Baby Seat in an 88 Series IIa

[BrooklynLR]

Hello: I'm new to the boards as I am not yet a series owner but am thinking seriously of becoming one. Has anyone ever used a baby car seat in an 88 series IIa truck? One I am interested in has 3 seats in the front and so I am wondering if a baby seat could go there without impeding shifting. Baby seats in the front seat are legal although not recommended (not sure what people with 2 seater coupes do...). Another option would maybe be to jury rig a platform in the back center of the bed, maybe attached to the bench that runs behind the seats. Making this work would certainly sweeten the whole concept of Rover ownership for my wife. We have another car, of course, but would want to drive the Rover around town as much as possible and lack of a baby seat option would certainly limit use. Anybody have any ideas or pictures? Thanks!

[Winemark]

I sort of thought this post was a joke at first. It may be possible and I am sure someone has done it. In all honesty and strictly in my opinion, I would never put a child in a Series. No modern safety equiptment, i.e. 5 mph bumpers, padded dashboards, airbags. Nor is the truck one that handles like a modern car and can avoid accidents as easily when used in traffic.
Buy the Series and have a ball with it and keep another car for the kiddos. Just my 2 cents

[adkrover]

Definitely not a kid friendly car. That's like asking if anyone put a car seat on a motorcycle. I say buy the Rover but just drive it when the kids are at school. It it's like most Rovers, you'll be working on it until the kids are out of college so it won't matter anyway.

[jac04]

If you are talking an actual baby seat, then you obviously need to be aware of the requirements (rear facing / forward facing) depending upon the age/weight of the child. Assuming you had the proper anchor points, putting a baby seat in the middle, especially rear facing, would still most likely prohibit shifting. Making your own mounting points may seem like a good idea, but would you really trust whatever you make?

I bring my 4 year old daughter to the local cruise night and out for ice cream, but she is in a booster seat and my vehicle has real 3 point seat belts as installed by the factory. We avoid main roads and I drive extremely defensively.

[thixon]

GreenMeanie installed a forward facing jeep seat in the rear of his 88, and made a bracket so that he could use the latch system for his car seat. He's a design engineer by trade, and has an advantage over many when it comes to modification of his vehicle. Search this board, and I think you'll find a post he did on it.

I'm not gonna give you my opinion on what to do with your kids. Anyone who does is being a high-and-mighty A$$hole. This topic is highly debatable, and you're gonna get people defending both sides passionately. In short, you'll have to decide for yourself what to do.

As for safety, well, a series truck isnt exactly a volvo. Neither is a Jeep Wrangler for that matter and I see kids in them all the time. I saw a family packed into one with top off on I-95 last week. The quick stop in an accident is usually what kills you, and its hard to avoid that fact no matter what car you're in. However, any old british car isn't much better than a motorcycle in terms of protection in an accident. A buddy of mine and I joke that in most of the brit cars we've owned, you're better off bailing out if you have time. When I was a kid, my uncle would take me all over town on his motorcycle. I routinely rode in the very back of my grandparents station wagon (no seat belts at all). Ironically, I obsess over making sure my kids are in the correct type and size seat for them, and wouldn't think of letting anyone take them for a ride on a motorcycle. Go figure.

[gambrinus]

What you need is a 109 SW. It's all a personal choice... 88 is a tough call. With the 109 you can mount a kiddie seat in the middle row.

[graniterover]

A jeep seat fits fine in the back. $40 on craigslist. Some with belts already there.

I put my kid in the front as well, but not in the middle. I don't think you could shift if the seat was there.

[NRutterbush]

Child seats are not recommended in the front due to Airbag inflation dangers.

You are highly unlikely to encounter that problem in a Series Rover

While my daughter is likely to be old enough to drive before I finish restoring a rover, I think that I will basically plan on keeping her out of the vehicle in and around town, until she is old enough to ride properly.

I suspect the biggest issue will be convincing my wife to ride in the back so that the car-seat can ride up front.

[KingSlug]

Definitely not a kid friendly car. That's like asking if anyone put a car seat on a motorcycle. I say buy the Rover but just drive it when the kids are at school. It it's like most Rovers, you'll be working on it until the kids are out of college so it won't matter anyway.

I put a carseat in the sidecar of my scooter and put my kid in the front seat of my ambulance all the time. If you are going to eliminate series rovers, then add in every car made before 1975. Life is inherently dangerous.

I would mount a jeep flip seat in the rear with proper mounting and seatbelts which includes re-enforcement plates.

It all comes down to how safe you want you and your kid to be. If motorcyclist and bicyclists have to wear helmets, why not drivers in cars after all NASCAR does. Heck if riding in a series isnt safe for your kid, it probably isnt for you and you should sell it or demand a factory recall.

Jared

[ducttape]

This really is a wonderful post!

Even though I can't stand my wife's incessant mothering, I do understand her points and I have to say that if your kids aren't old enough to realize the 'danger' of being in the Rover, they aren't old enough to ride in it. As an every day car it probably wouldn't work

Sorry to burst that bubble. Do not let it stop you though. Get a different kids car, then hock whatever you can to get a Rover too. Sell the Mrs. if you have too. You will really enjoy the Rover and so will your kids, pets and if you are really lucky your wife too. Of course, you'll still be working on the Rover when your car-seat kids are old enough to leave for college but that is the beauty of it. Think of the bonding time you'll share!

[LC_rover]

An 88" is tough. I am pretty sure the child seat in the middle front is going to get in the way of shifting. I had one up there in my full size Chevy when I would pull the camper, and it was very very tight.

A 109" would be the ticket, in the middle rear.

Then again, you could mount a bracket on the floor of the rear, or even a seat belt, that would allow you to secure a child seat just as well as it would be in the back seat of any other car.

Also, I don't know how small of a kid your talking about, but I just put 5 point racing harnesses in the 3 front seats of my 88, and I don't use a car seat at all. I've never had a cop stop me, but these restraints have them very well restrained, and I am not worried about that part of their safety.

Cheers!

P.S. Read "Freakonomics" (or maybe its "Super Freakonomics") and their research on child seats. This industry has done a huge snowjob on everyone. There is absolutely ZERO evidence that toddlers and up are any safer in a child seat than simply buckled in the rear seat, and in some tests, the child seats perform WORSE. If anyone had any sense, we'd be modifying the seat belts, rather than adding some contraption like a car seat. (Obviously not the case for infants.)

[Terrys]

Get an old metal lunch box (that's your series truck)
Get one raw egg (that's your child)
Get some scotch tape (thats almost as safe as your seatbelts in a series truck)

Securely tape egg to the middle on the bottom of the lunch box, close it up and whack it with a baseball bat (That's the suburban that ran the light)

Pry open the lunch box
That's your child all over the inside.

[scott]

The downside of not putting your kids in a series is you increase their odds of reaching puberty and eventually sucking so much out of ya that ya can't afford to maintain and play in your sereies.

[Apis Mellifera]

I guess I'm a bad father. Not only have I driven around with my two year old son in a car seat in the front of our 88, he's also ridden in the middle seat with just the lap belt. I guess I fall into the category of those that believe the current climate of protecting us from ourselves has gone too far. I'm not saying that there isn't room for due diligence, but frankly, I'm more than tired of crybabies and people that can't fathom the concept of personal responsibility and self reliance. As a boy, I routinely rode from NC to WV and back sleeping (unbelted) on the rear parcel shelf of our '72 Ford Gran Torino. Rather than living in fear of what-ifs, I had a lot of fun and made some good memories.

That said, I wouldn't take may son for a ride without being belted. Partly because do-gooders would imprison me for child neglect, but also because it's a simple precaution that keeps him from being a pinball in a wreck and also keeps him from crawling into my lap or jumping out the window. I think a child seat in the front of a Series is plenty safe and if we were to drive it as a family more, I'd fit a small 5-point harness to the middle seat and call that good.

[Terrys]

I'm more than tired of crybabies and people that can't fathom the concept of personal responsibility and self reliance. As a boy, I routinely rode from NC to WV and back sleeping (unbelted) on the rear parcel shelf of our '72 Ford Gran Torino.

...and walked to school and back home, uphiill both ways in the snow.
Just kidding.

I'm no less tired of the dearth of personal injury lawyers too, but personal responsibility and self reliance still won't protect you or your kid from that Suburban that ran the light. (I'm not making an idle ****ogy. It was a real Suburban that ran a light, T-boned an S2A and killed the three in the 2A)
Sadly, too many teens today think they are invincible, and drive like $hit.
I'll grant that a 109 would be a far better choice to take a child out for a ride in, but facts remain, Series trucks, little changed from 1948, are tin boxes with loads of hard surfaces and angles.