Singer Roadster Rear Seat Back fixture

[ibmmohan]

I had been trying to figure out how the Roadster Rear Seat Back Rest is kept in place. From some old photos which I saved from the internet I could see that at the bottom there are two long hinges so that the seat back can swivel forward when the side screens are stored behind it (photo attached).

Is there any bracket or fixture to secure the top of the seat back to the body? I have seen that MG TC has a swivel bracket, does Singer have something like that.

Thank you.

[Grantbradley]

Here are a couple pics of my 4AD.
Hope it helps.
There are no upper supports.

[bitsobrits]

On my 1954 car there appears to be never have been a latch. The cover boot for the folded top is attached to the top of the seatback, and when the boot is fastened around its perimeter on the body the seat is 'retained'. Not sure is this is stock or not, but my car appears to have been very standard when I received it.

[ibmmohan]

Thanks, Steve.
As you have rightly pointed out, the "eyelets" in the flap attached to the top of the rear seat back mates with the "lift-the-dot' studs fitted on the body (just above the luggage boot opening) when the canvas top is folded down. So the original design is possibly as follows: When the top is up, the seat back is using its own weight and probably the friction between the sides of the seat back and the car to remain in place. I remember reading in the Owners Handbook that the rear seat back will tilt forward a little when the side screens are stacked behind it. This is made possible by the hinges at the bottom which can be seen in my photo.

Thanks, Grant for the photos.
I was referring to the rear seat. Possibly what caused the confusion is my reference to the MG TC seat back rests and MG TCs only have the front seats!

[Phillip]

The rear seat pivots on two hinges at the bottom and rests in the upright position against two L shaped pieces of angle iron at each side, which are bolted to the inner rear wing panels. A tonneau cover is attached to the top edge of the rear seat and this covers the space where the hood frame goes between the seat back and the edge of the body. The outer edge of the tonneau has a row of Lift-The-Dot fasteners along it which clip to double-length L-T-D pegs screwed into the thin strip of bodywork above the boot lid. This tonneau also hold the rear seat in place.

The Roadster handbook should show the procedure for putting up the top and this should give you a clear idea of what the tonneau looks like.

Hope that helps!

[ibmmohan]

Thanks, Phillip. And sorry for the late reply as I was in the process of travelling to UK.

I understood how the seat back is fixed when the top is folded down. Now it is clear that there is no mechanism for fastening the seat back when the top is up. It just rests in the upright position against the two L shaped pieces of angle iron without any clamping or fixing mechanism.

[Phillip]

Hi Mohan,

No worries. A pleasure to help out.

[mikeyr]

no, when the top is up, the tonneau that holds the rear seat in, is still attached to the lift-the-dot studs on the body above the trunk lid. They are double length studs so you can have the part that holds the seat AND the top attached at the same time.

[Peter McKercher]

Mike
Does that mean you have to undo the top in order to put away the side curtains?

[Phillip]

The double length fasteners also enable a full tonneau cover can be fitted with the seat tonneau in place.

[ibmmohan]

no, when the top is up, the tonneau that holds the rear seat in, is still attached to the lift-the-dot studs on the body above the trunk lid. They are double length studs so you can have the part that holds the seat AND the top attached at the same time.

Thanks, Mike for the valuable information. I had unwittingly screwed the bottom seam of top to the wooden member that supports the metal strip with the Lift-the-Dot fasteners. So in my car, a line of L-T-D studs appears just below the bottom edge of the top fabric.

What I understand from your post is that the top is fitted to the car body at the rear using L-T-D eyelets (which I believe remains concealed by using another narrow canvas strip / flap lengthwise). So, for fitting the top to the body, the rear seat back rest flap "eyes" are seated over the L-T-D studs and then the L-T-D "eyelets/sockets" attached to the top bottom seam are secured to the L-T-D studs on the car body. Am I right?

This also means that we have to first unfasten the top from the L-T-D studs and lift up the rear seat rest flap to access the side screens in their storage space behind the rear seat back rest.