1939 DeSoto "Hayes" Coupe; Welcome to the club.(Brief Article)

The rumble seat was pretty much passe by the late 1930s; rear-seat passengers wanted to ride indoors. Automobile manufacturers accommodated the changing tastes by lengthening the passenger compartments of their two- and three-passenger coupes and providing rear seats sheltered from the weather.

At first, these took the form of fold-down, ``occasional'' seats, which lent their space for cargo when not in use. Sometimes called ``opera seats'' for their flip-to-sit operation, in some cars they made the passengers sit sideways and always imparted some degree of discomfort. Someone at ...

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