All from http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/1504-walden-built-1932-ford-deuce-heads-to-japan/
the seats are an exact duplication of the ones in the Mitsubishi Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945, so what better than copies of the seats from this for the coupe?
Steve Hinson at the museum allowed Bobby and Perry Spring to take photos and make templates in order to make exact replicas, as long as they promised to build just two seats. Strangely, the day they did so was December 7, 2013, the 72nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor. This plane was captured at Saipan during World War II and flown to different U.S. bases for examination and tests. Following the war it was flown by Charles Lindbergh. Walden says it was a very unique and humbling experience to work with this seat knowing had been sat in by a Japanese pilot, American pilot, and Lindbergh.
The tag on the side of the seat is probably the most interesting feature, and was faithfully reproduced by WSS. A photo of the tag was sent to the Tokorozawa Aviation Museum in Japan for translation of the obscure kanji used, where they were surprised as it is considered a precious document to understanding where the body originated.
The end result is a stunning pair of seats that have many more hours invested than such rudimentary items of a car should have, seats that not only honor the Zero fighter, but would actually bolt right into such a plane, such is their authenticity.
The post from yesterday said there's 6 Zero's still operational.
ReplyDeletehttp://justacarguy.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/a-japanese-zero-that-crashed-in-new.html
I know, I was the one posting that, and this. It's out of my hands if the news that does the interviews of the Zero heading to Japan come up with the same "6" zeros remaining, as they all interviewed the owner who told them all the same thing, or gave them all the same press release. And this claim that the Planes of Fame Museum has the "only" working zero is because that is what the museum told Street Rodder magazine. That's out of my hands also. In some semantic way, both claims could be correct, as each was using specific words to make their plane seem as unique as possible to get the most publicity impact from their part in each story
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