[Marshall V. Daut]

An update for interested Vicky owners -
I unbolted the front bracket as advised and slid the seat forward on its tracks. It did clear the steering wheel and came out cleanly. No return spring was present, so one will be ordered.
Once the seat had been removed, a pile of wood splinters and slivers was discovered underneath where the seat had sat. Peeling back the upholstery on the inboard side of seat's rear corner, it was evident that the wood seat platform was rotten where the backrest bracket bolts. The three carriage head bolts securing the bracket to the wood were just flopping around because there was no longer any wood left for them to anchor through! That's why the seat back flopped to the rear. Odd that just that portion of the wooden base had deteriorated to such a degree. The rest of the wooden platform is fine.
Since replacing the wooden base is not practical, I will bolt a 1/4" thick steel bar to the underside of the remaining wood and run new carriage head bolts through that and into the backrest bracket. There's enough solid wood ahead of the splintered portion to make this idea work - I hope.
If anyone has a better solution, I'm all ears..
Marshall