Wow a 65 Rambler Classic, I had a 65 660 sedan for a couple months when I was 16. Loved those Pulmanized buckets.
Very nice. I'm partial to the Super Bee, but that's a sweet trio of cars. But yes, what does "Pulmanized" mean? I haven't heard that term either.
It's the name I was told for the fully reclining front seats that were in the old Ramblers. I think it supposed to be reminiscent of the luxury seats in train carriages.
I wondered if perhaps it had something to do with that feature, but I couldn't really correlate the name with that function. Interesting.
Okay, so I just did a quick search on the intergoogles with the keyword "Pulmanized", but not much of anything with any real help came up. However, I remembered there was a type of railroad car from the old days called a "Pullman", so I entered that in and I got this... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_(car_or_coach) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_car It looks like many of them featured folding, convertible seating that doubled as sleeping accommodations, so I'm going to make a guess and say that the term "Pulmanized" could be a tip of the hat and a reference to old sleeper rail cars from a bygone era (because, Rambler cars with that flip down front bench seat feature created a bed-like surface that mated with the rear seats). I can't say for sure, but it's just a guess.
That would be 'Pullmanized.' I would still ask what it referred to, but with the knowledge that it had something to do with the old Pullman sleeper cars.
Well, if it is indeed a reference toward the Pullman name and sleeper cars, it's possible they avoided running into trademark issues by dropping one of the l's. As "Pullmanized" would be a little too similar. It seems like more than a coincidence though. I mean, how many other "Pulman/Pullman" products are there that happen to feature a flipping and folding seat feature for sleeping? I just have a sneaking suspicion. Anyway, where's a Rambler engineer or marketing guy to ask these questions when you need one?
I'm going by memory and the spelling could have had two l's, I remembered the name from 78-83 when I owned a few.
Actually in researching it, in 1936 Nash brought out its “Bed in a car” seats. That configuration had the back seat that folded down and you slept with your feet in the trunk area. In 1950 they reconfigured the seat so the front seat back cushion fell to align with the rear seat cushions. Also to modernize the name along with the new design they were offered as “reclining airliner seats” it’s a very cool design. Nash later also offered as an extra cost option a “mattress “ you could purchase as the ravine between the front seat back, and the back seat cushion could be a bit uncomfortable. Read where most people kept blankets in the trunk to fill the space. I always loved that feature as well. That’s the story as told by Wikipedia, and an article in the New York Times.
Looks like a fun show. Always glad to see folks out enjoying their cars and the nice weather with other enthusiasts.
