What Happened To Front Bench Seats In Cars
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 พ.ย. 2020
- The front bench seat was once a standard feature of automobiles, especially American ones. They were cheap to make, easy to climb into, and roomy. But Americans turned away from them over time and, at least mostly, they went the way of fancy hood ornaments. While it might not seem the most interesting automotive feature, the shift from bench seats to bucket seats reveals something about shifting American tastes and the changing role of driving in American culture.
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Whatever Happened To Front Bench Seats In Cars - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Nowadays, even the middle seat in the rear is practically unusable.
I've had to pass on so many great cars because of this... I'm sure I'd be cruising around in a Chevy Volt today, but how are 3 kids supposed to sit there?!
The Porsche 944 doesn’t even have a back middle, just a hump
Depends on what car.
My Impala has a perfectly fine middle seat.
While my 1989 Cutlass was a 2+2 and had no middle seat at all.
tru dat
Same case with the latest model of benz
An advantage of bench seats is that you get to easily slide over and exit through the passenger door if you ever park on the side of the road instead of having to get out into moving traffic.
This!!
Facts
They are unsafe you would get whiplash easily
You can do that with a mehran which doesn’t have a bench seat. Check it out
@@iair-conditiontheoutsideai3076 If you were unbuckled and got rear ended while trying to exit, wouldn't matter if it was bucket or bench: you would be screwed either way. But in a bench setup, you would be able to evacuate faster if you saw it coming.
Remember the front middle seat that folded down into a cup holder and storage? That was a great idea, best of both worlds. .
You can still get that on today's full-sized pickup trucks.
it s on the new defender
In European cars we still have that, very practical.
2004 Toyota Avalon has that
Holy cow, my Daihatsu move have still that feature to these days
Back then, there were dozens of interior colors, now there are few choices.
To be fair they are available. But they're either in cars we can't afford, or more expensive trims of cars we can only afford base trims for.
That has to do with air bags. The interior needs to rip apart when the air bag explodes, and differently dyed materials may behave differently, so you would have to run more crash tests.
@@sebastianlabusch465 . No, got more to do with the modern world.
You can have whatever you want as long as it's the same thing everyone else wants.
Just look at the difference in a modern hardware store to the old days.
Once upon a time if you needed one specific bolt you could go into a hardware store and get it.
Now you have to buy a packet of them and it won't be the exact size, you'll have to find a size that's close and have it be different to all the rest or replace the whole lot to look the same
Right? I’m glad the warm brown, peanut leather color seems to be making a comeback. Always found the light beige tan color to be ugly and impractical.
@@user-pe2yx9kt4e light beige tan = taupe.
I don’t know who at CNBC is interested in front bench seats but I’m glad they are
It’s got to be because drive-in theatres are arising. Front bench seats are more comfortable to have when sitting and relaxing in a car. Rather than crampt counsols. Maybe they are making a come back. The new land rover defender actually offers front bench seats now! Can’t say much on the future of the column shifter. But bench seats are nice for comfort to have.
Things change. I had cars in the 70s that had no cup holders but 3 or more ash trays.
The brights were activated by a button on the floor, near the emergency brake pedal.
The 70's also started the plastick-ification of interiors.
Lol yeah back than cars used to have ash trays and cigarettes burner
Which is probably worse. Eating stuff inside the car can make it get really grosse, considering most car seats are not waterproof and interior carpeting absorbs grime like crazy.
@@jackmcslay And smoking is better? Have you ever seen a car that has been smoked in? EVERYWHERE becomes filthy. The headliner gets ruined, the carpets and seat surfaces become smelly and unclean, you'll find stains, too.
@@mra57 My dad used to activate the brights with the floor button in our 1970 Olds but told us kids that sneezing turned on the lights. We had lot of fun with that, unaware of how he made the lights really come on. :)
Bench seats were standard when I was a child. I remember hearing people mention "bucket seats" and not knowing what they were talking about. I thought people were sitting on a bucket.
Yeah, bucket seats were found on the sporty cars of that Era.
As a young man, I liked bench seats because my date could snuggle up next to me when I was driving.
Drive in movie theaters
Late model Panther Bodies like the Crown Vic, and Grand Marquis carried front bench seats well into the 2000s.
"snuggle"
That was the best part of my 1994 Chevy Lumina. The car was so-so in power and handling. But my GF at the time and I loved the front bench seat
@@stevec5465 ;)
The old bench seats are really comfortable, even what’s left of the one in my truck that’s just bare springs is still comfortable lol
having the seat with springs is another interesting point. The moulded foam seats will just never be anywhere even close in comfort to the spring based ones.
I drive without seats, i just sit on the floor, threw away the whole chair, now i can sit allll the way in the back while driving.
>truck
>username redneck
Checks out :p
morale of the video......
cup holders killed bench seats.
@@awesomeone2979 I was gonna say fast food... but sure, I guess skinny people don’t like drinks
@@awesomeone2979 so if you go on a long drive do you pull over and park every time you want a drink of water during your trip 🤔
@@awesomeone2979 so you put it in the seat, where it can easily roll around and fall in the floor, or in the glove box, which is distracting to open and close while you're driving? Lol common sense says a cupholder is both an easier and safer option.
My cup holder back in the day was a plastic holder with a hook for the window jam. You could buy them anywhere, cheap; and worked just fine.
@@awesomeone2979 yes, your point was only fat people have beverages in their car while driving. Which isn't true lmao I worked at a Starbucks with a drive thru for a couple of years and I can assure you, thin people love getting coffee and tea while they're driving just as much as fat people lmao. Most people want the convenience of a cup holder in their car regardless of their weight. If you don't have enough coordination to handle taking a sip of water when you're driving, then do please continue to finish your drinks while parked. But most of us don't have any issue with that
The thing I like about bench seats is being able to throw my right arm over the seat while driving like my grandpa used to do, and also being able to slide around a bit, especially long drives where shifting your body around a little keeps you from getting cramped. Bucket seats are comfortable at first but after a few hours of driving they feel confining. One of the reasons I drive a pickup instead of a car is because the split bench seat is way more comfortable.
I'm only 30, but have fond memories of riding into town every Saturday morning sitting next to my dad on the bench seat of his 1955 Ford F-150.
Bench seats would be nice now that many homeless people sleep in their cars.
DARK! but sadly true...
They're all over California because nobody can afford a home
Yup, I tried on my friend's customized Daihatsu Move. So weird and yet so comfortable when compared with current car seat.
😂😂
Andrew Shay The term is unhoused.
I don't know about Americans, but as a European I want a self-driving sofa to come to me and take me wherever I need to.
I see you’re a cultured man!
It’ll never fully happen unless forced and after that war the last thing we will worry about are self driving cars.
You mean Homer Simpson's sofa from LA-Z Rider
I’m American and I want this too
Same with us americans. We dont like to leave out couches. LOL
I remember bench seats and adjusting the front bench was a team effort for the driver 🤣
New versions could be electric 🙂
They could also fold separately so if one person wants to lean back more than the others, they have the ability to do so
Bench seats and column shifters were just so damn useful. I NEED them to make a come back
I miss the column shifters so much!!!!
I like automatics.
No
Bring back the hand-cranked parking brake.
I think the cabin real estate is too valuable to keep the column shifters and hand brakes around, unfortunately. Fewest buttons and widgets possible while stowing everything on the lcd screen.
@@otomicans6580 Columns shifters are more out of the way though. That's what I love about it. It frees up a lot of space and gives me more room for storage or leg space.
My dad loves the center shifter though. I like practical stuff and he likes the stylish stuff.
I am sad that it's hard to find bench seats on trucks that are higher trim.
Ah well.
They were phased out because they were contributing to teen pregnancies. Really miss those big bench seats especially the back ones.
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Foreal 🤣 thats how i was born
But for real... I hate the middle hump in backseats 😭
is this fax?? 😂😂😂😂 that lowkey makes sense
@@awesomeone2979 Nowhere near as big as they used to.
Bench seats should make a come back, they really are practical for lifestyle living.
What is lifestyle living?
@@ramhithesh4700 Homeless people sleeping in their cars.
Drive In theaters 🎭 should make a come back, only with robots 🤖 this time
Got one in my 2018 F-150!
Buy a 2005 chevy impala mine still has a bench seat 💺
My 2003 CR-V is still equipped with a bench seat.
Cool
Wth. I have a 2003 crv and it is not bench.
@@edgarvilchis7517 same here man, and mines a hybrid
In the rear, yes.
He's talking about the front seats. It's been so long since that those have been gone, that you don't even know what he's talking about 🤣
But I HATED driving with the car full with 6 people. Left hand on steering wheel and right hand on GF was fine. But If she wasn't there and I had to drive family. 🤮
I have a 2003 chevy impala and it has a center console that flips up and turns into a bench seat. Pretty tough trying to fit 3 people up there though. Only small people allowed.
I had a car that had push buttons to select the gears on the automatic transmission. It was a 1964 Dodge 440.
My grandfather had a 1956 DeSoto with the pushbuttons. It was mostly a Chrysler thing, but I think the Ford Edsel also had them--in the middle of the steering wheel.
My first car was a 63 Chrysler Newport with a push button tranny.
I like how the video is very general and does not advertise any one brand.
I like that you like that
@@Jeramithehuman I like that you like that the Desi lifestyle likes the video
@@omarpulido8502 I like that you liked that I liked what he liked
It advertises an entire industry.
Jeramithehuman i like that you liked what omar liked that he liked that you liked what desi liked
Using buttons for a shifter is actually something that has ”comeback” it was available in the 50s in some American cars, placed to the left of the steering wheel on a car I once drove..
And the benchseats is one of the best things about classic cars, i love them!
Push button automatic transmission was available in Australia too
The Soviet GAZ chaika too
I had a 1956 Dodge wagon with push-button automatic. It worked just fine. OH yeah front bench also.
Lots of things go in and out depending on the technology.
Chrysler loved push button transmissions. But they lack the tactile feel or responsiveness of a shift lever and they were more expensive and failure prone.
Today.. we need more real estate for cup holders, phones, and infotainment plus anything that is mechanical is more expensive. So we have electronic knobs or buttons to shift.
Same with digital gauges. They came in. Went away. And now with cheap high resolution LED displays they are back in again either masquerading as faux analog gauges or doubling down as digital displays.
My orange colored 1962 Dodge Colt had pushbuttons for the gear shifting. Best idea ever.
Bucket seats also pretty much KILLED front seat "rolling romances". Gone are the days when a couple could "speed" away if they noticed a patrolling police car in the area. (It was a LOT tougher if you and "cuddles" were in the BACK seat and you had to dive over the front seatbacks to make a get away!).
I have vague memories of the driver and passenger, working together to move bench positions
Yes, the passenger had to move when the driver did.
Yes,
it was a tricky proposition to adjust a bench
@@michaelmccarthy4615 Not tricky, but it did require coordination to move the seat forward again! I wish bench seats were an option.
I remember the bench doesn't adjust easily or it jammed sideways on its tracks...with cables going across under the seat...
From Leo: I really miss bench seats. I think they have a safety advantage. I was in a smaller sized bucket seat car that got hit in the drivers door by a drunk driver. As the pillar folded I was squeezed pretty tight against the console, making it really tough to climb out the passenger door. I was lucky the car was not on fire.
I still enjoy a bench seat daily. It's called a couch.
@Robert Slackware how is the milk crate going?
Created by suspicious fathers who didn't like daughters boy friends who own bench seat cars. The bucket seat.
@@summerslider2487 waffle butt lol
Yessss sir
The lose of the bench seat is a great killer of romance! I had a 69 merc cyclone.
The bench seat made it a lot easier to get some rest on the road. What we really need back are wing windows and manual chokes.
Agreed on the wing windows! But a modern car has no need for manual choke, with fuel injection the computer automatically controls the air/fuel ratio.
@@tristananderson8451 I like manual choke, and you can hang the litter bag from the knob.
@@updownstatethat’s true. I have a ‘73 F100 3-on-the-tree, and you can adjust the choke with a knob. It’s awesome
I bought a double cab Tacoma just for the bench back seat. Nice to able to get sleep on long road trips. Struggling to get sleep in drop back bucket seats not too practical.
@@calcrappie8507 How tall are you? Can you get a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood in the bed? Tx.
I mean with the average american's size today, they would make sense.
Lol, to fit 2 people
lol yea. the average american weight is a little under the rocks weight
Yes yes, stack people together as close as possible so during a crash their heads bang against each other, bench seats were a nice idea when nobody given a damn about airbags, crumple zones, and even seatbelts were optional but nowadays people are smart and care about their lives so much that they overeating so they can have airbags on them all the time...
Thats...a really good point actually.
@M thoyib 21 Premium cars were fully capable achieve over 100mph even before WW2 and maximum speed limits as we see today were introduced in most countries only as a consequence of the high accident ratio during the Cold War period when higher performance cars proliferated. Even more importantly early economy cars like VW Beatle had poor suspension so were dangerous to drive at much slower speeds than today's cars...
Bench seats allowed the driver to enter the car from the passenger side.
GTA style
You still can, just gotta step over the central
@@theunitedempire6532
Such bs that we have to deal with that now instead of offering split bench seating. As well as a lack of leg room.
Yeah that would definitely be an advantage. I have a Honda Element which has bucket seats but because of the way they designed to their center console( basically a cup holder tray built into the floor) and shifter wish is on the dash I can still get in from either side. Not as smooth as a bench seat but doable. Sometimes I just do it to avoid stepping in a puddle.
And enter his passenger from the drivers side. 😁
I remember in 2003 my dad told me we’d use a dial to shift with cars ...dang...
Psshhh, if you believed that you were dumb, especially when automatic transmissions were everywhere even in 2003. Phasing out manuals.
@@LSniumUwU How is that dumb? Prii ten years ago used a little electrical knob to shift and Teslas shift with a tap on a touch screen. It seems very prescient actually.
@@LSniumUwU You still need to select a gear in automatic. And a dial is certainly a common way to do that these days.
Ah, the drive-in... (as the memories flood back...) sittin' on the bench seat with your best girl snuggling beside you.
I spent the '60's and '70's at the drive-in... with bench seats!
I took out my bench seats, and made floor seats.
I still go to the drive in all the time. Like twice a month. But unfortunately no bench seat.
A truck, with a bench seat, is the most comfortable car you can buy!
I was going to say that my Chevy Silverado has a front and back bench seat. My truck is an extended cab. So there are buckles for up to 6 people. My old, old car had bench seats also. For cars though, bench seats disappeared.
I sometimes sleep on my truck's bench seat. Very comfortable.
@@jbdragon3295 same here.
My 2019 Ram has bench seats and can seat 6
Married long? 🤣🤣🤣
Definitely not!
I miss bench seats. It felt like you were speeding down the highway on a couch
(If anyone cares I make videos of my cat Dim and he’s pretty cute)
Lol
@@jarro2778 Lol
Lmfao
And about as safe no doubt!
@@habib6499 lol
You guys do excellent work on your mini documentaries. Thanks!
The shrinking size of the American family. Used to be that you needed a bench seat to fit all the kids in the car.
The dead bodies you killed too.
Now you'd need a bench seat to fit the driver and one kid.
@@LSniumUwU is that legal?? 😐
@BOT
i uhh, OH LOOK OVER THERE!
*runs*
@@rosiefay7283 1.) Killing dead bodies is redundant 😂
2.) We're car accidents actually that much more common??
Just from the title already knew who would be narrating. A+
America is on fire and I’m watching an 11 minute video on car seats
SAME
I was just thinking that.
Simpler times.
It’s soothing to get your mind off of it.
Better than the utter stupidity and waste of time that is American politics.
I would like the bench seat to come back... or anything else to come back... or anything different at all.
I really hate the design of a lot of modern cars, doesn't even matter which brand you buy anymore, it looks the same anyway.
I'm not a car guy but as a person of this generation, I'd say I could spot the difference. But hey y'know with the times changing as we head into the 2020s, I can totally see front bench seats coming back, especially since self-driving cars are becoming more popular.
@@radioguy1667 I am from this generation as well. I can see your point. Did you see the concepts for the electric VW's? One of them is basically an electric T1 and I really hope they make the interior the same, with a lot of space and a bench.
I think the giant grilles of modern cars are hideous. I have no clue why anyone likes Toyota and Lexus' tapering hourglass, fake plastic grill. The newer Korean designs are pretty nice though.
Agree, when l was a kid you could tell a car a mile away, now they all look the same and it is not until you see the logo that you know what it is.
@@TheFalconerNZ true. The other day while driving I noticed a really nice looking car behind me through my mirror. I thought to myself "wow, that must be an expensive foreign car." It turned out to be a Kia.
My old Ford Taurus from the early 90s had the best of both worlds. The two comfortable front seats with high backs were connected like a bucket seat, with an arm rest in the middle that could go up and down. The gear shifter was up behind the steering wheel and I think the emergency brake was on the door side, so both were out of the way. Lots of good times in that car.
It's a good things cars are more like our houses now...many of them cost more than my house did 30 years ago.
Deficit spending has devalued the dollar by 90% over the last 50 years.
Tell me about it! After 5 years of harcore savings I still had to get a loan on part of my 1980 1.4 chevy!
Cars today have ten times the technology your house has. I'll take a bet your house only has single-zone HVAC and no programmable thermostat. And if your house ever crashes into another house, you fly right out the windows.
@@shelbynamels973 what on Earth this comment lmaoooo
@@aphr0d Well, houses don't have any safety features, like cars do, do they?
So if say a tornado ever picks up your house and slams it into another house, you are just SOL.
No seat belts, no crumple zones, no airbags to save you, not even active collision avoidance, just maybe a cast iron bathtub to ride out the storm in.
I have an extremely rare 2000 Toyota Avalon w/ a heated leather bench seat & column shifter. They were less than 2% of sales. Likely one of the last cars with one
Could you make a video on it? I’m sure plenty people would be interested.
As a millennial that’s the last car I remember that had a bench seat.
Keep that gem until the wheels fall off.
Last car to ever have a bench seat was the 2013 Chevy impala
My father had a 02 Avalon with a bench seat man I miss that car
well done story- makes me want to delve deeper into the autonomous-auto rabbit hole this morning.. thanks a lot CNBC.
My 08 Impala still has a bench seat, when I first got it at 19 all my friends were so pressed to sit 3 people in the front 😂
That guy shacking his head when he talks is giving me a headache.
He was a bit too close to the webcam, for sure.
@bad dog He is meme-worthy.
Thats what cocaine abuse does to a person
Lol you should talk to indians !
His mouth was having spasms, too. I felt the urge to take him to a doctor.
*shaking. "Shacking" is living with someone without getting married, followed by "up."
3:05 RIP Cameraman
That the grandfather of the one who filmed this video, it's a family tradition.
After my dad's shoulder surgery I bought him a used, 2008 mint Buick with a (split) bench seat and column shifter. I love this car. So much added room compared to the bucket seats. Wish they brought these back!
As a very tall driver, my right leg is uncomfortably held in place by the console unit. Bench seats allowed for long legs/knees to move toward the middle. Car manufacturers do not take customer differences or desires into designs.
This topic could've be even more interesting if they can also address "middle" bench seats in more-and-more popular 3-row family vehicles.
22 hours, 318 views and 0 comments.. I guess that's what an election does..
Trump 2020
@@Ricardo-gf7ts No.
We’re getting around to it... ;-)
i know right it was painful lease now it done and end up better for the rest of us
@@Ricardo-gf7ts hhahahahahah he lost
"Shift levers becoming buttons"
City buses: "Am I a joke to you?"
I currently own a 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 and a 1988 Chevy Caprice. Both have bench seats up front. Both are comfy as hell. Both are amazing and I absolutely love bench seats.
I love bench seats. They’re so comfy, and roomy. As well, you can still have a floor shifter. Just make sure you put someone in middle that doesn’t mind you reaching between their legs 😂
Yeah you might grab the wrong "floor shifter"
@@LSniumUwU well, no. But some people (adults specifically,) still don’t want you reaching between their legs.
I remember when I first got my truck (not a bench seat, but same principle) and I was taking my cousin and his buddy to pick up a motorcycle my cousin had bought. My cousin is a large individual, his friend super skinny, so skinny boii rides in the half seat. Half the way there were jokes about grabbing the wrong stick, or watching my hands when shifting. The
When you place a woman spreading her legs around the shifter in the center, the driver had to use the shifter very often.
In the UK, the trend to floor change gears and away from column change did seem to be the impetus. A centre console tended to follow the move of the gear selector location. Floor change was seen as more precise, more "sporty", as racing and sports cars had them to provide a direct, precise and fast change.
Personally, I prefer column change, which can still be very quick, such as in my SAAB 96.
The original American front wheel drive cars, the Oldsmobile Toronado and the Cadillac Eldorado, which were still huge, had a flat front floor. The bench seats in those were the epitome of living room luxury.
I have four Toronados! 1969, 1972, 1974 and 1985.
Got me an '03 Taurus. It has a front bench with the column gear shift. I love it.
I think split bench seats in pickups are the best of both worlds, you get the room to add an extra person if needed and when the seat is not in use it can be used for storage
Those levers on the Model T steering column are actually for spark advance and throttle- needed for starting. You shifted a T with floor pedals. Fords didn't get a column shift until 1940.
More stellar reporting by CNBC.
The car I learned to drive in - a 60 Chevy Impala - had a bench seat. It definitely had its advantages.
Loved that Car!
@@webbtrekker534 Me too! I got my grandmothers when she passed, wish I still had it. My parents had a Biscayne, same year that looked similar but with less bells & whistles.
Love this. I own a 58 Ford Fairlane. It is like driving on your living room sofa, so comfortable.
The bench seat in my 1970 plymouth fury has many benefits...
What about the lifting of the drive shaft? That’s a pretty big reason....
Not when most new cars are front wheel drive thought...
bench seats are good when they have a fold down arm rest.
I would not be surprised to see the bench seat come back.
I miss the bench seats in my Oldsmobile 98, but I think I would miss my cupholders and center storage more.
That would be what multilevel arm rests are for, and cupholders can be mounted under the IP.
In "a return?", expected more about how safety for front bench seats might be re-imagined.
I was wondering too. Safety to the middle back seat, in terms of safety belt, looks like solved for 20-30 years now, putting one of the fix points to the roof. Don't know why that would not work for the front. Fitting an airbag in front of the middle seat is also a no-brainer. There must be something more to it, would have been interesting to hear from someone knowledgeable.
The bench seat on my 77 Ford LTD was better than my couch at home 🤗
Had a lot of fun in a 78 LTD.
You're my kinda girl 🤗
I like the best of both worlds, remember the centre fold seat? A little seat that unfolded from the armrest between the 2 front seat. Now with flappy paddle gear shifts we can hopefully bring them back.
Bucket seats were always a sign of high performance cars when bench seats were common. Buckets allow consoles in the middle with integrated arm rests--far more functional and luxurious. Heck, many SUVs and mini-vans today even have buckets with arm rests in row 2. No surprise bench seats have disappeared.
Another reason is the rise of seat belts and safety, it is easier to stop something from moving around in a car if they have there own individual seat.
It makes no sense whatsoever when you can integrate a fold down armrest into a bench seat. Why on earth would you lower the occupancy of your vehicle by 1/6???
The bench seats these bucket seats must have competed against must have been made of rubber. Bench seats are real comfy
@@StormdragonXL Not so as you can still add a seat beat adding cut outs for one
The center armrest was about the height of the armrest of the door.
Bench seats for slow cruising weekend driving in your classic are amazing, easy sliding in and out for passengers, roomy and comfy when the car is stationary like at drive ins or out on a picnic.
For actual modern high speed driving on highways I like the peace of mind of a bucket seat and a full seatbelt though, especially if you get T-boned.
Bucket seats also make more sense with little British sports cars because high speed turns on small country roads would slide you around on a bench seat, American driving style from that era was more about the open highway and cruising on wide roads than taking tight corners at speed.
I know I'm late but on my vacation to Cuba, it was awesome to drive in those old cars. I loved the front bench
My Buick century has bench seat and column shifter, very comfortable.
10:38 looks like some car from Despicable Me
This has got to be the lowest viewed video thanks to this election
Really bad video release timing. If there was ever a chance bench seats made a comeback its gone.
If you look at Kei vehicles in Japan, many of them have them bench ish seat up front, but its more like two flat seats combined together with a fold down armrest. Since the car is so small, they can increase the comfortness of the seats by making it wider and moving the shifter to the dashboard or steering collum
Airbags. Good intelligent reporting CNBC. We really needed this info.
Gotta admit ! Those interior seats finishes on some of those cars were beautiful!
Video on FRONT bench seats, thumbnail clearly a picture of the rear seat
My first car was a 1987 Bronco II with a bench and a center shifter. Man, I loved that car so much and would buy it back in a heartbeat.
My 1981 caprice classic had front and back bench seats. It was pretty much a bed on wheels. I loved that car.
"I need you here with me and not way over in a bucket seat."
For anyone else curious: *no*, the video does not use Cake's classic “Stickshifts and Safetybelts” th-cam.com/video/GQANg8OnIE4/w-d-xo.html
Huge missed opportunity!
Now I want Cake :)
2:24 for a second there I thought she was taking a hit
Then I realised it was a beverage
I'm happy to see all the AMC Javelins in your video clips! I've owned a few of them, they were great cars!
Love my oldsmobile 88 and it's comfortable bench seats, amazing car for long road trips.
The best part about bench seats is having your girlfriend sit right next to you.
Yea I gotta get one a girlfriend that is
One of the reasons I love my 2003 LeSabre and why it'll take a really good deal to get me out of it lmao
Also a big reason why I own a 1997 LeSabre.
@@soldatinconnu1804 Absolutely! I'm a delivery driver so I get my fair share lol
This is actually amazing that this id a news story. Id love for my pickup to have a true bench, but im also so glad i have the split bench with the folding middle seat. That middle seat is literally the perfect arm rest.
I have driven both bench and bucket seats. The bench seat enabled 6 people to travel in your car and it was easy to slide from the drivers side to passenger side to avoid getting out in heavy traffic. It also allowed the driver and one passenger to both sleep in the car on very long trips - even with shared driving you eventually have to pull over and sleep. The bench seat was also nice to cuddle up with someone (keeping it clean here) at the drive-in. However the bench did not offer the same amount of support that the bucket does. One major advantage of the bench seat is for larger people. A larger person (I am really trying to be polite) will struggle to fit into an average bucket seat and can spread out more comfortably on a bench seat.
Bench seats can occasionally be found in some modern European/Japanese cars, such as the Fiat Multipla, Honda FR-V and the Citroën C4 Cactus.
I own a really reliable Honda FR-V from 2005 and it's ideal with three kids (2 in back, 1 in front) and all three with Isofix points and actually offers 3 proper seats in the back and also in the front although middle seat in the front is best for a child. The Citroën is available with a bench but it's more like 2 proper seats and a bit extra. I think most cars of this type are sold with two separate seats in the front.
I’m ready for the bench seat comeback !!
Man oh man I really hope they come back! And wagons too!
My first car was a 71 roadrunner, it had a 4speed manual and a huge bench seat. It was awsome.
I daily drive my 1999 Oldsmobile 88 with bench seats. I also had a 1988 Jeep Comanche with a floor mounted shifter and bench seat.
I found and fixed up a 1998 Olds (88) Regency. One of the reasons I bought it was the split bench seat. I tried it out with my 5'11" son to see if he could actually fit in the middle..his head was on the ceiling! I'm only 5'8" and neither of us weight more than 170#, I couldn't see a long trip with 3 across unless one was a kid.
Dude, I've been talking about this for the past year! How I wish my truck had a bench seat! I'd 100% buy a car for the bench seat alone. I get it, safety first. Still...
Get a 2001 Chevy S10 pickup. The arm rest in the center flips up and, Bingo, bench seat!!
Yeah my old Dodge Ram 1995 had a bench seat (mostly), but my current Tacoma doesn't. It's a pain because it is 4 x 4 and I do get in situations like when camping or weird off road spots that I may want to enter or exit from the passenger side.
@@jimmym3352 Just the other night I was picking up from a restaurant and some jerk in a gigantic truck parks so close I can't get the driver door open on my 2001 Chevy S10. I slip in the passenger side and slide in behind the wheel. It's a modified bench with a flip down arm rest/console. Was a big point in me buying it.
I remembered having a muscle car in '74. It was a 1970 Buick GS Stage 1,4spd with a bench seat. Very comfortable & actually fitted 3
passengers in the front. We all wore lap belts. Miss it.
You can still get front bench seat in low trims like gmc yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe and suburbans, even in 2021 models .same thing with new 2021 Range Rover defender .. all sit 3 people up front
this made me appreciate the bench seat in the Cybertruck more. 👌🏽
Cyber junk.
@@LSniumUwU haters gonna hate.
Bench seats, dirty ashtrays, no seatbelts, no A/C, manual windows and an 8 track player. Those were the days.
Yeah the days of uncomfortable and unsafe travel
My dads car had a "car phone"... i thought it was the coolest thing.
My late dog with whom I went on numerous road trips together would’ve loved front bench seat!
I had a front bench in my 2005 Chevy impala. I liked it. I never had 3 people in it but it was great to put stuff there.