5 Classic Cars That Featured Swivel Front Seats

Maybe you've been driving for decades. Perhaps, on the other hand, you're new behind the wheel and have an admiration for all things auto. In either case, the 'retro' aesthetic is appealing for all sorts. And sometimes it's the zaniest of features that really set a classic car apart.  

Seats can be an under-appreciated aspect of a car. You might have the luxury of ventilated or heated seats, bucket seats that are coveted by some drivers, or just some luxurious leather (despite not being particularly unique). For a true touch of futuristic delight, some models were blessed with incredibly anomalous swivel front seats. Whether chosen for the aesthetic, accessibility, or convenience, these may present a level of intrigue or confusion.

Some of these models are intriguing cars in their own right, such as the 1957 Aurora, which was — or aimed to be — one of the most secure cars ever built. Let's take a look at some of these intriguing models and why swivel seats were added to the wider package. From the Aurora to later models of the Renault Clio, which is regarded as one of Renault's best models ever,  it's going to be a fascinating ride through the auto world. 

The 1950s were bookended by the development of the airbag (in 1951) and the three-point seatbelt (1959) — essential road safety developments. This concept was combined with the chrome-tastic nature of some vehicles of the time to make the eye-catching and unique model known as the Aurora.

What kind of features does a vehicle from 1957 need to be deemed the Safety Car? The model was designed by Father Alfred Juliano and equipped with a suite of features that included then-innovative seat belts, on top of a reinforced body and tires intended to resist puncturing. It even sported swiveling captain seats. In the event of a crash, so the theory went, they could be turned backwards, and so absorb some of the force. Further unique features were added for the safety of those on the outside, with a padded "bumper" of sorts intended to minimize harm caused if the Aurora should unfortunately collide with a pedestrian.

Safety and practicality don't always make for good aesthetics, and this was certainly the case with the uniquely angular Aurora. An outlandish concept vehicle it may have been, but some features would become auto staples in years to come. The Aurora itself, however, suffered from real misfortune that scuppered its chances of becoming a production vehicle: Its big press unveiling was marred by the fact that its engine failed on route, its fiberglass body producing fragments that caused issues within the fuel lines.

The Plymouth Fury is another model from the mid-to-late 1950s. Unlike the Aurora, though, it was not a one-off experimental model. The Plymouth Fury family began as an offshoot of the Belvedere, appearing as such for 1956 to 58. breaking through as its own model family in 1959. The original Plymouth Fury proper made an immediate impact, with 65,250 standard models sold in its debut year. It was immediately available in a variety of variants including sedan, coupe, and the rather potent Sport Fury. 

The latter was capable of 305 hp with its V-8 Golden Commando installed, which enabled it to reach a torque of 395 lb-ft. This was the height of the Fury at the time, and there was certainly a market for the advanced trim: Around 24,000 of the Sport Fury found new homes that year. What was so desirable about it? Though it would struggle to compete in the market, it boasted a fascinating feature that some competitors of the time didn't: swivel seats that moved with the action of the front doors.

This interaction, of course, was intended to make it smoother to go into and back out of a car, something that even the most comfortable seats are otherwise very little help with. The Sport Fury, however, wasn't the only vehicle of its type to offer such a feature.

Chrysler was an early innovator in the intriguing arena of swivel seats, but it was far from the only one. Around the same time, Chevrolet released its own. In 1973, the Monte Carlo received swivel seats for the first time. Dubbed Strato Bucket seats by the brand, they blended the characteristic comfort and contours of standard bucket seats with an additional element of mobility. 

The 1973 Monte Carlo was a coupe offering 260 lb-ft of torque and capable of 119 mph, on top of 175 hp. It was powered by a different V-8 to Plymouth's Fury, in this case an L65. The bucket swivel seats weren't provided as standard, but were an option in place of the regular seating. An option, it seems, that certainly didn't strike a chord with everyone at the time. As Road & Track put it (via Curbside Classic), they had "an uncomfortably upright and narrow dune-buggy design," and the form met the function with "a swivel mechanism whose lever is not only difficult to reach but equally hard to actuate." 

The Monte Carlo vehicle family was in production until the 2008 model year, and approximately 4.5 million of them were built. Over the company's long history, the Monte Carlo family doesn't really get a look in alongside truly iconic Chevrolet models like the Corvette and Bel Air, but it has a charm all its own.

Oldsmobile has, sadly, been out of action for a little over two decades, with the marque's final car – an Alero GLS Final 500 Collector's Edition – being completed at the brand's Michigan plant in April 2004. Needless to say, though, Oldsmobile has a legacy of more than a century behind it, and a lot of fondly remembered classic cars bear its name. The super successful Cutlass is just one of them.

11.9 million Cutlasses were built over the vehicle family's long lifetime, and it was a particularly ludicrous success in the late 70s and early 80s: From '78 to '81, in fact, it remained the best selling car in the U.S., selling in the region of half a million every year (from 520,279 in 1978 to 454,188 in 1981). It had a unique style all its own, and a versatility in the range that meant that you'd probably find a desirable Cutlass for you.

 Being a long-lived model, it has also seen some interesting auto trends come and go, with one of them being – you guessed it – swivel seats. The feature had something of a vogue among some of the Cutlasses of the 1970s. As the commercial above shows, these seats were sold as a real feature of convenience, allowing fun-loving owners to slide out of the passenger seat and into the driver's to take turns driving, in that wonderfully idealized commercial way. 

The Renault Clio is quite an unassuming model, compared to some of the sizeable muscle models elsewhere. It's also rather newer, having made its debut in 1990. 

Almost 35 years and 16 million sales later, Renault has retained everything that has become iconic about the Clio. You might think you know everything you need to know about the model family: It's still a practical and comfortable little ride, offering solid performance and a respectable selection of features for such a small package. What you might not know, however, is that the Clio family also tried to bring back the swivel seat.

Of course, in the aftermarket world, it's possible to fit swivel seats to cars that didn't originally have them. In terms of vehicles designed with original swivel seats, however, 2010's Clio was a first for Renault's home continent. The brand, according to Autoevolution, reported at the time that "the swivel seat can be specified like any other option and is fitted directly at the Flins factory, in France, as the car comes off the assembly line."

Moving at a sharp 75-degree angle, the seats of this model of the Clio gave the car valuable potential as an accessibility aid as well as a convenience. The option could be added to the Clio's Dynamique Tom Tom and Expression Clim trims that year for 1,600 Euros (approximately $1,740). Though it didn't become universal, it's just the kind of feature that suits the practical, utility-centered Clio. 

Sometimes, the most seemingly popular adornments can all but vanish. In the auto world, this happened with car hood ornaments, which were hugely popular during a different era before becoming obsolete. Swivel front seats, generally speaking, have gone the same way.

As a broader concept, there was a lot to be said for the swivel seat. It had the potential to make the driving experience just a little bit easier. Accessibility is always a positive. However, there are some important factors to consider that may not be immediately apparent. Adding a swivel seat to a vehicle (particularly decades ago) meant adding some rather complex mechanisms to a vehicle. The swivel mechanism was a feature that could fail, and it proved the inconvenience to fix when it did. They also up considerable room in a vehicle. 

Ever more conscientious safety standards, with the implementation of seat belts and airbags, made compatibility a complicated matter too. Today, select models offer the feature where it's more practical, such as the Kia EV9 with swiveling seats in the second row and so-called relaxation seats in the first.