Help me ID this car

From just this section of the floor pan, and a seat that may or may not have been original to it. 
 

going extra hard mode I see.

In reply to MrChaos :

I predict no 7-minute miracle in this case.

It may take an hour.

The seat looks like something I have seen in 70s Oldsmobile.

Looks like, thats all I got.  

The formed rockers are making me think it's something unibody. However, if it's original(see below) there weren't too many unibody cars in the 1950's.

To set the context, that's the original sled that Dr. Stapp used for g-force testing in the New Mexico desert on this test track - albeit a much longer track at that time. 
 

1978 Buick LaSabre. 

/thread.

Just kidding. 

After a bit of googling I found this test track & sled are a later iteration, and air-powered, after the original rocket sled was irreparably damaged in 1956. I couldn't find when this test track was first used, but that may narrow down the date range a bit. 

Because the pan ends behind th seat and turns 90-ish degrees up plus the bench seat I'm thinking El Camino. 

I'm going to say it's a rear pan - the tunnel doesn't have room for a bell housing, the seat is at least 70s due to the head rests. 

L5wolvesf said:

Because the pan ends behind th seat and turns 90-ish degrees up plus the bench seat I'm thinking El Camino. 

I like that idea, but no.  El Camino pans rise first under the seat, then a 2nd turn up behind the seat.

I do think you are in the right vintage, and maybe even the right manufacturer.

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

I don't think that pan is '50's vintage.  The stampings are too complex.

Here are some pictures of a Hudson floorpan (1950's vintage unibody).  Straighter lines, less complex reinforcing stamps.

Hudson floor pan

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

The G-body wagons did as well.

Seeing the rocker panel channels, it is clearly GM.  I'm going to bet three dimes on A, G, or X body.  I've torn enough of them apart (sadly, it's been 20 years or so) that I can tell it's not B, C, or D body because of the straight stamping on the floorboards.  The big cars had diagonal stamping on the floorboards since about 64 to increase stiffness/prevent vibes for the bigger panels.

The rest is escaping me.  The upholstery looks totally Olds, but it could be a random GM bench on any floorpan.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

G body wagons and El Caminos have the same floor pan.  

I'd suggest starting with the metal accents on the seat back. That May pint you in the right direction. 
 

They look like they might be from a Mopar product, but I couldn't find an exact match. 

I don't think the seat and the pan match.  If they did, the seat would fit the pan better without the need for a block of wood wedge at the center tunnel.

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

I don't think the seat and the pan match.  If they did, the seat would fit the pan better without the need for a block of wood wedge at the center tunnel.

That was my thought too. Although I didn't see any other/additional mounting holes, so I figured they were likely from the same manufacturer. I also was thinking GM, but for no rational reason whatsoever. 

It really looked like something from the late-60's through late-70's to me, which made me doubt their claim that this was the original sled for this track. Thus why I posted it here. 

To me, those door sills are abnormally thick.

In fact, the only automobile I know of with sills that thick is the '62 (and later) Continental.    




I'm not saying that's what it is, but that is the direction I start my search in.

Dunno why, I thought of Lincoln or LTD as soon as I saw the little squares.

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

I doubt that pan is from the 50's (and I'm confidant the seat is not). 
 

The stampings are too complex. 
 

If you google floor pans from the 50's, they simply don't have as many stiffening and resonance stamps or compound curves. 
 

I don't think it is unibody, and it's a rear seat area. 

And actually...

If the sled was built in the 50's, then what did they cut it out of?  They didn't cut up a brand new car, so the pan would have been from the 40's or 30's. 

Floorpans in the 40's were very simple  In the 30's a lot of them were wood.

I call BS. Or at least not entirely accurate. 

Headrests were not required until 1969. There were a few before that but on a bench seat of a large American car? Deffo post 69-70 

I'm going with a long 2-door something, since those sills don't have any curvature at the ends.

This one is bothering me for some reason and I think I have figured out why.

Anyway, as I stated before. Headrests=post 1969, they also mean front seat since rear headrests were not a thing until the 80's. Non split fold in that era means 4 door. Those three rectangles seemed really familiar and I kept thinking mopar but they are Ford.

Now I can't find a great picture of the front seat but I am strongly leaning towards a 1974 Ford LTD

It has the wide-narrow-wide stitching pattern. Is solid lower and upper and if we look at this picture of the rear seat we can see the headrests and the rectangle detail

The reason it was bothering me so much is my family had one of these for a good while in the 80's

Now as to whether or not the floor is from the same car, I got nothin'.

In reply to Trent :

I think you've solved it! I found this pic that seems to show the wide, stepped rocker like the one in the sled. 

I agree.

It's a front bench seat from a 4 door car, and the 1974 LTD is an excellent choice.

But it doesn't match the pan.  The pan is the rear seat area, probably from a 2 door car (hence the long door sills).