Tried mocking up a cabriolet rear seat using some seat bolsters from a friend and insulation foam.
As an experiment to see whether it is feasible it seems to work.
The height of the rear seat on my CMC seems to be higher than in a cabriolet, resulting in the seat back protruding above the sides of the cabin. Also, because the seat does not have a slope on it, the seat bases don't sit exactly right.
In terms of width, there appears to be plenty of room to accomplish a reasonable facsimile of the cabriolet rear seat, including the central hump and the sloping sides that are used to support the seat backs when they are folded down to form a parcel shelf.
In order to properly complete this it probably would need the entire rear seat of the body removed and recreated.
This is a lot more than I was really prepared to undertake, especially as really I am eager to finish the project "as is" and not make more work for myself.
The other problem, that I can see, is obtaining original 356 seats from either ebay or somewhere like Pelican Parts. Either way you are looking at serious investment. Also, the carpet will now need to be custom made at additional expense.
It was something I wanted to do and am glad I tried out, but in the end I think I will be going with the rear seat that can be seen in Joe Soltis' CMC. (TIA for the plans Joe)
If anyone does ever try this I think the results would certainly be worth the effort and cost.
Jim.
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