Rumble seat

Rumble Seat

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Rumble seat

A rumble seat, dicky seat, dickie seat or dickey seat is an upholstered exterior seat which hinges or otherwise opens out from the rear deck of a pre-World War II automobile

Automobile

An automobile or motor car is a wheeled motor vehicle for transportation passengers, which also carries its own car engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally f...
, and seats one or more passengers.

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Encyclopedia

A rumble seat, dicky seat, dickie seat or dickey seat is an upholstered exterior seat which hinges or otherwise opens out from the rear deck of a pre-World War II automobile

Automobile

Carriage

A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn. It is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods....
, a rumble (short for "rumble-tumble") was a seat behind the body used by servants. Roadster

Roadster

A roadster, also known as a spyder or spider, is a two-seater car, traditionally without a roof and no side or rear windows. Modern day two-seaters commonly have windows and feature retractable roofs ....
, Coupe

Coupé

A coup? or coupe is a closed car body style, the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time. Coup?s are often hardtopped sports cars or sporty variants of sedan body styles, with doors commonly reduced from 4 to 2, and a Close-coupled sedan interior offering either two seats or 2+2 seating ....
and Cabriolet auto body styles were offered with either a luggage compartment or a rumble seat in the deck. Models equipped with a rumble seat were often referred to as a sport coupe or sport roadster.

In America, this type of seating became largely obsolete in the mid-1930s when cars became too fast and streamlined for the comfort of passengers in such a seat. Their popularity was further diminished by the frequent injuries, including decapitation that sometimes occurred in accidents. Rumble seat passengers were essentially seated out in the elements, and received little or no protection from the regular passenger compartment top. Folding tops and side curtains for rumble seats were available for some cars (including the Ford Model A) but never achieved much popularity. It is possible that the last American-built car with a rumble seat was the 1939 Ford convertible coupe.

Prior to World War I, a single, center-mounted rumble seat was sometimes referred to as a mother-in-law seat.