The present day is a lot better than 1959 in many ways, particularly on the automotive front. Cars are a lot safer now, of course, and we learned from Manny, Moe, and Jack's 1959 catalog that car radios were ruinously expensive and car child seats were on the scary side. Returning to that '59 Pep Boys book, however, we see that obtaining and fitting aftermarket car seat covers was much easier 63 years ago.
Take a look at this 1953 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight interior for example. Most American cars were boxy sedans back then, and most had tall interiors with front and rear seats that amounted to bouncy, mattress-spring-and-horsehair-stuffed couches. MM&J's "Piccadilly Saran Plastic" seat covers, priced at $18.88 (that's about $193 in 2022 dollars) would fit just about any Detroit car made between the early 1930s and 1959, and the Pep Boys would even install them for free!
This 1950 Nash Statesman's interior really was a living room… and a bedroom. Granny could knit a purple sweater in the back, and the whole family could snooze in comfort later on. It's just the car for the "Leatherette Style Plus" seat covers, available for a mere $26.95 ($275 today). Try to get seat covers for your vehicle today, and you'll be forced to navigate a bewildering maze of seat configurations and sizes (though you do have access to luxurious oyabun-grade Junction Produce interior accessories that weren't available in 1959).
