works in the Suburban cab - the floorboard under the Suburban seats is distinctly different from other cabs (including Canopy & Panel).

It is possible that a Suburban right-passenger front seat ("jump seat") could be adapted to work in other cabs (the other Suburban "60" seat could easily be adapted to fit into other cabs).

Greg_H knows about Ride Control seats - did they only come in pairs?

Tim

We did not get any pics of the seats or truck. 50gmc253 sent me pics and they look like the seats.The drivers seat had a curve to the back and the bottoms matched up but split . I believe the passenger side had a bracket that attached to the back of the cab.To me the drivers side looked like something that went in a larger truck with a short bench seat attached. It did come in the truck and the old man told me the guy he bought it from ordered it like that.Are the radios as rare in these trucks?It looked to be in good shape.Thanks guys if my buddy does not buy it I may myself , especially having the options it does.

The same radio is used in all '54/'55-1st Chevy trucks.

Used, not working, it seems to fetch $200+

Used, working, it might fetch around $400

For those of you who find this hard to believe, a few years ago, a NOS '54 Chevrolet Truck radio sold on eBay for $1,200

The Unison seats will definitely bring good money. They could be found in anything except deluxe cabs due to color. I got a set but plan to do them in my interior color anyway. Mostly found in COE trucks as they were standard then? They do not lean forwrd. The driver's seat is kind of a stand alone with pivots on the back and a vent on the bottom and the passenger side is a shortened version of the standard seat that has hooks on back of cab that seat back hooks to and the bottom lifts in similar to standard seat. Will try and send pics later.

greg h that is the seats you have described.I am supposed to go back up and look at the old truck one more time soon. It is not up for sale publicly ,this is a friends of his families so we have some time.

I personally think you would be stealing it at 1200. As Tim eluded to. I think you could part out a few items and have a free truck for all practical purposes.

Thanks guys , looks like I need to scrounge up the cash and head that way. If we do get it we will take pics.

Tim -

I have dozens of pics of Unison seats and parts but I don't know how to post them. You could have went to a GM repair parts counter and bought the driver seat only to put in a truck but the seat riser on the passenger side would be kind of funky looking with nothing else there. I'm sure they only came in pairs.

You could certainly modify suburban seats to fit a pickup but they are a totally different animal than the Unisons.

- Mike

Mike is the reigning king of unison seats. He helped me put together a starting point for the set I am working on. He has pics!

I added a photo album with some Unison pics in my webshots photos http://community.webshots.com/user/greg_h

Greg,

Thanks. This diagram of both seats and this photo of Spanky\'s seat . Are especially informative.

Is Spanky's passenger seat on a base/platform like the one in the diagram?

When a truck had the Unison (Ride Control) seat option from the factory, did it always come with the 60/40 (70/30) combination?

Thanks,
Tim

The seats actually sit on the same base with different brackets and the holes are already in the cab to mount the seat back retaining brackets for the pass seat. There is an arm in the pic of spanky's seat holding the back up that threw me off but he told me it was only to pose the seats for the pics. As far as the ride control question, I don't have an answer for you. I will study the sales data book some more. I did see where the seats were available not on deluxe cab I assume due to the color being available in standard color only. Mine had 2 tone blue interior. I plan to refinish seats in a matching blue when I install them.

Ok Tim, in the sales data book, section 8 page 8 RPO 264 Ride control, It shows the seat and states "The companion seat is of conventional construction. New brown trim." Series 4000-6000 Ride control seat with deluxe trim RPO 264A Series 3000-4000-6000 Standard cab only RPO 264B Series 5000 Standard cab only RPO 264C and Series 5000 Ride control seat with DeLuxe trim RPO 264D. So as I read it, in a half ton (3100) it would be 264B and only on a standard cab? You have a better understanding of factory documentation than I do. Does it look the same way to you?

The diagram seals the deal, the seats in the truck are unison. Thanks for all the explanations , I learn something new about these trucks everyday.