1957 power seat question

[BigGuyWhoKills]

Does anyone know if a 1957 Thunderbird had an option for the "Seat-O-Matic"? All of the information that I have found shows it available in Mercurys of that year, but not in Fords.

I am working on a customer's 57, and the last thing he wants done is to get the seats working. I suspect that the seat may have been taken from a Mercury and wonder what I may be facing here. I've attached a picture of the adjustment dial. If this was taken from a Mercury, can I use the wiring chart 3WD-433?

[gbhrps]

BigGuyWhoKills,
That's a question for a fulltime restorer of Small TBirds. I'd contact Amos Minter of Fort Worth/Dallas. If there will be a restoration shop to know, they will be the people to have the answer. Just do a google search for Amos Minter and you'll find them easily. Good Luck!

[DreemKiller]

My 56 doesn't have it, but looking around on the web, I've found several references to "Select-o-matic" on the 57 t-bird (not "Seat-o-matic"). I didn't find any close-up pictures, but in the overall pictures, there does appear to be a control similar to the one you show.

[ford289ci]

to my knowledge I dont think the car had an option like that it must be mercury I would call Rick at prestige thunderbird his number is 562-944-6237

[uncleaud]

Mine had all of the dial o matic features. i still have the complete system if you are interested. From what I can tell it all works except one moter. If interested give me a shout at uncleaud@frontier.com

[edmlynek]

OK , HERE WE GO AGAIN...57 (ONLY LATE IN THE BUILD) had the 57-58 mercury 'seat-o-matic as a option..it came about as a 'come-on' to buy a 2 seat bird...the cars were not selling (hard to beieive now!!) as the 4 seat t-bird was not ready for production in july 57..everyone wanted the 4 seat bird--nobody wanted the 2 seat bird.....not until late jan. 58 was a 4 seat bird ready to sell..( no convertible until june 58)...the 'problem' was the car was 'breaking in two' over the rough part of the test track in dearborn,mich.(my hometown)...the engineers had never tried to build a large car with a uni-body.....finally they figured it out with the addition of 'TORQUE BOXES' installed on the underbody...but the size, placement, thickness,ect. had to be worked out..this took time...(like i said,jan 58)..meanwhile they just kept building 57 t-birds..to get people to buy them, they 'loaded' up every bird with all the options they had ..(for next to nothing )..and 'stole' the memory seat-o-matic from the mercury division...so, they built 57 birds for 4 more months..(to dec. 23 57).that's why there are 21k+ 57 birds and on ly 16k+ 55's and 15k+ 56's...i have a memory seat in my 55 bird (the seat frames are the same (4-way pwr.) on all 55-57 birds..the stuff bolts right in..if anyone would like to try this install..i will help with 30+ photos and 20 pages of text...i can e-mail it to you...at edmund.mlynek@sbcglobal.net bye ed

[edmlynek]

couple more things on the 'seat-o-matic' memory seat....do not, repeat, do not put a mercury mem seat in your 55-57 bird without contacting me first...you will 'destroty' everything and burn it up'---as you can surmise, the mercury car is huge--the mem seat in it goes about 14 inches back and forth--in the bird, about 7 inches is about all you want..(forward- you hit he auto trans stick (or stick floorshift) and backwards you hit the soft top)..if you put it in without modifying the distance...THE FIRST TIME YOU TURN OFF YOUR KEY AND THE SEAT TRIES TO GO 'HOME' AND CAN'T BECAUSE IT'S RAMMING INTO THE SOFT TOP..EVERYTHING WILL 'MELT DOWN AND DESTROY ITSELF.)..this has happenned to several people who did not realize what will happen...and now they have a pile of burnt up junk, good for the dumpster...and don't think you can get to the battery disconnect in time , YOU CAN'T--IT'S TOO LATE)...so, what did ford do to the seat to stop this?? well, they changed the travel distances in the 'clockwork' brass gear mechanisums (sorry for spelling errors) that bolt on to the seat motors...these contact assemblies now only go half as far as they did in the big mercry turnpike cruisers...and all was well..so, again, well i'll just buy/find 57 bird contact assemblies and use those...(heh heh, yeah, right) all the gold in fort knox won't buy you any--they have been 'discontinued' for 40+ years..i've never seen one and i'm 65 and been fooling around with stuff for 40+ years..so, now what??...well, again i come to the rescue, i have modified my merc wire harness to go half as far..with a new 'home' at position 4 on the dail..so the seat only goes to 1,2, and 3.....positions 5, 6, and 7 do nothing...this is done without destoying anything..just changing a few wires connections on the harness..it all can be put back 'like it was' in 5 min.s...so there you have it--a working mem seat and no damage to anything...useing cheap mercury stuff...not the super pricey 57 bird only stuff....e-mail me for how to do this--i will gladly share my knowledge of this with anyone that wants to try it.....bye.....ed mlynek

[edmlynek]

hello--just ck.ing out your photo of the mem seat control head placement..(i have installed a modified 57 mercury seat-o-matic in my 55 t-bird) and never really saw a factory installed one..so..the control head is placed just a tad to the right of the ashtray???... i put mine closer to the hood release handle (that would place it to the left of the ashtray) and i had to change the dail to be 'upside down' as the dail is on top of the dash in a mercury and it is mounted under the dash on a t-bird...which means it is upside down to mount under the dash...could you reply in a e-mail if you can and send more photos, please? thanks for your time...ed mlynek..hartwell, georgia

[edmlynek]

your 'matio' or something e-mail thing is not 'supported' on a apple computer..(ME)..do you know this?? anyway i deleted the matio and it went a 'fonteir' something--some electronis online site...so, i'm replying on the forum as you are 'unreachable' to me anyway else..I have questions on (your?) stock 57 mem seat as i have never seen one in the 'real' world (cause i have a 58 turnpike cruiser mercury mem seat in my 55 bird, modified to work, NOT A FACTORY 57 INSTALLED MEM SEAT AS YOU HAVE)... you say it works (except one motor)..... I hope the non-working motor is not the 'up & down' one, because, that is where my question lies.....you see, in all the factory mercury & ford literature i have seen, when one turns the ign. key 'off',the seat will go to 'home' which is all the way back + 3/4 of a inch...it also states that the seat also goes 'all the way down,too.....well, my mem seat does not go 'down' when key is 'off'..just all the way back to 'HOME' position....i don't know if my seat is 'defective' in some way..it has always never went all the way down since i have owned it...i have looked at all the contact asemmblies and can see nothing 'wrong' anywhere...so, does your seat godown,and then back?? or not?....please reply to my e-mai?> edmund.mlynek@sbcglobal.net...thanks for your time.....ed mlynek-hartwell,ga.

[edmlynek]

the 1957 ford t-bird book of wire diagrams DOES have the mem seat wire diagram in it--and i see no change from the mercury mem seat wire diagram--they are the same seat - electrically - the difference is in the 'contact assemblies attached to the motors...the motor turns a 'clockwork' brass gear 'train' of tiny gears that 'stop' at 'so many revolutions of the motor.' (lets say 60 revs to each 'stop')..seven stops (seven separate contacts close and open) for the fore and aft----five 'stops' for the up and down).BUT HERE IT GETS TRICKY---the mercury seat must go back and forth about 14+ inches--so the brass gear teeth are numbered to do this--but the bird seat would 'self destruct' itself if it tried to go 14+ inches cause there is not that enough room to do so...so, the ford people changed the tooth count on several of the brass gears in the contact assemblies to go only 'half' as far....aha! now it goes only seven inches back and forth and nothing 'slams' into the auto or stick floorshift houseing (forward) or into the soft top stack (backward)...these BIRD ONLY contact assemblies bolt up exactly where the mercury ones did...can't tell..they look the same..and before you say..well then, instead of paying $4000+ for a 57 t-bird specific memory seat with the correct 'half as far' contact assemblies, i'll just find me a '57-'58 mercury turnpike cruiser with the mem seat-o-matic (for about $200) and then buy the bird contact asm.s and i'm home free....BUT--you can't find them anywhere at any price--been 'discontinued' FOREVER....i've never seen one for sale and i've been in this 'mess' for 45+ years..(but i have found a way to modify the mercury mem wire harness not to go to thee last 3 positions and all is cool....i'll e-mail you the wire diagram changes if you want >edmund.mlynek@sbcglobal.net.......bye ed