Origins of upholstery style?

[5 WoodenWheels]

An admirer of my car recently told me he felt that the seats looked like they belonged in a "lounge," to use his word. My '23 Touring certainly has seats that bear no resemblance to anything in a modern car and I was wondering if they were perhaps modeled on upholstery you'd see in some of the nicer carriages that came before? Or maybe even a lounge, as the admirer suggested? Maybe I don't get out enough, but I haven't been in any lounges with seats like that. come to think of it.

[TXGOAT2]

A lot of early car advertising mentions "Lounge seating", "Salon interior trim", etc.

[John kuehn]

T era upholstery style is typical of the Victorian era and after in the turn of the century. Nothing new here but following the style of the times. Early Brass T’s resemble the term “horseless carriage” and royalty in Europe used really ornate designs in their carriages interiors and exterior.

It began to change in the late 20’s and onward.

[5 WoodenWheels]

Yes, Victorian era sounds right. Glad the cars were small so they couldn’t load them up with more accents from that time. Not a fan of Victorian deco.

[DanTreace]

The early T's did feature cushion styles of the day, mostly leather, diamond pleat, stuffed with curled hair.

19909 1910 runabout .jpg (70.46 KiB) Viewed 1188 times

And tastes changed, and Ford's volume made change also in material, and trim style. The animal hair went away, replaced with cotton flax padding, and no leather but artificial 'Ford Cloth' in pleats with buttons. Of course the last T's in '27 deleted the buttons for plain vertical pleats, each stuffed with a smaller amount of cotton flax, comfort came from the metal springs instead of the curled animal hair. If you could call the T seats comfortable [/b]

In 1921, styles of cushions, the Ford style at the top is noted as the least expensive, the fancy ones below really look well padded!

click on image for best view

[5 WoodenWheels]

The early T's did feature cushion styles of the day, mostly leather, diamond pleat, stuffed with curled hair.


19909 1910 runabout .jpgScan0718 (2).jpg

And tastes changed, and Ford's volume made change also in material, and trim style. The animal hair went away, replaced with cotton flax padding, and no leather but artificial 'Ford Cloth' in pleats with buttons. Of course the last T's in '27 deleted the buttons for plain vertical pleats, each stuffed with a smaller amount of cotton flax, comfort came from the metal springs instead of the curled animal hair. If you could call the T seats comfortable


032-Body_Front_Seat.jpg

In 1921, styles of cushions, the Ford style at the top is noted as the least expensive, the fancy ones below really look well padded!

click on image for best view
types of cushions 1921.jpg

That’s interesting. The 1921 publication looks to be from Ford but must be an aftermarket parts supplier. I say this because Ford probably wouldn’t disparage their own seats by advising buyers only to use them if they intend to sell the car!

[Humblej]

The Ford Owner and Dealer was not a Ford publication.

Early cars were styled copying their predecessors the carriage including the tops, upholstery, fenders, body styles, as well as methods and materials. Even the names were from carriages: phaeton, runabout, broughm, landau, sedan, cabriolet, coupe, etc.

carriage.jpg (102.22 KiB) Viewed 1104 times