I saw another thread on this topic that made me want to ask other 65 owners "How many 65 cars still have the lower half of the rear seat under the shelf from the factory?" Mine still does!!!
This is very strange as the rear seat delete from the San Jose' factory meant that no part of the rear seat was supposed to be mounted. Maybe the guy that welded the spare tire bracket wanted support for his knees and found one and left it there. /Texas Swede
A couple of questions 1- Are you the original owner of the car? 2- Doesn't the front edge of the rear seat bottom rest ot push againist the front of the package tray Never seen another original like that ... don't know why a worker would install or the inspectors let it get by at San Jose. Not sure why they would give away extra parts. Only possibility IMHO would be that some worker screwed up and installed it (not looking at the sheets) and was too lazy to remove. But then in that situation one of the many workers or inspectors after that point should have seen it and had it removed since it was in plane sight Just a thought
This story has a familiar ring to it. Seems that the factory had a habit of leaving things back there. Here is a true story about 1965 GT350 5S003 (the first GT350) and the original owner. It is from 1965GT350mustang web site. Great place to visit. http://www.1965gt350mustang.com/history.html "A short time after purchasing 5S003, Moir heard something rattling near the back of the car. The noise was tracked down to beneath the rear shelf, when the rear shelf was removed an unused 289 Weber intake manifold was found! My only thought is that a Shelby American employee placed the intake in the back of 003 and when a co-worker was putting in the rear shelf perhaps his line of sight was blocked by the size of the shelf and the intake was covered over. "
Would agree that there are allot of stories (more often the empty coffee cup or beer can in the door and such) The seat though would not have been hidden though until the car got to the end of the line at Shelby. Discussion is always good though Thats how we learn, discover things or arrive at current understandings (right or wrong)
Okay, from the answers so far I guess this is not the norm. The seat is covered completely by the shelf. I also think that because of the early number car and trying to meet production numbers for SCCA the seat was left in place. I guess the new question is did the early cars receive the back seat at Ford and then Shelby removed? Now I am only speaking about the early 65 cars not the later produced on the line. When 003 was found with the intake I guess there was no back seat ? Anyone else here have a low production number to check???
Probably not a bad idea to have the bottom part of the back seat under the tray as it gives more support when you lean on it and reduces the rattle. My tray rattles quite a lot at speed. Texas Swede